Constance Noziere

INSEAD

“Born in France, raised in the US, Canada, and Japan. Always seeking the next adventure.”

Hometown: New York City, NY

Fun Fact About Yourself: Earlier this year I went scuba diving with Manta Rays in Hawaii!

Undergraduate School and Major: Cornell University / B.S. in Computer Science

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Senior Software Engineer, LinkedIn

INSEAD is one of the most culturally and professionally diverse MBA programs in the world. How do you see these global perspectives enhancing the value of your business education over the next year? Having grown up between cultures, I know that there are many ways of viewing the world. With each relocation, I was confronted with new ways of thinking that challenged my personality. These experiences taught me that heeding new opinions is essential to growth. Hence, I am so excited to learn from the global perspectives that pervade INSEAD. For the first couple of months, we are split into study groups of about 5 people. INSEAD intentionally makes these groups as diverse as possible and I have heard repeatedly from alumni that these study groups taught them some of their most important lessons in terms of working across cultures and resolving differences, equipping them well for the global workforce.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of INSEAD’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? One big reason was that I wanted to reconnect with my French roots. Being French but having lived abroad my whole life, I wanted to experience living and working in Europe. INSEAD was the perfect place for me to do this transition since it has such a strong presence in Europe. In general, I loved how diverse, international, and open the INSEAD community is. Everyone I talked to was so welcoming and open-minded that I immediately felt at home and knew this was the environment I wanted for my MBA. I feel most comfortable in an international environment, so it was such a huge plus for me to be able to spend my MBA with such a diverse cohort. Everyone in the program has a global mindset and is comfortable mixing cultures which makes for very enriching conversations and learnings that go far beyond the MBA classroom.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at INSEAD? I am very excited about the Startup Bootcamp hosted by INSEAD’s Center for Entrepreneurship. During this bootcamp, students learn how to build a venture from scratch over the course of a weekend. I’ve heard it’s an amazing bonding experience and great way to kickstart one’s entrepreneurial journey!

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Shortly after joining LinkedIn, I was given ownership over the logged-out profile page. This means that I was responsible for making sure the page worked as expected and overseeing any new features or additions to the page. It was a huge responsibility and I learned a tremendous amount in the process both in terms of technical skills as well as of how to manage and motivate teams. Most importantly, I am proud of the impact I was able to have since that page gets over 50 million views a week! It was such a great feeling to be able to see my work directly helping people connect with each other and find jobs, especially in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

How did COVID-19 change your perspective on your career and your life in general? On a personal level, the COVID-19 crisis gave me the chance to reset my priorities. I was fortunate to have been able to go home and spend time with my family. It also made me reconsider my career and the outcome was that I decided I wanted to pursue an MBA. Finally, it made me more empathetic to the challenges people face and as such motivated me to give back either directly through my career or by volunteering on the side.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point and what do you hope to do after graduation? I absolutely loved my time as a software engineer, but I naturally found myself leaning into the business side of things. As an engineer, you typically get involved once a product idea has already been fleshed out. Yet, I realized that my passion lies in thinking about the high-level vision for a product, getting feedback from users, and deciding what direction to go next. Hence, after graduation, I plan to pivot into tech product management and longer-term start my own company!

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Stanford, Columbia

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into INSEAD’s MBA program? I would encourage you to reach out any alumni or students you know. I have found the community to be incredibly helpful and knowing more about the school can only help with your application. When I was applying I talked to a couple of students and the caliber of the conversations I had propelled INSEAD to the top of my MBA list and grew my excitement for the program!

DON’T MISS: MEET INSEAD’S MBA CLASS OF 2022