L'Oréal Groupe

From Intern to International Project Manager, discover Yitao Sun's journey 

Who are you? And where do you come from? 

Hi, I’m Yitao SUN, 25 years old, originally from China. I joined L’Oréal in January this year as an International Project Manager working at Prada Beauty DMI (Direction Marketing International – essentially the team that manages the brand from a global perspective) team for the skincare line. Previously I had my first bachelor degree in Finance in China at Renmin University and a double degree in Marseille at KEDGE Business School in Business & Management, I then graduated from the ESSECC Business School in Management last year.  

How did you join L'Oréal? 

Joining the biggest beauty group in the world has been my dream and the main reason why I came to France for my studies. My first story with the group began 3 years ago in 2019 when there was a career fair at my school, where I had the chance to meet L’Oréal recruiters on campus and deeply exchanged with them. Later I was invited for an assessment event called “ONE DAY FOR MARKETING” where we had a group case study, and individual interviews with several brands. Then I had a great match with the managers from Biotherm Marketing department who offered me my first internship in this field.  

Later I also had several other internships outside the Group to discover a bit the operational marketing and communication sectors and finally decided to come back for my end-of-study internship at Lancôme in Marketing and specifically in the Génifique team to further strengthen my Marketing skills.  

What do you like the most about your job? 

Indeed, I do appreciate the fact that global brand team combines not only the operational but also the creative side of marketing. We experience the magic of drafting a concept from scratch and then follow every step through the creation of physical products including the formulas, primary & secondary packaging…until the final visual asset delivery for instance the advertisements, posters, and social media content! Moreover, this is not guesswork, we follow closely the latest market trends and work with different zones & countries to ensure the alignment with the markets’ needs.  

It’s also the pride and joy of seeing “your baby” appearing on the market & being appreciated by consumers that keeps me so passionate about working in the DMI level. My personal philosophy is to create things that brings good to the people and the world.  

What surprised you when you arrived at L'Oréal? 

There are 2 things that surprised me at first when I arrived.  

The first one is the “lunch culture”: even as interns, we were encouraged to meet and talk with different people during our lunch break, not only for networking but also for discovering the interesting side of their métier. This way we can better understand the whole eco-system of the group and also have a greater understanding about our role. It’s really such strong inter-personal relationship that bond tightly the L’Oréal community.  

The second thing is the “autonomy & responsibility”: we don’t have a very systematic approach as being at school to get taught everything, but we are encouraged to learn by ourselves to build our autonomy and get more responsibility throughout our training. For me it’s the fastest way to learn how to be proactive and to become a problem-solver. 

Life is unpredictable and we cannot forecast everything, however one thing we can prepare in advance is how we shape ourselves into agile people who can quickly find a solution. This is the most important lesson I learn from this L’Oréal culture.   

Your missions in a few words?

My main mission is to firstly draft the concept for a new launch or a renovation, then work in parallel with the laboratory to finalize the formulas and with the development team for the primary & secondary packaging design. Meanwhile, we work closely with the legal team & countries to ensure the legal compliance of our product launch. We also partner with several external agencies for mock-up and visual asset creation to further enrich the 360° world and hence cover the major contents in the whole consumer journey. Last but not the least, we are the kernel of the whole business chain to align all the departments about the consistency of the project & brand so that we all speak in the same voice to our end consumers.  

 
One lesson you learned at L'Oréal? 

Being proactive is a key quality to grow fast. It’s also extremely important to understand the logic behind things as it could facilitate your understanding of the global picture of the mission.   

Any advice for future trainees in your sector? 

Don’t hesitate to ask questionsand don’t be ashamed of making mistakes. What matters most is how to learn and grow from the mistake. Always be curious, humble yet dare to express your opinions because every voice counts in L’Oréal!  

Are you interested in joining L'Oréal too ? Click here to discover all our offers!