Dive into responsible innovation at Valdélia: Portrait of a committed Intrapreneur

Léa QUERRIEN (TBS Education 2020) joined TBS Education driven by a dream: to work for the environment.
She meticulously chose the school for its commitment to sustainable development and its openness to new possibilities. This choice was a springboard for starting her career with a real commitment.

Léa completed her first year of a Master's degree specializing in entrepreneurship. She followed this up with a gap year, during which she interned at Valdélia as a business developer. A 1st experience that launched her career. She continued her Master's degree on a work-study basis with the same company, as a project manager.

Valdélia is a not-for-profit social economy SAS which operates within the framework of extended producer responsibility, mainly in the furniture sector. The company manages the legal end-of-life of the products it creates, enabling customers to give a second life to their objects. Valdélia works with not-for-profit eco-organizations, thanks to the eco-contribution that each customer pays when purchasing a product. Valdélia operates mainly in the professional furniture sector, focusing on innovation to develop shorter recycling loops.

Her career at Valdélia can be divided into three phases: first, a phase focused on micro-projects during her work-study period, then the creation and management of "Second'ère" during her first years on permanent contract, and finally the creation and strategic management of the "ultra marin" branch.

The Second'ère project is an internal association linked to waste and innovation in the field of recycling, bringing together several branches of the company. However, the project proved to be complex and difficult to implement, so it was stopped.

At Valdélia, Léa is part of the innovation department, working with five other colleagues in a participative environment. Every day, she analyzes, reflects on and mobilizes the resources needed, both internal and external, to achieve the objectives set for recycling strategies.

For her, commitment is still too often global when it comes to environmental protection or any other cause. Young people are looking to the world, which is a good thing, but it can start around us, locally or nationally. Her commitment began around her, then via TBS Education, and today it extends to France via Valdélia.

Since completing her studies, Léa has been working on a wide range of committed projects. She is constantly putting her knowledge at the service of the environment. Recycling is a key issue for the future. Her new challenge: to find sustainable solutions for the overseas environment.
A field in which she is not yet an expert, which means she is constantly learning. Her aim is to find the optimum resources to meet the challenges of ultra-marine recycling.