Campus life: a behind-the-scenes look of the entertainment industry

You took part in the learning expedition on Entertainment Management in Sofia. Why did you choose this learning expedition among the different ones offered to the MSc students?

Since I had been studying Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence at EDHEC, I wanted to expose myself to a new topic. The learning expedition offered me that opportunity. Furthermore, I had studied marketing for my bachelor’s and I was highly interested in the Entertainment business combined with technologies such as Metaverse, NFT, cryptocurrency… Sofia was therefore a perfect option that both fitted my interest and my goal to experience something new.

What are the main highlights of the learning expedition?

I would like to summarize the main highlights using two words: Learning and Experience.

First, I was able to gain various insights on topics including animation, gaming, and cryptocurrency… from business professionals. I have always been interested in these topics but had not gotten the chance to actually dig deeper into them. Hearing from professionals in Bulgaria made this learning experience even more interesting since I was able to learn some fresh perspectives on approaching business issues and solutions.

Additionally, I have experienced the Bulgarian diverse culture. I tried Bulgarian food and drinks, attended a ballet, and learned about the country’s history through a treasure hunt activity. Bulgaria’s unique cultural identity impressed me and was able to broaden my cultural understanding.

What are the main takeaways for you?

The main takeaway for me would be people, including Professor Guintcheva, who I met for the first time during the learning expedition. I was naturally exposed to situations where I had to work, communicate, and play with all the attendees. I am truly happy that I met such wonderful people from different backgrounds, which I could not have met without attending this trip to Sofia.

I am positive that I will be meeting up with them in Paris during and after my internship and I really hope to keep these precious relationships that, I have built for a long time.

What will remain your best memory?

My best memory would be the farewell party on the last day of the learning expedition. Not only did we have an amazing dinner with professors, entertainment business professionals in Sofia, and all the other students, but we went out together and ended up being in a random Irish Karaoke Bar in Sofia.

Lots of people including me got a chance to sing in front of others and people from different countries such as Bulgaria, Ireland, France, Korea, and Germany… and danced together which was totally unexpected but awesome at the same time!

ABOUT YOU

You chose to join the MSc in DA & IA after your Bachelor’s degree in Advertising & PR in Korea. Why join the MSc in DA & IA? What are your career aspirations?

While I was interning at an advertising agency in New York, I was responsible for Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, an annual product launch event held by Samsung Electronics, and I experienced how limited my work capacity was without being data literate. Every business decision was based on data and in order to proactively work and expand my expertise in the long run as a businessman, learning data was a must, not an option.

What aspects of the MSc program have you enjoyed the most? Your favorite class? Professor? And why?

I have enjoyed the well-organised and diversified academic courses the most. As a data student without relevant background, I had to start learning from the very basic statistics and coding, and the DA & AI program enabled me to move on to more advanced topics such as Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing… in a seamless manner.

Although I cannot select a single professor since all of them had their own specified domain knowledge that differs from each other, my favorite class was “Natural Language Processing for Business” by Professor Ivan Gordeliy. I was most satisfied with this course since it enabled me to fulfill my curiosity as a marketer by scrapping data from Twitter and analysing their sentiments and topics behind the tweets.

What has been the greatest opportunity you have had at EDHEC?

One of my greatest opportunities would have been to participate in the Capgemini Consulting Thesis Project instead of an individual thesis project. I worked with a group of four from different backgrounds (two students from the MSc in Strategy, Organisation & Consulting and two from the MSc in Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence). Dealing with a real-world dataset to solve business issues that a French start-up was facing gave me a perfect opportunity to apply my theoretical knowledge in practice.

Moreover, this experience even led me to get an internship since I was able to present my projects during the interview process. The HR told me that they were especially impressed by my projects with Capgemini.

How have you benefited from the EDHEC’s alumni network?

As a non-French-speaking international student, getting an internship was more challenging. However, I was able to lower this barrier by reaching out to the EDHEC alumni network spread around the different companies in France. I haven’t found a single company without EDHEC alumni! Whenever I was applying for a position, the first thing I did was to reach out to them and most of them replied kindly and shared with me some valuable information regarding the company and the position. In my case as well, I was able to get my internship at Back Market in Paris with the guidance of EDHEC alumni.

Can you tell us about the career services you benefited from?

I would say I had benefited from A to Z in the entire job-seeking process. First, I kept revising my resume and cover letter with EDHEC Career Centre’s counselors. With a more competitive CV and cover letter, I was able to attend multiple career events held by Career Centre, which led me to broaden my understanding of certain business sectors in addition to sharpening my pitch skills. Moreover, I have strengthened my hard skills such as coding and mathematics through Linkedin Learning. I was able to use all the study materials for free thanks to EDHEC career services.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about applying for the program?

I would say you won’t regret it once you become part of EDHEC. You will be surrounded by passionate people, optimized academic programs for students, and enjoy the lovely city of Lille, which is geographically at the heart of Europe. If your goal of pursuing an MSc is not to just get a degree but to actually step up your academic and professional background in a practical manner, I am confident that EDHEC will be a perfect option. Hope to be a part of EDHEC alumni with you and make an impact