Following an early career as a playwright, van Beek has since written and illustrated two children's books about her kitten Bruce and published a number of short stories for adults.
[1] In 2002, her play French Toast was the winner of the central region prize at the Playmarket Young Playwrights' Competition, and won Best Theatre at the New Zealand Fringe Festival.
[4][5][6] That year she established the production company 3girls6legs together with Natalie Hitchcock and Pia Midgley, and in 2003 they presented her play For Georgie.
[12] In 2020, van Beek wrote Misconceptions, a 10-part web documentary series for The New Zealand Herald about miscarriage.
[17][18] In 2021, as a direct result of van Beek writing to her local MP and starting a petition that attracted 7,000 signatures, New Zealand's law was changed to entitle women and their partners to bereavement leave after experiencing miscarriage.