Transforming the world’s largest youth-led organization
About AIESEC
AIESEC is the world's largest youth-run organization. It is an international non-governmental and not-for-profit that provides young people with leadership development, cross-cultural global internships, and volunteer exchange experiences across the globe.
A 5 year journey from a university volunteer to global Chief Digital Officer
I worked at AIESEC for 5 years, moving from the local ranks as a volunteer to becoming a full time staff and executive. The roles I held included Social Media Manager, National Marketing Manager, VP Marketing and Communications, and finally as Chief Digital Officer.
As CDO, I was responsible for steering our marketing and digital operations across 128 countries. I managed a global team of 20, while having extended responsibility for marketing & digital department consisting of hundreds of full-time staff, and volunteers. I reported to the Board of Directors that consisted of executives ranging from private (PayPal, PwC, Unilever, ING) and third-sector organizations (Red Cross, World Economic Forum).
AIESEC’s global network presence
Organizational Context
My role focused on delivering digital transformation to create a customer-centric experience for our 1M users and 70,000 members. In 2010, the organization embarked on an ambitious 5-year plan to provide 1 million leadership experiences to its members. This task would require a overhaul of how the people accessed our programs and experiences in a more accessible, customer-centric way. I worked my way up the ranks during the 5 year roadmap, serving finally as CDO within the final year to lead the charge on final year of the strategy, and set the organization up for the next future vision process.
Projects I steered
Redesign of global brand identity
Redesign of global website and consolidation of country sites
Refresh of content strategy and creative direction
Overhaul of global information systems
Digitalization of products and services
Establishing a digital marketing operations
Launch of YouthSpeak, one of the world’s largest youth-focused survey
Global YouthSpeak report with the United Nations and PwC
Digital Transformation
As part of wider digital transformation initiatives, creating a globally consistent brand identity was key. As AIESEC operates via a network approach with decentralized offices in each of its 128 countries, gaining the buy-in of regional marketing heads and guiding change management was significant to the success of the work. With global alignment, we produced a 93-page document that outlined all digital guidelines for the brand's online presence.
Digital Experience
Prior to my role, the brand direction lacked a unified visual identity that worked effectively on social media and digital channels. I lead the creation of a new brand identity and roll-out across out network in 128 countries. The organization's web platforms were stuck in a static form that lacked responsiveness and adaptiveness to mobile devices. To achieve our growth ambitions, our website needed to serve beyond an information hub, but as a content platform that could educate and turn viewers into customers. To achieve digital transformation, we launched a new digital direction that included a mobile responsive website and completely reimagined user experience.
We saw a +250% increase in web traffic, 30% increase in engagement, and 9% lift in conversions. We also saw record-breaking membership growth throughout the year as a result of improved brand identity, digital marketing, social media, and communications efforts, including greater collaboration with our network operations, product management, and business development teams. We streamlined our digital operations, allowing us to reduce costs and improve efficiencies in managing national and local technology infrastructure, and consolidated our efforts into a global approach.
Thought Leadership as the World's Youngest Chief Digital Officer
At the age of 22, I delivered a keynote in-front of senior digital executives on "Harnessing the Power of Millennials for Digital Transformation” at the inaugural CDO Summit in London, UK at the BBC. I was an incredible moment in my life where I had the chance to educate and inspire others on the importance of engaging their younger peers and their roles as transformers. I utilized my position to generate thought leadership and help drive brand awareness of our organization with executive audiences.
Global Leadership Experience
I had the privilege of working on AIESEC's global leadership team that consisted of 24 people from 17 different nationalities. They were an incredibly passionate and talented group of teammates and friends that taught me so much about cross-cultural understanding, personal development, and human kindness.
Beyond my daily duties of leading a digital team, I had the opportunity to travel the world and speak at conferences hosted by: World Human Rights Forum, United Nations, and the European Union.
