I am sure you will enjoy listening to entrepreneur Audrey Kabla tomorrow discuss her new start-up Epykomène in Paris, France. It isn’t just her french accent and knowledge of French culture that will keep you intrigued. It is her courage to launch a marketing agency in the middle of a economic downturn in France. She was given what equates to 1/2 her expected annual salary as start-up funding from what we might call the small business coalition in Paris. She has successfully worked with a number of high profile clients during her first year of operation.
Epykomène is a new agency that specializes in marketing services for luxury goods. http://www.epykomene.com
Audrey left Monmouth College in 2004 and worked for Hilton and other famous brands after graduating with an MBA in luxury marketing from the Paris School of Business in 2009. She will talk in depth about the thrill and peril of launching her own service business which is 1.5 years new.
Being at MC opened doors to the international, Showed Audrey another way to consider business & marketing (more quantatatively oriented than the Paris Business School, used intense business plan & rigor at MC). She credits her international orientation from her experience at Monmouth as critical in finding internships and and her first jobs afterward.
What she learned at Monmouth that was the most useful for her was the Entreprenerism Capstone Business 406, incorporating a Business Plan course & Marketing Communication (BUSI 367) which was one very practical course that Audrey already had in France but her Monmouth professor (I’m blushing now) taught in another way ; treated the subject differently so that she felt she grew a lot.
“It was truly the first time I experienced to live with people from another new culture. I had to adapt myself still keeping my French background. In Rome you live like the Romans. That’s what I did and that’s what works worldwide.
“I did several internships and then had several positions in International companies.
Her main experience was in marketing and sales: at Dior Couture – a marketing research and survey company in Paris.
She had an internship and job at the Hilton Paris & Chicago – in the capacity of a sales & marketing assistant And then, she decided to leave her past brand management positions… to start with a new challenge and create her own company.
“First, I knew I always had the entrepreneur fiber within me and knew I would have my small boutique hotel concept in a few years…. however I had no idea of the project externalization concept…
“Things just came to me thanks to this opportunity in hotel & real estate I chose to take – I worked on this project 6 months before leaving my company and slowly but surely —-Epykomène appeared as the natural next step. I am one of those persons that get involved to 150% into projects … when it’s not my own company – 2 years is long time on one project… and so it came to me that I could probably be a marketing manager for several companies at the same time if I could do it for one. I wanted/needed to take a new challenge now that I couldn’t put off until later. I choose this because I want to work/move wherever I needed to. I needed autonomy and I was not totally in a good place in my previous jobs.” We are proud to welcome Audrey back to Monmouth College
