Lucy Setian earned a Master of Science in Political Sciences at VUB, as well as an MBA from Solvay Brussels. She speaks 5 languages fluently and is the Director of Digital Transformation in Health at the Novartis Foundation and the Founder of the global mentoring platform Manatee Mentor.
Lucy got her Bachelor’s Engineering degree in Computer Sciences and Technology at the Technical University of Sofia and the Technical University of Karlsruhe. As often happens, coincidence and luck affected her choice. She came to Brussels to help Generation Europe Foundation with the setup and management of the Green Entrepreneurship Summit. Soon enough she found herself leading the digital strategy and community building aspects. When she began her career in Belgium, Lucy successfully managed to combine her work and studies. Following 10 years in Belgium, Lucy accepted an exciting opportunity in 2020 at a social impact driven organization in Switzerland - the Novartis Foundation.
The CV and nothing but the CV
‘My CV is quite structured and also rather impressive. This is owned in part to my drive, and in part to my ambition and my take on life. You are presented with choices and alternatives, and you have the responsibility to choose wisely and accept the consequences.
Of course, there’s always a portion of luck involved as well. After my bachelor's degree, I came to Brussels to do some sustainable development work. It is clear that the mere fact of working and living in Brussels affected some of my decisions. I also had this urge to move away from the purely technical disciplines and towards the more managerial, societal side of business. I guess that’s what they call serendipity. I was already here when I read that VUB was starting a one-year program on ‘New media and society in the EU’. I decided to enrol. Sometimes it’s easy to take a decision. Apart from the fact that I did not want any gaps in my CV, and that I got recruited for a new job, my whole life has always been about keeping the balance between several projects at the same time.’
Take ownership of your life.
Lucy has very strict and lucid principles about life and things to do. It’s all about priorities and your will to achieve certain goals. It is sometimes hectic and sometimes it leads to a work overload, but as long as you can combine different aspects of your life, it’s the end result that counts.
‘You cannot rely on your parents to simply pay your bills. This means that you have to craft your own career and financial stability. I chose to become Business Development Manager at a small digital agency in Brussels, where I stayed for three years. And I combined it with my studies, during which I was also selected as one of the youngest ICT Innovation Experts at the European Commission. I loved the New Media and Society in Europe master’s degree, even if it didn’t meet all my expectations. It combined different elements (politics, society and business), that are intricately interwoven, and difficult to gauge in terms of importance and interaction. The quality of the study program was definitely high, even if you could sense that the faculty was still looking to find the right direction as it was the first year of the program.’
Global citizens
Lucy is ambitious, she wants to make a difference, but she’s not indifferent to the injustices that exist. Thanks to this way of thinking she came up with 'Manatee-Mentor', her matchmaking organisation for mentors and mentees. It is designed to be an accessible, low-threshold meeting place, attainable by all.
‘Like I said before, you can attribute parts of life to luck, but you also have to take action. An international CV simply opens up more doors. And VUB is part of that CV. I have a love-hate relationship with Brussels, that I found both vibrant and stimulating, yet also ugly and depressing at times.
The same cannot be said of my relationship with the VUB campus. I loved every moment there. They have excellent sports facilities and it’s a great place to hang out. The lecturers are very accessible, which leads to lively interactions and a genuine understanding of what it means to build up knowledge. This was especially true for the EU context in which I worked and studied.’
Lucy’s tips and tricks
You just got to love the international environment, the vicinity of the city, the EU bubble and the students from all over the world.
I found it a great advantage that both the university and its staff members were so flexible when you combine studies and work.
The democratic price. Good education and value for money. And you don’t have to pay off your debts and student loans.
Day on the job
My job at Novartis involves overseeing the healthcare systems in different countries. Not a day goes by that I don’t benefit from my time at VUB. Both the degree on European studies and the MBA from Solvay have been a huge advantage. It shapes you as a person. You have to keep pushing yourself, keep learning and growing in your job. Inevitably at some point you’ll fail, but you will grow and learn from that experience. That’s what I am trying to achieve with my mentorship platform too. I want to break down some walls and make it accessible to everyone. Everyone can be a mentor and everyone needs to be mentored at some point in their life.
Want to study a Master in Political Science, just like Lucy ? Discover the study program. Want to know more about Lucy? Connect on LinkedIn.