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Paola joined Croda in 2004.
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2001 - 2003
First experiences
In 2001 I finished the University Degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and, as I was fascinated during these studies on cosmetics, I started to look at cosmetics companies for a technical job in this sector. In 2002 I did a 6 months stage at Unipro, the Italian Association for Cosmetic Industries and, in the meanwhile, I started the Post Graduate Master Degree in Cosmetic Science and Technology at the University of Ferrara. After the stage, I joined a cosmetic company, where I had a very formative experience as Technical Manager Assistant, managing regulatory and technical issues as the company had a production of cosmetics internally. In 2003, I moved to a company producing household products, as Quality Assurance Junior manager and, I moved away for a while from the cosmetics world.
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2004
Sales Representative
At the beginning of 2004, when Croda offered me the job, I immediately accepted it, even if it was my first time in a sales role and I had no experience. The first job I had was as Sales Representative for Personal care and Health care and I was in charge of small-medium customers and of the development of new customers. It was a challenging experience as I had to learn how to face customers, all the products portfolio and I also had to split from Personal care to Health Care sectors, which have very different sales approach.
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2005
Post Graduate Masters Degree in Cosmetic Science and Technology
In 2005 I finished the Postgraduate master degree in Cosmetic Science and after few months Croda offered me the opportunity to attend an MBA at the Open University. It was one of the most exciting and challenging experience I had and it massively improved my sales and management knowledge and skills.
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2006
Sales Representative Personal Care
In 2006, Croda acquired Uniqema and at this point my job was slightly changed as I was now focused on Personal care, so I become Sales Rep Personal Care.
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2008
Sales Area Manager Personal Care
In 2008, PC team grew and we had a new sales rep and we had a reorganization at Croda Italiana, with a new sales manager (Raffaele Bellasio, who become responsible for consumer care area). At this point I was promoted to Sales Area Manager as I started to manage the key account in Italy, together with medium companies for Croda products (Sederma and Crodarom products were managed by another Area Manager). Despite the job was almost the same, I was now managing bigger customers, with a different sales approach. During this year I had the opportunity to attend the New Manager Training, a course implemented by Croda to develop internally management skills. This course was accredited in 2011 by the University of Derby as University Diploma in Managing People.
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2009
Master in Business Administration
2009 was a great year as I finished the MBA and in December, I got married!
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2010
Country Sales Manager Personal Care
In 2010 I was promoted and I became Country Sales Manager Personal Care, managing the PC business in Italy, with a 1 person team. At this point I had the opportunity to start managing people and it was a very challenging role. I was also in charge of the key accounts. In 2012 another sales rep joined the team, so I had to focus more on the team management. In 2013 I had a further improvement, managing also the Sederma and Crodarom businesses in Italy.