for the ballet academy, dreaming of becoming the first black soloist of the Dutch National Ballet. She went to the secondary school RSG West-Friesland, initially studying at vwo level, but she later switched to havo. At the age of fourteen, Simons moved out of her parents's house after her father had told her to leave if she did not want to abide by his rules. At first, she stayed at her half-sister in Amsterdam, but she later spent time in a youth shelter and in lodgings with assistance. During that period, she attended the Amsterdams Lyceum and the Spinoza Lyceum, among others, but never graduated. Simons also went to the Lucias Marthas Institute For Performing Arts and the Hairdressing Academy, finishing neither school. When she was twenty years old, she was admitted to the show and musical department of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, but she dropped out shortly after the start of the program because of her first pregnancy. Entertainment career Dancing and early television career (1990–2000) Simons began her career as a dancer for the Amsterdam nightclub iT and during performances of musicians such as CB Milton and Grace Jones. She went on tour with 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor and performed as backing for UB40 at the World Liberty Concert in Arnhem. Simons also appeared in commercials for Pepsi, Philips, and Victoria Vesta. She did a screen test for radio and television executive Lex Harding in 1992 after he had seen her dance in the Veronica music program Countdown. Harding asked her a few years later to join the new musical channel TMF. Simons accepted and started as VJ and interviewer at its launch in May 1995. She later gave up dancing to focus on her television career. On TMF, Simons presented the show Sylvana's Soul, which helped popularize R&B in the Netherlands and earned her the nickname "Dutch Queen of R&B". She also recorded the single "Get Close To You" with fellow VJs Fabienne de Vries, Bridget Maasland, and Isabelle Brinkman as part of the music group The Magnificent Four. It reached position sixteen in the Dutch Top 40 and spent five weeks in that chart, but Simons has told that she was unable to sing and was mostly responsible for backing vocals. She became a board member of Mixt, a foundation attempting to combat racism through music and the organizer of the annual