In a performative society where everyone is measured according to how successful they are, do you ever wonder what success is? What is the key to succeed? In the following lines, we’ll discover there is no unique answer, there is no one version of it. Come and meet three IE University alumni who define themselves as young, happy, and successful professionals. Discover the stories of three international professionals: Tess (NYC, United States); Jasmina, (Prague, Czech Republic), and Benjamin, Philipp, and Teiko’s startup (Hamburg, Germany), created and built in the IE Campus, while they were still studying. Get a first-hand testimonial of the keys to success!
The professional path after graduation
Tess de Gregorio, started a position as an account manager at the Google offices in New York City, if not less. She loves her job and works hard not only at the company but also in what she defines as a “side hustle”. Also, she is very invested in personal growth, dedicating a lot of time to herself, as the American Culture dictates, reading as much as she can and attending different conferences and events.
Let’s also meet Jasmina Orlika, currently working as a Digital Executive at Havas, in Prague, a creative agency with important clients such as Google itself! She works in different creative positions, mainly in social media and she gets to experience different roles everyday and also to apply her big love for photography.
Last but not least we introduce you to a successful young startup, Cutnut, which provides video software for Instagram. The Cutnut project was built by Benjamin Ranft, Phillip Nette & Teiko Wilenius while they were still IE University students. Today, Cutnut is a little different from the original idea but they got to shape it until it arrived to the company it is now with a very functional role distribution as well.
What does success mean to a IE University graduate?
For Tess, is very straight forward: to achieve your goals. “Every year in September I write my goals, what I’m gonna achieve this year, what I’m gonna achieve the next five, the next ten, and for me, checking those boxes at the end of this year, that’s success for me. I also think that if you don’t set your goals is really hard to be successful”.
What does Jamsmina think success feels like? “To be happy, honestly. Because I realized that if I’m not happy with where I am I don’t feel like I achieved something successful (…) For me, part of the whole success is being happy with yourself, understanding what it means to you to be where you are, and improving yourself every day”.
On a full entrepreneur style, Benjamin gives his version of what being successful means “(…) Being able to be independent, being able to not have to rely on anybody. That also includes financial independence, but it is generally focused in just being able to make your own decisions”.
IE University: the big key to success
In Tess’s words “From higher education I was looking for the soft skills that I feel IE did provide me: how to work in teams, how to do a presentation in front of people. I think IE did most of it in terms of developing my entrepreneurial mindset.Thinking big is something I learned at IE, like you can do anything!”
From Prage, Jasmina explains that “IE University helped me to develop critical thinking, whether it was theory or whether it was just simply working on something creative. The professors always pushed us harder and harder to evaluate ourselves, to evaluate our work, and even to evaluate others, which is something very important when you’re creating a piece of work”.
The Cutnut team explains perfectly the advantages of the IE experience for entrepreneurial minds, in Teiko’s words: “IE really helped me to get more structure and more routine. And showing me how to be more effective and more efficient”. On the other hand, Benjamin explains that Cutnut idea was born while studying at IE which was the perfect incubator since “get got the chance to test the idea in a closed environment and receive feedback from colleagues, friends, mentors, and professors”.
After these 3 points of view, one thing is very clear. No matter what is your exact version of success you want to achieve, but is fundamental to go to the right place and get the right tools to achieve it. Want to learn more? Discover your own path with IE University!