Alice Ingala was recently named VINCI Energies Academy Italy Assistant, a role that combines both of her passions: teaching and the environment.

The appointment of Alice Ingala, 32, as International Language Specialist and Academy Back Office at VINCI Energies in Italy in May 2023 – supporting the country’s VINCI Energies Academy – seems a clear decision given the previous career history of this young Italian. Alice’s family hails from Milan, but until high school level she was brought up in Munich, Germany, where her mother worked as an Italian teacher. Alice therefore speaks three languages fluently: Italian, German and English.

“When I was 17, I didn’t really know what career to look into,” she said. “I therefore studied International Business and Event Management in London. I then trained in computer sciences, which I liked a lot, but ultimately not enough to make a career of it.”

After various short-term jobs in catering, data and telesales, Alice decided to go into language teaching. “My childhood friends later reminded me that I dreamt of doing something like this when I was younger. It was amazing because I had completely forgotten that, but education and continuous training are now a real priority for me.”

Environment

At 25, Alice started studying both English and a Master’s degree in education. She wrote her dissertation on “Quantitative information for a better environmental attitude” – a subject that could have been chosen by her future employer, VINCI Energies.

“I’m lucky to work at an international and multicultural group.”

“The hypothesis that started this research was that young people, from 6 to 25 years old, were not really aware of their impact on the environment, particularly the carbon footprint generated by their daily lives,” said Alice. “The study concluded that even though all young people receive a general education on environmental issues, they do not learn about their impact as individuals. It was after this dissertation that I decided to combine my interests in environmental awareness and teaching.”

Discovery

When Alice stumbled across a VINCI Energies job vacancy for a languages teacher to take part in launching its Academy in Italy, she instantly thought that the position was made for her. “It followed on perfectly from the work I was doing at the time, as I was teaching English and a bit of German, and I designed classes for both of the language schools where I worked.”

However, she knew nothing about VINCI Energies. “When I discovered the company offering the job, I was even more motivated because I was not only going to continue teaching English, which I love, but also help develop an academy in Italy enabling employees to access training easily. This meant I would be promoting continuous training and education, values that are important to me – while being part of a company that is taking action for the environment.”

Two months after arriving at VINCI Energies Academy in Milan, Alice is still just as excited to be part of setting it up. “My work involves finalising the Italian translation of classes at the Academy, teaching English (I’m currently teaching eight employees) and, more generally, setting up the Academy in Italy to promote personal development and continuous training.”

Network

To fulfil her role, the young teacher first of all took a VINCI Energies training module for all new employees that covered various subjects such as human rights, the environment, cybersecurity, conflicts of interest and more.

A few weeks later, she took part in a seminar in Berlin with all the VINCI Energies Academies. “It was a great opportunity for me to better understand the Academy’s fundamentals and aims and find out what my counterparts all over the world are up to, both in terms of how they manage their Academies as well as how they structure their classes.”

Alice is delighted with her new role. “I’m lucky to work at an international and multicultural group. Teaching the employees of a single company also enables me to establish a stronger connection with my ‘students’. And unlike in my previous jobs, I can adjust our programmes and set targets.”

She adds that, funnily enough, “I discovered that VINCI Energies contributed to extraordinary projects such as the ITER, which I am well familiar with as my father was actually involved when he worked at the European Commission.”

Alice is also an accomplished pianist – so all she has to do now is set her project to music to make the Italian academy even more groundbreaking!

11/14/2024