Half-Way Through: Taking Time to reflect on My Experience So Far

By Erin Thibodeau, ESSEC Global MBA Student Ambassador 2017-2018 | Luxury Brand Management Major

As a student ambassador for the Global MBA, I get the chance to speak with many incoming students, be it via ESSEC Talk, in one-off conversations, or at open houses and MBA fairs. One of the questions I get most often is a simple, “how are you enjoying the program so far?”. So, I thought I would tackle this general and yet complex question in a post!

Six months into the program allows me to take pause and be excited for all of the adventures to come and to look back and take stock of all we’ve already learned.

The first four months – September to December – saw us learning a lot of the fundamentals. Finance, accounting, an entrepreneurship course (see George’s post here!), and general strategy prepared us for a new year of tackling complex business challenges and challenged us to creatively seek answers. We dove into the new year with management accounting, operational management, and focused luxury courses that encourage us to build on the knowledge we’ve already gained to inform how we seek answers.

For the Luxury Brand Management major specifically, these first months included introductory luxury courses that helped us build a foundation of knowledge around how the business of luxury works as well as many company visits and workshops. The Luxury Brand Management major creates an immersive experience for students, one that I am personally very grateful for. Many of us (myself included!), are looking to make industry changes within our careers and are approaching this MBA with a basic working knowledge of the minutiae of the luxury industry. Weekly alumni conferences allow us to meet previous ESSEC MBA-ers and ask questions openly about their experience in the program and the job and luxury landscape post-graduation. Company visits to L’Oreal, Van Cleef & Arpels, Lesage, Louis Vuitton, and Champagne Maison Collet, allowed our class to meet with luxury companies in an intimate setting. This exposure is vital to a deeper understanding of the luxury industry and prompts thoughtful questions.

Looking forward we have several upcoming class trips (keep an eye out for dedicated posts!), as well as one on one time with assigned industry mentors, and classes tailored specifically to our interests within this industry. Having the opportunity to discuss and critically analyze the luxury industry with a group of classmates with various backgrounds and experiences is exciting and still surreal!

Interested in finding out more about the Luxury Brand Management major? Get in touch with Erin via ESSEC Talk.