These days, when people ask me what I do in life, I proudly exclaim “I’m unemployed!” with a big smile on my face. I know that this sounds counterintuitive and I am very privileged to be able to embrace my unemployment so happily.
You see, it’s been a long time coming. I joined Philip Morris International (PMI) at age 22, after earning my masters degree, as a freshly-graduated intern in their HQ digital team. By age 25, I was leading the entire multicategory digital marketing unit for the Swiss affiliate of PMI. By the age 29, I had established and led 3 different business units, created and deployed countless commercial strategies and experienced my fair share of corporate wins and losses.
It’s been 8 years and 7 different positions with a steep learning curve that I was eager to conquer. I became Miss Corporate and I fully embraced that title because that was my dream when I was a kid (rest assured - I had a very healthy and fun childhood!).
But as I neared the end of my 20s, I started to yearn for a different kind of professional life. One where I could focus more on the joy of creating new things and spend less time dealing with corporate dynamics. A life where I can choose how I spend my finite time, rather than going from endless meeting to meeting. I shared more on that topic in my previous blog post.
After several years of resisting this yearning, I finally left my corporate job along with my Miss Corporate identity. And let me tell you... I feel so free.
Today, I’m excited to be unemployed because it means I was able to leave my comfort bubble and commit myself to create a life that’s more fulfilling to me.
And one of the reasons why I feel so sure in my choice, is because Philip Morris was the best career (and life) school that I could have asked for. I leave this multinational with so much business knowledge and experience that all I can say is simply thank you PMI for having equipped me so well.
So goodbye Miss Corporate... and Hello [New Exciting Projects]
PS: No, I won’t be calling myself ‘Miss Unemployed’ anytime soon! I’m already cooking for my next titles. But more on that another time.
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