Interviewer: Mahmoud Mansi
“I will always choose a place where I belong not a place where I fit in…”
Amel Ait Ahcene
Senior Media Solutions Manager at an Internet Company
& Culture Activist
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEE
Young Algerian, Amazigh ⵣ, passionate about marketing and its evolution, over the past 10 years I’ve gained an extensive experience in Marketing and Social Media.
Facts about me: I don’t watch series (I don’t have Netflix) and don’t play video games “anymore” but I love making DYI stuffs from beauty to homecare products.
THE INTERVIEW
1- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Amel, in your BA you were specialized in translation, while in your two master’s degrees you were specialized in Marketing and European Affairs & Neighborhood Policy, where do you see the connection?
Amel Ait Ahcene: Since I was a kid, I loved reading books about different cultures and civilizations. The connection is the human interactions and stories that can happen with communication and exchange; whether it’s in trade, international affairs or marketing. I simply thrive in multicultural environments.
My education and background helped me build strong social awareness, so there’s no surprise that I end up working in the internet industry and more specifically a Social Media platform.
2- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Working in the social media industry, can you give us more details about your role in that market, and the passion you have towards this field?
Amel Ait Ahcene: Social Media industry is impacting us at every stage of our lives, everyone has a voice that can make a difference and have an impact, when used for a good purpose Social Media can be a real powerful tool, enabling growth and development at scale.
I’m proud to be part of this movement, as I help companies in MENA region build their Employer Brand and hire the best talents. It’s all about connecting companies to talents and creating economic opportunities for both sides.
3- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Throughout your different careers, you have surely been through a multitude of challenges. How does Amel perceive challenges?
Amel Ait Ahcene: What I have learned throughout my career, is to not take things for granted and to keep learning. To be successful you have to be passionate about what you are doing, find a meaning and purpose to your work, this is ultimately your driver and what keeps you going and most importantly be true to yourself. Now I know I will always choose a place where I belong not a place where I fit in.
All experiences are good when you learn something that will help shape your future. So, no matter what challenges you are facing, when you know what’s your end goal you can easily overcome them.
4- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: What is the impact you like to see on people, from your own work?
Amel Ait Ahcene: My focus is to empower people to take actions and help them achieve their business objectives and goals! Throughout my career, I have been lucky to deal with professionals from different nationalities and backgrounds. They all have one thing in common; they all want to be recognized as the expert in their field.
What I’m passionate about is building relationships, exchange with people and share ideas, disrupt the status quo, experiment new things and have fun! It’s all about attitude and personality.
5- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: If you are to provide suggestions for organizations on their way of using social media, what would you share?
Amel Ait Ahcene: Throughout my experience in social media and marketing in general, I can say that being authentic and having a voice will make a difference, i.e.: what you are sharing on social media should reflect the reality. All the branding efforts should convey to the same message, this is how you can create a meaningful customer journey and experience, and this has to be reflected on your social media strategy.
Being consistent on social media is very important, why? Because it helps build loyalty and trust, how to do it? By content creation and storytelling, the end goal is to build loyal communities who will help you achieve your mission, the aim is not just to have an army of followers but a community who believes in your purpose.
To sum up, know your audience, nurture and engage them in more personalized conversations. Social media is a great enabler when used in a strategic way, the insights and data that you can get are worth millions if you know how to leverage and translate this information into actions.
Making informed decisions using the data is the key of success in the future.
6- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: Do you think generation Y and generation X use social media differently?
Amel Ait Ahcene: When we say Millennials or generation Y, we think social media. I think Millennials are facing a lot of stereotypes as they can’t do any task if they don’t scroll on Social Media, surprisingly a study from Nielsen shows that in the US generation X spend more time on social media than generation Y!
The differences are mainly on the engagement, Millennials tend to share/comment more than Gen X who are known for consuming more content.
Now more than ever, companies and brands need to adapt their communication strategies based on the behavior of their target audience and focus on personalized experiences and engage into one to one conversations. In this case, Netflix is a great example of personalization. There’s a huge potential in this field in the MENA region across all industries.
7- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: How do you apply creativity across any work you do?
Amel Ait Ahcene: Creativity is a very important aspect of my work, whether I’m dealing with a complex situation or working on a project, I always try to disrupt the status quo, bring new ideas and focus on my strengths and work on projects that I am passionate about, when I do that usually magic happens!
I strongly believe that creativity is a pure human skill, training your brain to be creative is essential! This is what differentiates us from Robots.
We train our body by exercising, we need to train our brains as well. Learning is a lifetime journey that enables us to think outside the box and having a purpose that drives us forward and upward, and this help to stay positive and creative.
8- HR Revolution Middle East Magazine: As HR Revolution we promote gender equality & feminism at work, as a woman what drives you towards being more innovative & empowered at work?
Amel Ait Ahcene: What drives me forward is the support I receive from other women at work. It’s crucial for a woman to have a strong support system, allies and mentors; people (men & women) who can help you with your career and give you honest and constructive feedback, and build a network inside and outside your company.
All professionals especially women should connect and exchange with peers from different industries this will broaden your scope, thus it helps you become more innovative. We are lucky to have many events here in the UAE on women empowerment and networking meetups that I highly encourage professionals to attend.
I recommend to all women working in the corporate world or entrepreneurs to seek for mentorship opportunities and coaching, it’s very empowering to receive feedback and advice from experienced peers.
Personally, I have mentors and coaches helping me in different aspects of my personal and professional life, it’s like having your own board committee.