This is Milk and Me - Kyriaki Xypolia

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​A warm welcome to Kyriaki Xypolia, out newest TiM team member! She tells us about her first impressions about the team and shares some thoughts about her working life to date! Have a read.

One year ago, it was only last summer, I decided to come to Scotland to pursue my Master’s Degree in Marketing at the University of Aberdeen.

My background was merely related with research, having worked in a variety of different social research projects while studying sociology and working in National Centre for Social Research in Greece. Market research first came to my life during the year I spent in Poland as an exchange student, where I had the opportunity to work on a consumer behaviour project. Although I also held positions before and after Poland that research was not included in my main tasks, I was always keen on bringing research and its insights as the key to moving forward!

So, in a nutshell, by choosing to study marketing, I was aiming to dive deeper and deeper into research through it!
What most intrigued me during my studies here though was the ‘industry weeks’ that University of Aberdeen was organising every two months for us. During these weeks, we had the opportunity to work on real-life projects, i.e. consultancy projects for clients that had marketing-related ‘problems’. I particularly enjoyed it, and it was something new for me, as I had never worked as or thought to be a consultant before. I realised that consultancy combines all my passions: research that leads to a change for better and assisting people!

During the final industry week, I luckily came across This is Milk`s job advert. I straight away understood that this company is something special, something different, only by reading the brand name! This is Milk is a baby – a 2 year old baby – but its growth reminds me of a well grown-up adult.  And it is not only the  growth so far that makes This is Milk special, but its high potential to grow tremendously. The way that This is Milk achieves this is by taking something traditional that every company promises but cannot deliver in practice, such as customer-centricity and team collaboration, and in an innovative way makes it happen!

I would actually say that This is Milk’s approach is not just customer-centric, it is a people-centric one. Customers are at the heart of the business, wanting to help them progress and grow. Having a diverse range of projects shows This is Milk’s commitment to respond to the customers’ needs. Although the walls of the offices are originally white, they are covered in colourful papers that include all the customer projects. Another wall is dedicated to ‘learning’: each project, each task is treated with reflection of what went well and what could go differently which, for me personally, is the key to success.
 
The collaborative spirit is what also set This is Milk apart for me. Being transparent about everything, discussing all the ideas, rewarding each other’s work are a few things that makes TiM a real team! Each member respects and values each other.
 
Being part of a team that shares the same passions and ethics is priceless! Couldn’t be happier of being a part of this team.

​(Blog first published 20/07/2017)