ISG Alumni USA : portrait de Stéphane Barraque, Président de Dior Horlogerie Amérique

Stéphane Barraque (ISG Promo 1993) est aujourd'hui Président de l'univers horlogerie amérique pour la prestigieuse marque Dior. Il nous fait part de son expérience et de ses conseils pour la nouvelle génération d'étudiants.

Can you present the company in which you work ?
Dior finds its roots in Paris where it was created by Christian Dior in 1946 to immediately become a leading Haute Couture and luxury brand. Dior creates and manufactures very High quality products ranging from Perfume, Handbags, Shoes, Ready to wear, Watches and Jewelry. Dior market positioning is extremely prestigious and our products are distributed via a very limited and selective network of Boutiques and AAA trade doors such as Saks fifth Avenue, Nieman Marcus or Luxury guild jewelers in the US and throughout the world. Creativity, Femininity, Elegance and Craftsmanship are central values of Dior.

Can you tell us about your occupation (job) in a few sentences ?
As President of Dior Timepieces for the Americas, I oversee the entire North and South American continent as well as the world Duty Free activities. As such, my responsibilities consist of establishing and implementing the strategies for the development of the brand in this region in terms of Image, Distribution network, Sales and After Sales Service in line with the Central Corporate Strategy.

Why did you choose to live abroad? And more specifically in this country ?
I come from a family of "travelers". I was born in Senegal, raised in Brazil and lived in France and the US before I started my professional life. It was very natural for me to live abroad. The question now is, where is abroad J.

What memories do you keep at ISG ? What do you think that ISG has brought you in retrospect ?
I have great memories of my years at ISG and my best ones come from my year abroad. It was so enriching to discover so many different cultures thru a scholastic but also professional spectrum. I also enjoyed the "ambiance" of ISG at that time, people with lots of ambition and who really enjoyed life and where pretty open minded.
An entrepreneurial approach to my career and an understanding of the global challenges. How important it is to adapt to different situations, a capacity to deal with ambiguity.

Do you work with ISG ?
Yes, I have a few in my team and in my company.

Can you give three tips for young ISG ?
Travel the world, experiment different areas of business, and do everything you can to build amazing teams.

An advice specifically for young people who want to work abroad ?
Be curious about the country and its people, you are a guest, and as such you must respect other's traditions and cultures. Try not to always refer to your own country, but integrate the differences.
Be passionate about the products, be service oriented and trust your instincts, but study your market to perfectly master it.

Merci à Gregory Zammit (ISG Promo 2004), Head of ISG Alumni Delegations.

Consulter toutes les informations sur la délégation ISG Alumni USA