How did you come to be at the Lycée Français de New York?
My family moved to New York from the Central African Republic in 1996. My mother was working for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the time, and we had been forced out of Bangui, the capital, following army mutinies. My brother, Youssouf, and I were enrolled in the Secondary School and arrived at the same time as another African student, Hichem Kerma from Algeria.
Hichem and I are still friends, and I remember we both thought that the Lycée was very different from the Lycées we had gone to in Africa and in France. It seemed that each student came from a different place, religion and socioeconomic background. I have always been adaptive, but none of the other schools gave me that same sense of purpose. The mix of New York’s energy and multi-ethnic culture, the Lycée’s diverse student body and its emphasis on academic success and good behavior instilled me with confidence, motivation and ambition to maximize my potential in life.
You’ve spent almost your entire professional career at L’Oréal.
After I graduated from McGill, I became a marketing assistant at Dassault Aviation, but I left after a year to get a masters in marketing and communications at L’Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP-EAP). I competed for a six-month internship when I was at ESCP-EAP at L’Oréal, and it was a tough environment at the beginning. I was interning and writing my thesis at the same time, and it’s like they throw you into a swimming pool and only the strongest survive!
And I was always interested in fashion. At the Lycée, I took first prize in art. Art was an escape for me, and for a time the idea of being constrained within a corporate environment was not attractive to me. To this day, I love working with creatives. I may give them ideas and direction, but I always give them an option to think out of the box and do things differently, and ultimately I think, more successfully.
Tell us about your experience working and living in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a land of possibility with huge potential and a growing middle class. It’s an exciting time there with industrial sectors that are beginning to move beyond the country’s basic natural resources into telecommunications, finance, etc. But it’s still a country that relies too much on its crude oil, which makes it very vulnerable to fluctuations in oil prices.
At L’ Oréal, we are working to combat these fluctuations by solidifying our activity, building on our strong corporate governance to develop a long-term strategy to accelerate sustainable growth in 2016 and beyond.
How is living in Lagos?
Lagos to me is like New York without the infrastructure — twenty million people, so it’s very busy, with a lot of energy. It’s quite vibrant, and because of all the investment in Nigeria, you have people from everywhere coming here. Nigeria is a former British colony, and new generations of Nigerians are returning to take part in the current development of the country.
Nigeria is also home to many different ethnic groups and three major religions: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Every time you meet somebody new or you discover a new neighborhood, you go, wow, I didn’t know this existed! I was invited to an event and found out that there are a lot of Romanians here. There is a big Greek community and a big Italian community. There are Indians who have been here for generations.
Culturally as well, Nigeria seems very rich, and some of its writers are getting a lot of attention in the U.S.
Yes, its writers and musicians. The Nigerian culture in modern music is incredible: its musicians and artists are some of the most important in Africa. When I went to Kenya they were playing Nigerian music; in Ghana, in Mali, they were playing Nigerian music. These are highly respected artists such as Asa and Fela Kuti. Thanks to one of my friends, I was fortunate to have Asa and Keziah Jones welcome me to Lagos. They introduced me to the art scene and quickly made me feel at home.
What is your next move?
My goal is to continue to grow professionally. In my current role, there is a lot of momentum for Nigeria, and for Africa, so it all depends. If there is an opportunity to add more value in Nigeria, I will stay. If I can contribute more by moving back to the Paris headquarters to continue building the African strategy, I will do that. But Latin American and Asian markets, cultures, and consumers have always fascinated me, so who knows…
About the Author :
Julia Pagnamenta graduated from the Lycée Français de New York in 2006.