The OùFormer start-up founded by a KEDGE graduate, in...
This KEDGE graduate has founded a communication agency specialising in sustainable development.
2013 KEDGE graduate, Emilie Llorens is one of the co-founders of Curve - a communication and events agency that specialises in sustainable development.
INTERVIEW 💬
1️⃣ To begin, tell us about your educational background. What did you study, both before and at KEDGE?
I got good grades at high school and, because I was still young (I was 17 the year I took the BAC), I had absolutely no idea what career I wanted to pursue. So, I followed the advice of my teachers and took prep classes in economics to continue getting general education. At the time, I did a lot of competitive sailing on weekends, which was not very compatible with attending school. Two years later, I attended the Brest Business School which was the only business school at the time that participated in the Tour de France à la Voile professional sailing event. I went there for three years, including a semester studying in Australia and an 18-month apprenticeship as an assistant sales manager at a large company in the industry. After I graduated, and with my apprenticeship experience, I realised that what I really wanted to do was work in the sailing sector. So I enrolled in KEDGE’s International Sport Event Management MSc programme in 2012.
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2️⃣ Tell us what you did after your studies were finished. What positions have you held? What did you learn in those positions?
In order to get my diploma validated, I had to do a six-month internship, which I did at the Yachting Club de la Pointe Rouge in Marseille - one of the major sailing clubs in Marseille which holds events on an international scale. I organised the world championships of two Olympic games series and lucky enough to work with a person who taught me a lot, gave me a lot of responsibility, and also gave me the benefit of his network. After I graduated, I worked for myself (entrepreneur) so that I could work with the different organisations that I had previously met and that needed support on specific tasks. I did this for a little more than a year, and then, at the beginning of 2015, I got a one-year job through my network to do the logistics for a round-the-world sailing project assessing the state of ocean pollution by plastics. This very rich experience brought me a lot, in particular the knowledge of environmental issues. After this around-the-world trip, I went back to working for myself to work on various events such as the Vendée Globe and the Euro 2016 football championship. In March 2017, I worked as the Sustainable Event Manager at The Ocean Race (formerly the Volvo Ocean Race – a teamed round-the-world race with stopovers of nine months), and went to live in Spain where its head office is located. My job was to organise seven international conferences on ocean pollution during the nine months of the race. I finished working for The Ocean Race in October 2019 to devote myself to the creation of Curve Communications & Events, which was launched in June 2020.
3️⃣ What are you doing/what is your situation today? What gave you the idea and why do you want to do what you’re doing today?
I’m currently the Director of Events of Curve Communications & Events, a communications and events agency that specialises in sustainable development that I co-created with two associates. Curve was born of our desire to provide guidance to companies in their transition to more sustainable practices and to help companies that are already engaged in this sector to report on their actions. Our respective skills in events planning and communications complement each other’s to maximise the agency’s impact. Despite the current circumstances, there has been a real change and willingness to commit to these issues. In particular, we’re seeing the number of projects coming from institutions and NGOs multiply, and changes in the behaviour of players in the private sector.
4️⃣ What are your development goals for the future?
Grow our agency and increase the number of projects we work on and their positive impacts.
5️⃣ if you were to give advice to any KEDGE graduate who wants to do something similar, what would it be?
I have three pieces of advice:
- Passion– You will always be more motivated if you work in a sector you’re passionate about;
- Method– Set your goals and put in place concrete actions to reach them ;
- Network - Do more to create your own network. The best network is one made up of people who’ve seen your work and have no problem recommending you.
6️⃣ How did the education you received at KEDGE Business School help you become who you are today, and what was it about its teachings helped you develop your project?
Although I practiced sports before I attended, my year at KEDGE gave me both the professional tools to understand and grasp the professional sports industry and my first network through the teachers and students. I’ve worked at KEDGE as a guest lecturer for a year, so now the school is giving me the opportunity to share my experience and raise awareness of environmental and social issues that are close to my heart amongst the future actors in the world of professional sports.
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