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Mélanie Chesnel
Communication and marketing Course Master's degree
School year ISIT 2018
Specialization Intercultural Communications & Translation
Country France
Mélanie Chesnel joined ISIT to achieve her dream of becoming an interpreter and translator. 3 years later, including one as an apprentice in the communication team of a world leader in transportation, she was ready to start her career with a new ambition: creating new inspirational editorial content for international brands and media.
Before ISIT?
- Before joining ISIT, I studied in Normandy. After graduating from high school specializing in literature, I went on to a classe préparatoire in literature (intensive preparatory course for the grandes écoles – highly selective higher education establishments. Those 2 years were highly educational and a real asset, no matter our background.
- After specializing in English and Italian during my classe préparatoire, I sent in my application to ISIT, wanting to join the MCT Management, communication, and translation curriculum for the 3rd. This was the start of my ISIT journey!
Why ISIT?
- My mind had been made up for a long time. I discovered the school in 2010, when I was 15, and had my heart set on becoming a translator-interpreter.
- Today, I would choose ISIT for other goals reasons, proving that this education is versatile, teaching us to think and guiding us over the years to build our career plan.
What are the assets of this education?
- Nowadays, most students study communication, marketing, management or digital. The true asset of ISIT and specifically the Intercultural Communication and Translation (CIT) Master’s degree is the multilingual and intercultural expertise that we acquire by the end of our education. This is usually the distinctive factor compared with other profiles on the job market.
- The school teaches us to be linguists and to develop good multicultural analysis skills, we can speak in international contexts and keep our heads cool, we can be demanding and always look at our work with a critical eye.
- For me, another asset is everything that the ISIT education pushes us to do in addition to the school work, such as internships, exchanges, and apprenticeships during the final year of our master’s degree, which leads us to gain flexibility, reactivity, and creativity.
After ISIT?
- After varied professional experiences, I am soon aiming to create and manage inspiring editorial content for international brands and media.
- After varied professional experiences, I am soon aiming to create and manage inspiring editorial content for international brands and media.
- In the long term, my goal is to manage multilingual editorial projects.
Any advice for future students?
- While we might see language professions and in particular translation as solitary careers, I found, on the contrary, that within ISIT you can quickly create groups and network with your classmates (who will, by the way, become good friends).
- In regard to the Intercultural Communication and translation Master’s degree, I would say, in retrospect, that you have to stay curious, because while we can become a great specialist (in translation and communication), open-mindedness and other types of knowledge (HTML, UX design…) can teach you much more.
And today?
Mélanie Chesnel didn’t give up on her dream and has had several experiences in editorial content creation. She worked for Air France as an editorial and translation project manager, then for My little Paris as an editorial manager, then she was a writer, editor and France-Benelux localizer for The Body Shop. She has been a content manager for Omie since 2023.