Brandt studied geography and development at
Utrecht University and worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spending some time at the embassy in
South Africa, before serving as ambassador to
Eritrea (2000−2004) and
Uganda (2004−2007). In 2007, having returned to The Hague, she became Deputy Director General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before assuming the role of Director General the following year. After a four-year spell as Deputy Executive Director of
UNICEF in New York, she was selected to succeed
Renée Jones-Bos as Secretary General of the Ministry. In 2020 she was appointed Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the
United Nations in New York, the first woman to hold that office. She was succeeded in 2024 by
Lise Gregoire-van Haaren. ==References==