My name is Giulia Zucchini and I studied
the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and
Management programme at Imperial College
Business School.
My ultimate goal was to be able to work in sports. I didn't quite think I'd be so lucky and make it happen
but nine months ago I was able to make
the move to Formula 1 where I started
working as a Commercial Business
Intelligence Manager for the Sponsorship team.
My background was actually in
Social Science, so I really thought that
I needed something to give me a bit more
of a business grounding and I thought
that the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and
Management programme was a good mix of
creativity and business and knowing that
I wanted to work in a company that was
more cutting-edge. I really thought that
it would be the best course for me.
Formula One is like nowhere I've ever
worked before it is so fast-paced. We
have 21 races across five continents and
it's never ending. That's half weekends a
year where the team is moving. We're in
different markets, working with different
promoters and the fan bases are really
diverse. Overall Formula 1 is an
exceptional place to be able to take the
learnings from my programme and be able to
use them every day. There's a number of
different skills that I think the course
taught me. Doing modules like Accounting
and Finance, I was really able to look at
data and find ways to tell stories with
it which is really relevant in my
current Commercial Business Intelligence
role. Another skill that was very
practical was for the first time I was
really able to work with people from
different cultures and different
backgrounds so I think I learned to be
really empathetic and really tried to
understand different personality types
different ways of communicating which I
feel like I didn't really have before.
Imperial was an incredible place to
study, not only because of the location
which is in the most beautiful parts of
London but also everything that was on
offer in terms of extracurricular
activities. I was able to meet so many
people through my basketball team and
it's still my main hobby. I play four
times a week it really helps me, for the
most part, de-stress and relax and focus
on something else other than work and my
day-to-day.
I think the advice that I would give is to really be yourself. Not all companies are looking for a set
person, a specific mold. Not everyone
wants to do a programme in management to
then go into finance or banking so the
Innovation, Entrepreneurship and
Management programme allows you to see everything out there that is possible.
I have friends from my cohort that have
really exciting startups, I work in
sports, I have friends that work in tech.
So I would say that undertaking the
programme will help you sort of shed light on everything that is out there and
really help you shape your future and
understand where you might like to be.
 
