Things coming full circle

I spent years feeling like I was building a career in zigzags.

Fashion sketches as a teenager. International strategy at SKEMA. Roles in luxury hospitality, beauty, sustainability. Six languages, multiple industries, and a persistent feeling that I was interested in too many things to ever land somewhere that made sense.

Then I did. And it turns out, the zigzag was the path.

Today I work in market intelligence for the circular economy, analyzing how industries transform, where the real opportunities are, and what happens when sustainability moves from talking point to infrastructure. It's a field that asks you to be analytical and creative, strategic and curious, rigorous and imaginative.

In other words: it asks you to be everything I spent years thinking was contradictory about myself.

I think that's what purpose feels like. Not a lightning bolt, but a slow recognition: oh, this is what all of that was for.

What surprises me most about this chapter is how much energy I get from giving back.

I've already had the chance to mentor, to share what I've learned, to sit with someone younger or newer and say I've been where you are, and here's what helped me. It's the most fulfilling part of my life — more than any analysis, any presentation, any strategic win.

This journal is where I'll write about all of it. Strategy. Sustainability. Creativity. Mentorship. The strange, winding, full-circle paths that only make sense in hindsight.

Welcome. I'm glad you're here.

Emma Quilliet Strategist. Writer. Perpetual student.