After finishing my role as junior consultant, the company presented the offer to extend my stay until the end of the year. The experience I gained before, proved 87seconds' approach and values matched with mine, so I couldn't say no. During the second part of that year as a full-fledged part of the team, I extrapolated on my earlier work. I kept forging the ties with FMCG contacts, supported the team of account managers and became a substantive part when creating conceptual offers.As a business development team, we refined our prospecting approach and were able to present potential clients accurate, tailor-made offers. In contrast with the beginning of the year, I focused more on the creative side when pitching ideas and tried to understand each individual client's need. Overall, the key learnings were:- Keeping in touch with customer portfolio- Thorough understanding of client's challenges- Developing offers and concepts- Interpreting my function in the company and improving our efficiency as a solid business development team

As a wind-up to my International Management program (UC Leuven-Limburg) I functioned as junior consultant for 87seconds. The aim of the project was to extend their reach within the FMCG segment. Thanks to my background in marketing, sales and passion for visual art I was able to translate 87second's dream by cold prospecting and building on existing relationship. In the end, my contribution managed to enlarge 87second's customer portfolio, strengthened the bonds with FMCG contacts and caused a pleasant raise in the company's revenue as a result.I am extremely thankful I got the opportunity to join 87seconds team. Due to their multipurpose organisational structure I was able to explore the sector of commercial art and pick up a wide range of knowledge. The major learnings after being part of their team are amongst others:- Business development- Inbound & outbound sales- Cold calling & mailing- Meeting clients; presenting and pitching- Production and management of creative projects- Brainstorming techniques

Working in the local movie theatre equals stocking shelves, cutting tickets or supervising children's birthday parties. Nonetheless, I also faced difficult customers and their complaints, helped out as a a handyman when technical issues arose and on occasion was a salesmen for annual season tickets.During the three years I worked at UGC (former Utopolis) I got to know the meaning and value of customer care. At first glance the labor seems straightforward and easy. However, after the first encounter with stressed moms who wants to speak to the manager because of expired discounts, I realized every employee is a direct representation of the company. Over time, by keeping that realization in mind, I handled though situations better and conclusively made my working hours more enjoyable. In general, my days were filled with diverse tasks and it was a pleasure to work in a strong team of like-minded students.

VI.BE (Former Poppunt) is a Flemish opportunity platform and point of contact for starting musicians, bands, dj's & producers. Throughout the year, the organisation takes on different projects to inspire and encourage novice musical artists to pursue their passion. In function of their national project "Lokale Helden" (Local Heroes) I joined their lovely team to support with marketing and communication. I worked together with all the team members and interacted close with the main person in charge of marketing and communication.Supporting the project was my first professional experience in line with my academic background. I am grateful I had the chance to experience the Flemish music scene from a different point of view, could bring value to the organisation and of course gained an abundance of real-life experience. I learned amongst others:- Understanding the added value of marketing and communication in a nation wide project- Functioning as a team- First hand experience with social media algorithms and a wide variety of marketing content- Copywriting- Intern and extern communication- Working independently and taking responsibility for parts of a overarching project