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My Milano is Fashionable
Meet Paulina from Germany
My Milano is Fashionable
Paulina is from Germany and works in communications and branding for fashion. She stumbled upon Milano by chance but ended up loving the city's worldly and motivating vibe.
Where and what did you study in Milano?
Milano boasts over 15 universities and academies accredited by the Italian Ministry of Education for undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Various centers specialize in Master’s and Post-Graduate education, while private academies and schools issue industry-specific certificates recognized in the pertinent sectors.
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In the final semester of my Master’s program, I went on an Erasmus exchange to Bocconi University where I mainly selected courses related to management of fashion and arts.
Why did you choose Milano for your degree?
It was a pretty rational decision-making process, not very romantic at all. Due to COVID, many host universities canceled the exchange before and I thought, with Milano having been hit by the pandemic very early on, chances of the exchange semester happening are higher than in other places. Besides, Bocconi offered more specialized courses that also seemed to me to be more grounded in reality, i.e. in the professional world, than the mainly theory- and research-focused ones offered by my home university.
Where are you doing your internship now? Is it in line with your studies?
I now work in communications and branding for CORMIO, a Milanese fashion brand. You could say this job is in line with my degree as I studied first Communication Science, and later, Management in the Creative Industries.
Tell us more about this company.
Milano and fashion, a combination that is famous all over the world. From the luxury of the Quadrilatero della Moda to offers for all pockets of streets like Corso Vittorio Emanuele II or Corso Buenos Aires, Milano is the city for you.
It is an emerging fashion brand that was started right before the pandemic and has been growing steadily ever since. We are a small team of five full-time employees and two part-timers which means that I get to peak into all different departments and get a holistic 360-degree view of a fashion company.
Did your university support you in starting your internship? How?
I used the Bocconi job portal to search for internships but did not find many openings that spoke to me. However, the job portal can be a gold mine, especially when searching for positions within the spheres of consulting, finance, etc. Besides, Bocconi professors are happy to help students get in contact with organizations, for instance by inviting guest speakers, assigning real-world case studies in collaboration with firms, and sharing job openings with their students. Had I had more time at Bocconi, I am sure I could have found an internship or even a job with the help of the professors and the university’s job portal.
What do you like about Milano?
I was very positively surprised by how worldly and stimulating the city is. In my opinion, in terms of cultural offering, the city can easily compete with world cities such as Tokyo or New York, despite its much smaller size. In the past, my parents used to take me to Italy in the summer and it is lovely to now live in this large functioning city that still reminds me of my childhood holidays.
Do you have any advice for people who want to come to Milano to study?
Living in Milano is a greatly enriching experience, both for boosting your educational credentials, as well as a great opportunity to discover a new culture and life perspectives.
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I would advise them to not only spend time in the university bubble (campus, dormitories, student bars, etc.) but also explore the various other “realities” the city has to offer. I love that the student world and the working world are very much intermixed in Milano and I think students should take advantage of that.
What would you suggest to someone who wants to start an internship in Milano?
My recommendation is to send out as many applications as possible and to even follow up with companies that did respond. Of course, one should not apply randomly to every opening they come across, but make sure that the job would be a good match. But once you come across a position that sounds perfect and you applied for it, keep looking. In my experience, even unpaid internship positions are in high demand and you want to increase your chances of finding something on time by not putting all your eggs into one basket.
