2024 is all about you: your successes, your...
Luxury in the spotlight: 6 kedgeuses and kedgers to keep an eye on
Discover 6 KEDGE graduates who have made their mark in the luxury sector!
✨ Dive into the captivating world of luxury through the careers of KEDGE graduates who have made their mark in this prestigious sector. Perfumery, fashion, leather goods and cosmetics. This article highlights their successes and key moments, between creativity and expertise.
#1 Dimitri Guichard - Global Supply Chain Director - Estée Lauder
🎓 With a degree in sales and marketing, I began my career in BtoB sales development in IT and telecoms before specializing in purchasing with a work-study program in purchasing management. After several language stays, I launched my career in Switzerland with Procter & Gamble, in the purchasing department of the Beauty division, where I had the opportunity to work with prestigious brands such as Hugo Boss, Lacoste and Dolce & Gabbana. It was love at first sight! The world of purchasing, crossed with the luxury and beauty industry, which I'll never leave afterwards. ✨
🌎 This was followed by numerous trips, negotiations and supplier meetings around the world, participation in global launches and finally a merger-acquisition project to steer at purchasing level following the acquisition of the branch by the COTY group.
In 2017, I joined KEDGE for the MAI to deepen my purchasing skills. Since then, I've joined Estée Lauder, where I've worked with inspirational figures like Kilian Hennessy and Frédéric Malle to launch new product ranges. My adventure continued in New York, in make-up category purchasing, before broadening my scope to cover the entire brand supply chain. 💄
My time at KEDGE and these fabulous encounters inspired me to take the ALUMNI network a step further and today create BBS (www.bbsnetwork.eu): Beauty Buyers Suppliers, the 1st community ofBuyers / Suppliers in the beauty industry in Europe, based in Paris, in collaboration with KEDGE and where all alumnis are welcome! 🌟
#2 Blaise Mélanie, Fashion Customer Marketing Manager - Chanel
🎓 I graduated from KEDGE Business School's EBP program in 2016. I was lucky enough to study on the Bordeaux campus, in a dynamic and inspiring city. This experience enabled me to obtain two double degrees, reinforcing my academic and professional expertise, while developing essential skills to evolve in an international environment. With eight years' experience in the luxury sector, mainly with CHANEL and Cartier, I have built up in-depth expertise in customer marketing and retail project management.
✨ Today, Customer Marketing Manager for CHANEL' s Montaigne boutiques , I develop customer journey strategies while overseeing operational initiatives in the field, working closely with in-store teams. My goal is to offer a unique and personalized experience to our customers and reinforce the impact of our marketing actions.
🤝 My career has been punctuated by customer experience transformation projects: creation of exclusive events, piloting of prestigious boutique renovation projects at Cartier, and innovative action plans, combining exacting attention to detail and strategic vision.
🌎 At the same time, my three years spent abroad in the USA, Spain and the UK enabled me to broaden my open-mindedness and consolidate my mastery of three languages. This diversity of backgrounds has enabled me to cultivate a precious balance between innovation and operational efficiency, essential to meeting the demands of the luxury sector.
#3 Gaëlle Ferrere, Nordics Marketing Director - Parfums Christian Dior
🎓 After graduating from high school in 2007, I joinedKEDGE Bordeaux's EBP International program, attracted by its international outlook. The program offered me an unforgettable experience: studies in Madrid, an internship in Barcelona, and a double degree between KEDGE and theUniversity of Hull in the UK. It also gave me invaluable links, including many friendships and contacts that I've kept to this day (notably with my husband, whom I met in the same class.) My career began in retail marketing, with an end-of-studies internship at Citadium, followed by a position at Sephora, where I managed brand activations at the Champs-Élysées flagship. This experience introduced me to the world of cosmetics, a dynamic and captivating sector.
🇬🇧 In 2015, I moved to London to specialize in niche fragrances before joining Caudalie as Marketing Manager. For all beauty enthusiasts, the UK is the most fascinating market, through the diversity of retailers (from Harrods to Boots) and the power of digital.
✨ Since 2019, I've been working for Parfums Christian Dior (LVMH). After a position in Trade Marketing, I became Marketing Director Nordics in Copenhagen, where I manage a team of 15 people. My role encompasses retail marketing (trade, training, CRM), e-business (e-retail and ecom), communications (PR and media) and merchandising.
💡 What drives me? To be a leader who inspires new generations; EBP gave me the right foundations to be a leader capable of bringing meaning to work; also to be in tune with the values of innovation and transmission carried by Dior and LVMH. The luxury cosmetics sector, shaped by social networks and trends, remains an inexhaustible playground for me.
#4 Juliette Valentin, Leather Goods Retail Merchandising Manager Europe & Middle East at Celine
With a passion for clothes and a grandmother who was a seamstress, I knew from an early age that "my dream" was to work in the fashion industry. Although I'm creative and love to draw, I've never been attracted to the world of design. So I opted fora business school, and the EBP program at KEDGE appealed to me because of its very international dimension. 🌍
🎓 Graduating in 2016 after a Bachelor's degree in Madrid, a Master's 1 in China and a Master's 2 in Bordeaux, I quickly entered the fashion industry thanks to internships at Balenciaga, where I worked as Assistant Product Manager and then Production and Materials Purchasing Manager.
To refine my expertise, I completed my studies with a Specialized Master in Fashion, Luxury and Design at the Institut Français de la Mode, where I discovered the Merchandiser profession. This training enabled me to join Louis Vuitton as Central Sales Merchandiser for Men's and Women's Accessories. ✨
👜 In 2020, I joined CELINE as Retail Merchandiser Europe for women's leather goods, before progressing to Retail Merchandising Manager. For four years, I accompanied the brand through spectacular growth, navigating between product strategy and sales analysis. This job, unique to fashion, combines creativity and a business approach, a balance I'm passionate about.
Today, I'm devoting myself to a personal project: a six-month trip to Brazil. From a beach in Bahia, I'm preparing my return to France in May 2025, with the ambition of embarking on a new adventure, potentially in fashion and luxury consulting.
#5 Marion Nicard des Rieux, Retail Director at Hermès
My name is Marion, and I'm originally from Limoges. After my baccalauréat, I moved to Paris to study for an IUT at Université René Descartes, followed by a degree in marketing at London Metropolitan University. I then joined Euromed for my master's degree, specializing in ESG (Environment, Social and Governance). 🎓
🌎 After a year on campus and a gap year in Rio de Janeiro, I worked forONU-Habitat on a project involving the private sector, the government and the United Nations. I completed my Master's at theUniversity of São Paulo and, wishing to stay in Brazil, I did an internship at the Economic Mission, in the Sustainability Department. Thanks to this experience, I discovered a VIE opportunity with Cartier and, to my surprise, I was selected! 🚀
I stayed there for 11 years, progressing in areas such as supply chain, merchandising, CRM and retail, where I moved from coordinator to supervisor. In 2021, I joined Hermès as Retail Manager, and after three and a half years, I was promoted to Retail Director. ✨
My 15 years in the luxury goods industry have been incredible. I'm passionate about retail, the very heart of the company, where everything converges. This heart must function optimally to guarantee the overall health of the organization. Being at the center of operations allows me to collaborate with all the support departments to ensure this smooth running. 🤝
#6 Clémentine Goualin, Collection Merchandiser Women Handbags at Loewe
🎓 I joined KEDGE's IBBA program in Marseille in 2013. This enriching course has given me four international experiences in just over two years, developing my skills and my taste for travel. I began my career in London, working for a public relations agency specializing in equestrianism. It continues with a university exchange in Chile, where I perfect my Spanish while exploringLatin America. After a stopover in Toronto, I concluded my studies with an internship in Singapore, at Business France. 🇨🇱🇸🇬
👜♻️ Passionate about fashion, I pursued a specialized master's degree (MAFED) at Bocconi in Milan, where I discovered the merchandising professions, met some wonderful people and learned more about the fashion world. During this period, I worked with Gucci on sustainability projects, a subject close to my heart. My immersion in the fashion industry continued with two internships, the first at Dior, in the Retail Merchandising team for textile accessories and hats, then at Givenchy in the merchandising collection for women's shoes. These experiences reinforced my passion for collection merchandising, where I work closely with designers.
👏 When I joined Balenciaga, I found the perfect opportunity in leather goods, a position I held for three and a half years before embarking on a new challenge at Loewe. Today, I play a strategic role in growing the women's leather goods category, working closely with the designers. Based on an in-depth analysis of the competition and markets, I structure the product offer, optimize budgets and improve margins, offering 360-degree management of the collection life cycle.
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