Project Manager and Presales Consultant at ViaDirect
My business school, my family !
I spent six years at EM Normandie and I have such great memories of my time there. The places, the shared projects, the people I met... It’s hard to talk about it without comparing it to a family! I spent several years abroad, but even after a year in Scotland and another in Colombia, I still found friends and shared values back at the business school. As well as top-quality teaching, which has given me a very thorough understanding of business management, the school has something else: an energy, a certain dynamism.
During my first two years in Caen, I became involved in the AfriCaenfants initiative as Co-Project Manager. It was an amazing adventure ! We organised concerts and dinners to raise money to help children with disabilities in Cameroon.
Show initiative
In 2016, I joined ViaDirect, a French company specialising in developing interactive solutions that guide and inform visitors in public places. We are now working across several continents, and as the sector is rapidly expanding, for over a year now I’ve been helping to develop our Mexican branch as a Project Manager and pre-sales consultant.
Whereas the Paris headquarters has more than fifty people working there, in Mexico I’m part of a much smaller team. Here, everything is still to come, and it’s so exciting! On a daily base, I’m in contact with everyone helping our company to grow, and I have a very broad perspective over how our various activities are running.
On the one hand, I manage international projects providing information terminals in shopping centres or airports with a team of designers, developers, map-makers and technicians. On the other, I spend time with our sales people, contribute to strategy, recruitment and training and I’m in constant contact with our clients and suppliers.
It’s a job that keeps me really motivated, and our branch is the first to have reached this stage. We also have the opportunity to work very autonomously and can make our own decisions about the projects we manage: it’s always exciting.
Trust, exchange, and let yourself guided
The business school network opens up incredible opportunities! It was how I found all my work experience. The most important thing I got from it was the ability to talk with experienced people. Their advice really shaped my career path. If I had started out in my career on my own, I’m sure things would have turned out very differently. Whereas I haven’t yet been able to participate in the development of our shared network, nothing would give me greater pleasure in the future.
Gwendoline's advice :
" Challenge yourself every day, and dare to take risks! Your mistakes always help you to improve. The road to achieving your ambitions is often long and sometimes difficult, but if you have courage, passion and drive, you can move mountains ! "
