Communication

With a life-long passion for writing and a business mindset, our Communication Account Associate Elisabeth is also often close to laughing and is always curious, which may actually be the reason why she’s figured out how to draw 3D unicorns in PowerPoint. She has now nearly completed her first year as part of the MSC family and is a great addition to our communication team. We asked her to introduce herself here in our a team profile series.

My name is Elisabeth and since June last year, I work as a Communication Account Associate (CAA) at MSC. From an early age, I’ve had a passion for writing and communication, which is why I chose the social science program Journalism and Authorship in high school and continued on with a B.Sc. in Marketing at Handelshögskolan in Gothenburg. While the high school years enabled me to develop my writing skills, the bachelor’s degree helped me develop a business mindset, analytical thinking and strategic decision-making skills. What truly caught my interest in marketing was the psychological aspect, especially how individuals’ behavior can be predicted or influenced through different marketing efforts. My bachelor’s thesis, thus, came to focus on behavioral finance, which is a stream of research concerned with how psychology-based theories might explain stock market anomalies such as sudden rises or falls in stock price.

In my work as a CAA, behavioral finance becomes very present and that is one of the things that I love about my role. Seeing how my wording in a press release or in an article can influence retail investor behavior and, in turn, sometimes have a direct impact on the share price is both powerful and exciting but also a great responsibility. At the same time, the wait for that response can be quite tense. I am, therefore, extremely grateful to be surrounded by such knowledgeable and supportive colleagues who are always there to triple check the messages, facts and give advice on how to word delicate sentences.

“Seeing how my wording in a press release or in an article can influence retail investor behavior and, in turn, sometimes have a direct impact on the share price is both powerful and exciting but also a great responsibility.”

After finishing my B.Sc. in Marketing, I continued on with a M.Sc. in Innovation and Industrial Management. When discussing the complexity of innovation, the drug development process was often brought up as a prime example of how innovation may take time but result in something extremely valuable. This was actually what first kindled my interest in the life science industry. When I later saw MSC’s job ad for a CAA I jumped at the opportunity to work with innovation, behavioral psychology and communication – all at once.

Now nearly a year later, I could not be happier with my choice to challenge myself and venture into an entirely new field. In addition to being extremely challenging and developing, both professionally and personally, being part of MSC also means being part of something bigger. More than once, I’ve read up on a client’s technology and suddenly realized that if this drug works, if this drug reaches the market, it will have the ability to change millions of lives for the better. The feeling of being able to make a small contribution towards that development is absolutely amazing.

Best regards,
Elisabeth

At the end of any job interview it’s the interviewee’s turn to ask the questions, and a recurring theme among these candidate questions is what a typical day at Monocl Strategy & Communication is like. So we decided to do what we do best and provide some insights. As all of us have our own daily routines and schedules, we are going to follow a number of us around in this A day in the life of… series this time with our Chief Operating Officer & Communication Director, Tove Bergenholt.

Tove, please describe your role in the company?

As I am both the COO and the Communication Director, my role is quite diverse and varied – which is exactly what I love about it! In my Communication Director role, I am the key contact person for existing and prospective clients, set strategies, create leads, and have the overall responsibility for all projects within communication. At this time, I also support certain clients with their day-to-day communication activities such as updating websites, writing press releases and advising in communications-related Nasdaq regulations. The aim is, however, to build up a communication team that manages the clients’ day-to-day needs with me as strategic counsel and support as well as a final quality assurance.

As the COO on the other hand, my job can more or less be comprised into one sentence: making sure that operations run smoothly. Now, what that exactly means is a different story but after years in consultancy, I am used to working a bit on the fly and solving any challenge that may appear. In this role, I am responsible for the operations across the company, ensuring among other things that the team is happy, challenged and have everything they need to do an amazing job. This could mean everything from helping a colleague to formulate their goals to having though performance discussions to ordering snacks for the office to keep everyone energized!

In either role, there’s no day looking the same. These ever-changing challenges, variation of tasks and team work is, in my opinion, one of the best things about my line of work. It does, however, make a challenge out of describing your typical day or explaining what you do at work with to a neighbor or your grandma. But here is a try of providing at least one ‘teaser’ day.

“It does, however, make a challenge of describing your typical day or explaining what you do at work to a neighbor or your grandma.”

A day in the life

Let’s take a look at a day in the life of the COO and Communication Director at MSC.