Interview with Marine, 1000th WEEM consultant

Independent consulting is attracting more and more top-level talent. At WEEM, we're proud to lead a community of independent talents selected for their know-how and interpersonal skills. Today we celebrate our ^1000th consultant!

Discover today the portrait of Marine, the thousandth WEEM consultant, with an international background and a commitment to education and women.

His background:

Interested in a wide range of subjects, Marine entered the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan after two years of classes préparatoires Lettres et Sciences Sociales (B/L). She specialized in economic sociology and organizational theory before completing her training with a Masters in Public Affairs at Sciences Po Paris.

After several internships, she realized that she would prefer to work in the private sector, and in particular in a more entrepreneurial environment, so she enrolled in the Mastère Entrepreneurs program at HEC Paris, where she wrote her thesis on the digital evolution of the print media.

"I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, so I quickly became very interested in new technologies and new digital and digital business models."

His background:

She began her professional career at Vivendi's head office, where she joined a small team specializing in innovation and strategy for media and telecommunications. She is responsible for strategic intelligence and in-depth analysis of innovation and growth opportunities for Vivendi. She presents her recommendations to Vivendi's Executive Committee.

"The topics were very interesting, but we were very much into recommendation and very little into action."

Wishing to move into a more entrepreneurial and operational role, she left for Brazil. Her mission was to launch Wengo, a platform for putting people in touch with experts, a subsidiary of the Vivendi group. She arrives in a new country, alone, where she will recruit a local team, deal with legal and tax issues, sales and digital marketing.

She then seized the opportunity to join a local venture capital fund as Investment Manager, analyzing new investment opportunities in the technology and education sectors, before moving into an Entrepreneur in Residence role for portfolio companies.

Entrepreuneure :

It was during this experience that she began to take an interest in Brazil's education system, which is structurally highly unequal. Her research gradually led her to the idea of opening a crèche in Brazil.

"Education was a key issue for Brazil. There was almost no education or schooling for children under 6. So I started looking into the possibility of opening crèches there, but also in other countries. After analyzing various markets and meeting British investors, we finally decided to go for it in the UK, where the early childhood sector is more mature and predominantly private. The aim was to renew the experience for families and strengthen existing links between staff and parents. Rather than launching a crèche from scratch, we proceeded by successive acquisitions, eventually building up a group of over 10 crèches in 4 years."

She is responsible for three aspects of Kindred Nurseries, which she co-founded: fundraising and acquisitions, operational integration of the nurseries, and product and brand development.

Why independence :

One child and 4 years later, she left the company operationally to become self-employed, in order to regain the freedom she had lost as her company grew, but also to have more flexibility, the opportunity to train, and gain insight into other aspects of the education and training sector.

"Business had become a bit business as usual and it was no longer the phase that interested me. I chose to go freelance to explore different things, and gradually started collaborating with companies mainly in the digital, education and training sectors between London and Paris. I've worked with leading schools, training companies and coaching firms. I also worked with Switch Collective as interim CEO for over a year.

She would later return permanently to France, always with the desire to remain independent.

Why WEEM :

After 8 years away from France, Marine decided to return and had to rebuild her network. Several independent consultants in her circle recommended WEEM to her for new assignments.

" Many people have told me that they go through WEEM because it's a platform with a real community. I'm self-employed, but I like working with other people. The idea of being able to exchange ideas with freelancers with similar problems is particularly attractive in the context of my return to France ".

‍#LESINDEPENDANTES

Highly committed to women's causes, Marine created the Brazilian group of the international Girls in Tech association in 2013, and also ran HEC Women UK for 2 years, an alumni group offering conferences, mentoring and content for HEC Paris graduates.

WEEM is also committed to developing the role of women in freelance consulting, in particular through the Independents, a community of women who help freelance and aspiring freelance women to make the right career choices.