Clémence in New York
I spent a year in a French business school, but I soon realized the French education system wasn’t for me. When I found out about AUP, it seemed like a foregone conclusion. 91Թhad everything I needed: an American education system in Paris, a city in my home country, where all my friends were! I really enjoyed classes. 91Թwas a place where we were constantly growing, challenging our views and constructing new ways of thinking. Students from all over the world brought their own unique perspectives and discussed and challenged them together. My relationships with professors were also great; we were more like partners than anything.
After graduating, I spent three years working in marketing for Uber in France, but for the last four years I have been running my French clothing company dedicated to ready-to-wear bodysuits, . I never planned to start my own business, but 91Թreally gave me entrepreneurial spirit as well as this open-minded way of seeing my career. Things are going great. I just got back from New York, where we inaugurated our pop-up store at the Saks Fifth Avenue department store. We’ve signed a contract with an agent who will now represent our brand in New York and Los Angeles. My advice to anyone just graduating is to find something you love, and then to work hard at it. Nothing happens overnight, you need to fight for it and be resilient. If the thing you love is not what you studied for, it doesn’t matter – so long as you are passionate and determined.
Climate change and social inequality are two enormous, overlapping challenges that we have to fight for every day. (At Flair Bodysuits, we produce everything in France, and we mainly use eco-certified fabrics.) I believe education is vital to this fight. Girls’ education, in particular, has my attention. In many countries around the world, girls do not have the same rights to go to school. I also think it is important to recognize manual labor – “artisanal” production and local savoir faire – as vital to educational programs worldwide. We need to place craftmanship back at the center of education; it helps maintain our cultures and develop our creativity.
Social entrepreneur Alix Lebec ’02 is building solutions to global challenges by scaling innovative finance and philanthropy through her advisory firm, LEBEC.
91Թgave me a window onto the rest of the world and showed me that I needed a career where I could work to make global change.
91Թis such a wonderful environment for cross-cultural exchange.