{"id":1749,"date":"2023-05-30T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T08:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2023-06-05T09:37:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T09:37:13","slug":"sophie-pieters-operations-officer-institute-of-global-health-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/05\/30\/sophie-pieters-operations-officer-institute-of-global-health-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Sophie Pieters, Operations Officer, Institute of Global Health Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1751 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/files\/2023\/05\/Sophie-Pieters-social-card-1024x512.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><span class=\"TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW146985310 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW146985310 BCX0\">\u201cA degree is something I have always wanted, and I am so proud of myself for finally going for it in my thirties.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/strong><span class=\"EOP SCXW146985310 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When I left high school, aged 18, it seemed that everyone around me had a clear vision of their careers and passions. I found myself with a lot of different interests but simply no real calling. I worked at a call centre, as a cleaner, a receptionist and a management assistant \u2013 all in the space of a few years. My wanderings were not confined to employment, and I decided to move from my home country of Belgium to London. Imperial was the first place I worked, and I was here for a few years in the role of executive assistant.<\/p>\n<p>During the pandemic, I struggled with my mental health and felt like I was failing in life. When scrolling through LinkedIn and other social media, it seemed like everyone was doing incredible things or changing the world. I wished I had a special talent or a skill that could make a difference. Friends or colleagues would tell me I am organised and caring but I thought these talents to be boring and nothing special. When colleagues would ask me about my career journey, I always felt defensive and started with: \u201cI only have a high school degree but here I am, working in London!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I decided I no longer wanted this to be my answer and in 2021 I started studying part-time for a BA degree in French and History. A degree is something I have always wanted, and I am so proud of myself for finally going for it in my thirties. I am set to graduate next year. During this time, I also returned to Imperial to work as Operations Officer at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/global-health-innovation\/\">Institute of Global Health Innovation<\/a> (IGHI) where one of my roles is to oversee the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/global-health-innovation\/opportunities\/julia-anderson-training-programme\/\">Julia Anderson Training Programme<\/a> (JAT), offering paid work experience to those with no previous work experience.<\/p>\n<p>When I started my career, I suffered from imposter syndrome and had major doubts about my English skills. Now at IGHI, I have an incredible line manager who gives me confidence and the opportunity to develop the JAT programme which has been running for a year now and has been more successful than we could have hoped.<\/p>\n<p>It has been the most rewarding work I have ever done, and I feel like I\u2019m making a difference to our trainees\u2019 lives. I listen to their stories, push them out of their comfort zone and I\u2019m there for them when needed. My advice to them is that it\u2019s ok if you\u2019re not sure what you want to do yet. I know from my own experience that the different jobs I\u2019ve had along the way have shaped who I am today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cA degree is something I have always wanted, and I am so proud of myself for finally going for it in my thirties.\u201d\u00a0 When I left high school, aged 18, it seemed that everyone around me had a clear vision of their careers and passions. I found myself with a lot of different interests but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sophie Pieters, Operations Officer, Institute of Global Health Innovation - Imperial people<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/imperial-people\/2023\/05\/30\/sophie-pieters-operations-officer-institute-of-global-health-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sophie Pieters, Operations Officer, Institute of Global Health Innovation - Imperial people\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cA degree is something I have always wanted, and I am so proud of myself for finally going for it in my thirties.\u201d\u00a0 When I left high school, aged 18, it seemed that everyone around me had a clear vision of their careers and passions. 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