Why did you choose LSE, and why did you choose your programme of study?

School reputation, will to pursue a career in Digital Media.

Overall, how do you look back on your LSE experience?

LSE is the place where I have met my best friends and potential future business partners. It has allowed me to be exposed to excellence from many perspectives: fellow students, professors, quality of research, organization and concepts. I am so happy I have had the opportunity to study at this prestigious institution!

Please describe your career path to date:

Right after submitting my dissertation, I used the LSE careers website to look for work opportunities and saw an internship position at Apple, based in London. Even if I had three years of work experience in the music industry, I was aware of how good an experience at Apple could have been for me. I applied and got the internship, at the end of which I managed to land a temporary position within the company. Meanwhile, my internship manager had left the company and joined Nest, an IoT company that was shortly after acquired by Google.

We kept in touch whilst I was still at Apple, and when a good position to fit my profile opened at Nest/Google arose, he informed me about it. I did not lose the opportunity and applied for it - and luckily got it!

As a conclusion, I can no doubt say that I was lucky. Since graduating from the LSE in 2013, I have rapidly grown from a career perspective. Now I cover a Channel marketing position within one of Alphabet's most exciting "new bets" and I get the chance to work with, and travel to the Silicon Valley very often. I would have never imagined myself having so much fun in my job, while covering such responsibilities, a few years ago. I am also happy I "took the risk" to start again from the beginning, with an internship position, after my masters. I took the risk and it paid off!

Why did you choose your current job?

I chose my current job as my previous manager from Apple informed me about it and invited me to apply for it. I considered it a job that could offer more responsibilities than the temporary one I was covering at Apple, yet within an excellent company (Google). I wanted to land a job in tech with business as well as creative responsibilities. As a channel marketing manager, I am responsible for business activities such as budgeting, account management and merchandising, but I also get involved in events management, web marketing and I get to discuss exciting retail projects with major accounts such as John Lewis and Dixons.

Tell us about your current job.

I am a Channel Marketing Manager for the UK and Ireland for Nest, part of Alphabet (Google's holding company). My role is based in London.

Working in close cooperation with the Sales team leads, I currently manage the channel marketing and storefront operations in the UK & Ireland, implementing the Nest customer experience across the retail channel.

My main responsibilities involve:

- Supporting Nest’s retail strategy by driving the POS operations, from store tiering, POS needs

assessment and planning as well as deployment to compliance maintenance;

- Handling online and offline channel activities including building quarterly demand generation plans to

support the UK & Ireland retail growth targets;

- Building Nest channel advocacy by managing field marketing, planning and organizing sales

training and events;

- Supporting partners and managing vendor relationships to deliver a premium experience at

every customer touch point.

At Nest, you need to be a self starter. The company has a very entrepreneurial spirit. In addition, you have to love products and know how to market them in an excellent way. Many of us at Nest come from Apple and share a mentality which is made on love for good design, simplicity of products and user friendly communication. The fact that we are part of Alphabet allows us to get a daily exposure to all of Google's great divisions and products, as well as sharing information with other employees.

What advice do you have for LSE students who are looking to enter a similar profession to you?

If you are part of the LSE, you know how hard it can be to be part of a competitive environment. If you want to land a job at one great tech company, you do not need to lose the energy and spirit that you have to show while studying at the LSE. In addition, you must be willing to take risks, if you can spot some opportunities with them. It will always pay off.