Sophie Trueman

What was your career experience prior to studying the Executive MBA? 

My career began in the FMCG (Fast moving consumer goods) world, where I started on the Management trainee graduate programme at L’Oréal. This was a fantastic scheme where I rotated around the business experiencing different functions and how they all interconnected. I spent nearly 6 years of my career there, predominantly working in the Commercial team for the consumer products division. This involved managing the external relationships with our key retailers (such as Tesco, Boots, Selfridges to name a few!) and overseeing the full P&L for the function. After a short sabbatical in The Philippines where I volunteered with an amazing marine conservation charity that focused on Ocean plastics, I decided to move my career towards my passion for Sustainability. In 2019 I moved into the ‘start-up’ world, following my desire to experience a smaller, scaling company and gain knowledge of the ‘green tech’ space. I have spent the last four years at Too Good To Go where I now lead the UK and Ireland team. 

How are you planning to use your Executive MBA for your future career? 

I hope the EMBA will equip me with an armour of learnings and skills to tackle any senior role in business, through providing different perspectives and approaches to a multitude of challenges. Finally, I hope the EMBA network and career coaching can be a valuable source and direction to help guide me to my next career move. 

What are you enjoying learning about the most? 

For me it’s the wealth of diversity the programme offers; from corporate finance to Marketing to Strategy and then Grand technologies; it’s a fantastic all-rounder and certainly challenges you in areas that are outside of the ‘day job’. A personal highlight for me has been the Executive Leadership modules as this is an area I not only enjoy, but one I am keen to learn more on. 

Are you part of any clubs or societies? How have they contributed to your Imperial experience? 

I am part of the University's Scholarship club and also have recently been appointed a mentor for the Mission Gender Equality Programme, a cross-company mentoring programme supported by the 30% club campaign. Both these add another dimension to my Imperial experience and have opened my network up to even more great people! 

How does the programme help you stay up to date with evolving industry trends, themes and challenges in the real world? 

The programme really helps with this. Firstly, you get access to a whole host of excellent resources, from free media subscriptions such as The Economist or Financial Times and a vast selection of books and articles via the University library. Secondly, the lectures and pre-study tend to involve real-life case studies, discussing current trends, and applying learning to real-life challenges; in my opinion, this is the best and most rewarding way of staying on top of trends. 

What advice would you give to someone who’s considering applying for this programme?  

If you are interested and excited by the programme, and willing to put the time in then absolutely go for it! It is a large investment that you need to seriously consider (both financially and from a time perspective) but it's been incredibly rewarding so far and the network of people you will meet will be very valuable.