After completing his Art and Cultural Studies at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Xander Stroo worked as a press officer for independent film distribution company Cinemien in Amsterdam, after which he was responsible for press relations at Dutch literary publishing company Meulenhoff in that same city. In 2005 he moved to Brussels to become a programme officer at the Vlaams-Nederlands Huis deBuren, a house of culture and debate founded and funded by the governments of the Netherlands and Flanders.