SMLC Spotlight: Laura Connelly

What did you study at Warwick?

At school, I studied A Level French and achieved grade A*, but was, unfortunately, not permitted to study Spanish as an additional language. However, I took up Spanish ab initio at Warwick and the School of Modern Languages and Cultures here allowed me to complete my year abroad in the second year (instead of the customary third year), during which I spent the first six months studying at La Sorbonne in Paris and the second six months studying at La Universidad de Pablo de Olavide in Seville. I graduated from Warwick’s SMLC in 2019 with a BA (Hons) in Hispanic Studies and French.

What are you doing now?

Whilst studying for my first degree, I knew that I wanted to assimilate additional languages if given the opportunity, so I participated independently in an intensive Russian Summer Immersion programme in London during my 2018 summer vacation and then studied Portuguese, for which I achieved a First, in my final year at SMLC.

After graduating with my BA (Hons), I decided to expand my skills and increase my knowledge of the professional settings in which they could be applied. It was for this reason that I chose to pursue the MSc in International Business at Warwick Business School, one of the most prestigious Business Schools in the country, and I continued to expand my linguistic portfolio by taking Chinese Language for Beginners during my Masters. I graduated from WBS with a First Class MSc in International Business in 2020 and was immediately employed by Sonoco, a leading American packaging corporation. I had previously worked with Sonoco’s Consumer Europe Team to produce my Masters Dissertation and since 2020, I have been based in its European Marketing Department at the Consumer Products HQ in Manchester, in the role of Marketing Coordinator.

What are the key skills you learnt at Warwick that have helped you with your career to date?

My MSc furnished me with knowledge of all aspects of international business and enabled me to consider how the skills that I had acquired in my first degree could be applied to, and could add value within, a professional framework. It also afforded me the opportunity of expanding my professional network to Sonoco. I am very fortunate to be able to use my languages in my role on a daily basis, given that our Marketing Team focuses on the European market, and I have colleagues with whom I collaborate regularly, who are based in France, Spain and even Latin America, given that Sonoco’s Corporate HQ is in The States. I have contributed to the translation of customer communications and our website; I have also liaised regularly with our European customers, facilitated integrations of new European subsidiaries into our European Division, in addition to providing in-depth cultural insight for our numerous and varied market research projects.

Whilst I consistently use my languages ‘remotely’, via email and over Teams (where I have conducted meetings in French, Spanish and, more recently, in Italian), I have also been able to use them ‘in person’ whenever I have travelled across Europe. I have travelled to various destinations in Europe to attend European Sales & Marketing Conferences and to organise and manage, on-site, Sonoco’s presence at major European Packaging Exhibitions; the next of these exhibitions will be in Paris at end of 2025.

It is certain that I would not be able to add the same value to the business without my linguistic competence; indeed, the first question that our former Vice President (now Sonoco’s Global General Manager) asked about me was: “Does she speak any languages?”! Studying languages makes you stand out to senior management — and it has also provided me with more friends and connections than I thought possible, not only from French and Hispanic cultures, but from other cultures across the globe.

If you find learning languages exciting, even thrilling, something that you relish to your core, I wholeheartedly encourage you to pursue your optimal combination at Warwick. With the support of world-class, personable Academics here, combined with a plethora of career opportunities at the end of your journey, what are you waiting for?