“I feel very proud and glad to be part of a meaningful movement that promotes the power of gender diversity,” says 22-year-old Marta Bellomo – an Electrolux Professional intern in Italy and recent graduate in Economics & Management from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Faced with the decision to immediately pursue a master’s degree or invest some time in internship, she took up the challenge with Professional and says it was “life-changing”.
What led you to take up an internship at Electrolux Professional?
I happened to be taking a course with a Professor who had quite a history with Electrolux – Dr. Detlef Münchow, former Head of Electrolux Professional. He took our class to visit the company headquarters in March 2018, and I kept in touch with the company after that.
Tell us more about your internship.
My undergraduate dissertation was on Leadership & Gender Diversity and it was another compelling reason I was really keen on the opportunity. An important focus of my internship is to promote awareness of gender diversity and foster healthy dialogue on the topic.
As part of the Human Resources team, I partnered with our Women@Electrolux network across the Electrolux Group and organized various initiatives, under Women@Professional at the headquarters.
Can you tell us more about these networks?
Women@Electrolux is a global movement to drive diversity from within. Like other regional offices around the world, we have established a local network in Vallenoncello, Italy, called Women@Professional, backed by our Senior Management Team, including the President and CEO, Alberto Zanata.
Since September 2018, we have organized number of activities – from networking events that promote discussion and awareness to informational sessions by specialists about cancer prevention for both women and men and promoting participation in Corri in Rosa – a sports event to raise funds for breast cancer prevention.
What are you most proud of?
My last project was to kick-start ’Step-Change’ and I’m really proud of being able to be involved in its conception. It’s a series of seminars aimed to develop soft skills, as well as to empower confidence in female employees to take up challenging leadership positions.
What are your career aspirations?
My 7 months with Electrolux Professional has confirmed my belief that we are all unique and different in our own ways and, despite our differences, we are equal; we each possess our own value and everyone can contribute. We should always listen and appreciate each other, as well as be confident in our ability and comfortable with ourselves.
In the future, I aspire to pursue a career in consulting where I can further exercise this belief and help organizations tap into the collective power of diversity to achieve their purpose and goals.
Check out our global career site to discover more on our internship opportunities.