making it happen: I got the job!

I am super super super happy to share with you that I have been selected as the new Communications Officer of an European organization that works for societies of people with intellectual disabilities in all Europe, based in Brussels, with offices in Lisbon and Prague.

I am in charge to create, plan and execute the Communications Strategy (mostly web 2.0 :P) for the organization and to support the realization of the International Congress in Berlin, in June, next year!! :-)

Honestly, this was the most challenging selection process I presented though, imagine to think on web 2.0 ideas for people who doesn't read or understand, or only speaks one language with difficulty! The interview was super cool and we shared cool ideas never seen before, and I am going to have the chance to make this happen!... I was selected of a pool of 5 shortlisted candidates out of 300 applicants!..

I am starting as soon as I got all my legal docummentation in order.. in the meanwhile, I am starting to read and learn more about the topic. It will be a complete new experience that comprises all my interests in one job: Communications, Technology, Social Development, Inclusion and Europe... I am super happy to be able to stay longer in Brussels as I wanted.

Telling the story! happy to release the AIESEC Annual Report 08/09

This week, the AIESEC International Annual Report 2008/2009 was released, which officially closes my and my colleague Lucy Symons’ roles in ‘telling the story’ strategy from the global office of AIESEC.

http://aiesec.org/cms/aiesec/AI/partners/publications.html

It was a busy successful year for our team, we we’re especially proud to see an alumnus receive the Nobel Prize, to have launched our refreshed global website and to have grown 45% with over 6787 internships placed across the world since June. What a journey!

So much of our strategy, tactics and choices tie back to the conversations and resources many people supported us with- thank you immensely for being so available and supportive across the year.

I want to thank also to the editorial team of the AIESEC online dialogues, responsible to get all the stories we reflected in the annual report. To the beautiful group of designers of InStyle Agency in Uruguay that transformed our ideas into a reality, to our photographer Hannah Anthonysz and to our global partners, alumni and members who contributed in this edition.

Warmly,

Lucy and Aleja
COMM Team, AIESEC International 2008-2009

About Brussels,

This is funny, some Belgian people ask me WHY do I consider Brussels as my favourite city in Europe, like if it was something unbelievable. I am not denying the beauty of other cities such as: Paris, Rome, Budapest, Prague, Amsterdam, Madrid, and many more that I have had the chance to visit... the ones that people usually have in their fav lists, But, simply in Brussels I can find a bit OF everything that make me happy...

The first time I heard about Brussels I was in another beautiful city, but in Colombia: Cartagena, it was some years ago. I was with a very special friend of mine, Belgian ;-), he was finishing his internship in Colombia and he was sharing with me how crazy he fell in love of Colombia while his internship. I asked him why did it happen and he started to explain me his city and the"differences" with the colombian ones. However, I was listening to his arguments, and I just got attracted to know that place he was describing me: Brussels!.

This is a small but super international city, capital of Europe,
with French and Dutch as official languages, but high level of English and even Spanish,
place to taste the most delicious chocolate, waffles and ice cream,
to discover that the "French fries" are actually Belgian :P,
its musical festivals,
its thousands of different brands and flavours of beers,
its parks,
its streets,
its pubs,
its medieval buildings,
its museums,
historical places and modern architecture,
cosy cafes, people everywhere, friends everywhere...
an amazing small city for great moments to live and enjoy.

Today is one month already in Brussels and I have enjoyed discovering all what he told me that night in Cartagena. It is good to have him here as well! the world is extremely small and all of us are just global citizens. :-)

I still have some pending items in the list, but I hope to be able to have more time to explore this magic city... fingers crossed!


One last point, for sure what I like the most of this city is that they do not have a big warrior, or "liberator" riding a horse statue as their landmark, they have two "petit" naked children urinating the city! This is the emblem.. I find this really cool, just simplicity!

If you want to explore more about this legend, then click here

Hope you can visit this city.. even better if I am here! ;-)
Hugs and thanks for reading,!

Lala.