Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Yasmine Bonami, Consultant Strategist
How could you describe your career path in few words?
My career path has been quite transversal and multidimensional in terms of competencies
and acquired knowledge. Coming from a French Baccalaureat with a commercial
communication major, I decided to join a design art school and study interior design. I chose
to work in B2B, leaning in the institutional layout and not B2C. Indeed, I really wanted to
keep the corporate aspect of management that I really appreciated. Full of these learning, I
then created my own firm in luxury design consultancy and event management. This last
successful experience enabled me to acquire a solid knowledge base both in terms of
corporate clients and smart business partnerships. I was able to build up my career as a
senior project manager in business development. With a high creativity and leadership and
initiative mindset, I still wanted to challenge myself and look for new empowering
experiences, after more than ten years of entrepreneurship. I thus decided to acquire more
knowledge, pursue a French Bachelor's degree in Marketing, and finish later one with three Spanish Master's degrees in: Academic Management, ICT in Active Education and the last one in Transformative Communication and Design Thinking. Recently, I also completed a
Fast MBA entrepreneurship certification from the Entrepreneurship Institute of Madrid.
Thanks to my dual career in both entrepreneurship and business management, I was able
to push my expectations further and fulfil my different passions and interests. Indeed, I have
worked over 10 years in several different sectors, such as Architecture, Marketing, Public
relation, corporate communication, Management academic and consultancy. Creating my
own business helped me discover a real passion for consulting of Intrapreneurship in
corporate communication strategy and innovation transformation. I have been able to
leverage on the latter and go beyond these achievements thanks to my last academic years
and job fulfilments. I can say with no doubt that my career path has been rich both in terms
of human and professional experiences.
What was your most challenging experience and it has changed your
mindset?
My most challenging was when I reoriented my career to consulting, that's where I really
found myself and have always defined myself as an entrepreneurial woman. I would say that
this committed work side comes from my father, I admired his perseverance, his optimism
and his great audacity. Qualities that I have granted myself today to always go beyond any
challenge.
However, what has changed my mindset is above all the growth state of mind that I have learned to cultivate through resilience, curiosity to learn and humility.
Finally, the challenges of experience are somehow the purpose that we put. I would say that the goal of everything is the asset of life, and comes from the energy that we develop in power when we believe in ourselves.
As we are in the 21st century, the future calls for reflection in terms of the progress of knowledge, and in particular of corporate communication and technology, giving hope for a future of progress for humanity. In fact, current events remind us every day to keep progressing in terms of knowledge consolidation.
And finally, lifelong learning is increasingly becoming one of the most powerful weapons we have to shape the world of tomorrow or, more modestly, to steer us towards a promising future by following emerging trends to train the actors of the future.
How could you describe a consultant job in general and what you take care off?
Essentially, consultants are hired to share their expertise and knowledge to help companies
achieve their goals and solve their challenges. Companies hire independent consultants on
a full-time or part-time basis to do day-to-day work in order to support and fulfil work
missions.
As a senior independent consultant and consultant manager at MBH consulting, I help companies to stay competitive, identifying industry trends and creating strategies to improve their performance by analysing the global market through in-depth market research, industry context and innovation trends. Therefore, my area of expertise includes:
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of information related to the industry context, technology and innovation.
Partnerships: Association with corporate actors and innovation ecosystems (start-ups, companies).
Corporate communication strategy: Design of solutions adapted to the needs of clients: Design Thinking, Customer centric and Open Innovation.
Product strategy: Generating brand awareness, visibility strategy, PR strategy.
Leadership strategies: Improving performance through mentoring.
Based on your experience, what’s the key success factor for a female leader /
manager?
Regarding my experience, I would say above all agility and emotional intelligence. Great
leaders have the ability to master human relationships by regulating their own feelings, and
the empathy that connects them to the aspirations of their employees in moments of crisis
and strength.
When I was managing luxury conception, I had to deal with several management attributes such as negotiation with stakeholders, corporate reputation, company in crisis situations, and finally human capital management. This ability to manage emanates from leadership in order to positively influence and unite around a common goal.
Every woman should adopt a natural leadership style, away from superficiality, to focus on analysing business practices and developing strategies for improvement, and emphasise teamwork to bring about positive change in the workplace culture.
However, I would recommend to have a futuristic vision, a strategy developed that will give added value to the client in terms of business development, creativity and innovation and finally developing the tenacity to face the business and the world of tomorrow.
