Merel was only 13 years old when she was scouted. As she was very young, she first had to finish her high school. But she already did some (inter)national jobs and at age 16 she graduated early and went to Paris, Milan, London and Hamburg to work and live there on her own. One of her favorite shoots was in Beirut when she was only 17 years old. This was before the digital era, so she felt very independent traveling on her own, meeting new people and discovering places.

Merel worked for quite some brands, magazines and covershoots. She is very passionate to create beautiful productions together with creative teams. But next to modeling, she wanted to learn more about the producing side of the industry herself as well. And so she studied and had some on and off periods of modeling to be a media strategist, editor, producer, PR manager, marketeer and event manager at several well known large brands and magazines. Merel was a booker of a make-up artist agency and has a certificate herself. In the end her clients asked her to become their photographer and she completed the photo academy in Amsterdam. Because of this, Merel is extra empathic to the rest of the team.

Today she enjoys the combination of being a photographer, model and since 2022 she is also very happy to spend her time 'just' being a mom.

To keep in shape Merel loves to go for a run early in the morning. Being outside is her preference, going for a walk, horseback riding, skiing, swimming, sailing and motorcrossing. Merel is actually the type who is 'never not working', as she is so passionated about the things she is doing. But when she has a pauze she reads a book and likes to learn something new.