Self-described people person Sabrina Luca (BA Language, Culture and Communications, 2020) was exposed to the mechanisms of intercultural communication and interpersonal relations at Warwick, which now has a massive impact on the work she does in Communications for the Tech Industry.

Why did you choose Warwick?
I chose Warwick primarily because of the high educational standards. I was looking for a course in Linguistics and the one I found at Warwick seemed unique in its combination of applied linguistics, culture research, and communication science.
I fell in love with the course and the teaching style right away, so I knew quite early on that it was a great decision to enrol. On top of that, I was drawn by the endless extracurricular activities and societies. I was quite involved in volunteering and sports beforehand and it was very important that I could keep doing that at university.
Throughout my time at Warwick, I was part of UNICEF on Campus, Student Action for Refugees, and the Volleyball Club among others, which completely spiced up my social life and helped me get involved in some really interesting humanitarian projects.

What are you doing now?
I’m a Communications Consultant in the Tech Industry.

What motivates you to do what you do?
I’m a people person, so a big part of my everyday motivation comes from the people around me, the quality of our interaction, and what it leaves behind. I work in the corporate environment, and I can say that all business outcomes are dependent on how well people interact with each other. My next step would be to dive deeper into matters of comms and interpersonal relations through a PhD.

How has your time at Warwick influenced what you do now?
There is one straightforward and one more abstract answer for this question, both equally important. To begin with, I work in Communications for the Tech Industry, and I cover the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. Being exposed to so many fascinating cultures at Warwick, and learning about the mechanisms of intercultural communication and interpersonal relations, has influenced how I now approach work - from simply knowing how to adjust the tone of an email to accommodate the receiver to better navigating negotiations in complex projects.
Yet my time at Warwick hasn’t only influenced my work life, but my whole sense of self. I view some of my former Warwick teachers as academic role models because they had a great influence upon my worldview and mindset as it is today. I often find myself in conversations, wondering “What might lecturer X have thought of this idea?”. This happens because absolutely everything that I learned in class was deeply relevant for today’s modern, global, ever-changing society. And this, my worldview in and out of work, is the most valuable thing that I took with me out of my experience at Warwick.

Favourite memory?
In my 2nd year I was part of Warwick’s Volleyball Performance Team. One of our big annual events was called “24h Volleyball”, a charitable event where we were fundraising for a local cause and were taking shifts to play volleyball for 24 hours straight. I was taking the night shift; it was a Wednesday night, and we were playing outside. I remember it being 3am, many people came to play, and everyone was laughing and enjoying that moment, although all of us knew we needed to be up for the next day classes. My shift was supposed to last for two hours, but I ended up staying for the whole night because I couldn’t miss one minute of that feeling of joy and the beautiful community that created itself with all the people that randomly came to play.

Best thing about the Warwick community?
It’s huge. So whether you’re the life of the party, the bookworm, the captain of the Varsity team, or all or none of the above, there will definitely be someone to click with, a society to join, a project to explore. And the best part? As everyone is from all around the world, you’ll be trying out recipes from all over the globe, you’ll be learning to ask for a pint in seven languages, and you’ll just be realising how fascinatingly different, yet how alike we all are at the end of the day.

Favourite place on campus?
The Piazza - especially during the Eurovision finals when all the people get together to watch it on the big screen.