Ank studied Dutch Language and Literature at the Radboud University in Nijmegen and holds an upper secondary teaching qualification. In the Netherlands, she worked as a policy officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the departments for Information and Communication. Abroad she taught Dutch literature at the University of Pretoria and worked in Dutch schools in Kuala Lumpur, Warsaw and Vienna. Two of her three children have graduated at an IB-school.
Ank is a teacher.