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 Tanya Lemstra
MBA, BSL Business School Lausanne
University previously attended CHN, The Netherlands
Degree obtained BBA in Hotel Management
Country of origin The Netherlands
Age 32 years
Career history
After an internship in Pennsylvania, USA, Tanya Lemstra lived and worked for a couple of years in Switzerland for a US-based management consultancy firm. She took her MBA in Lausanne, then worked for a head-hunting office in Zürich, Switzerland before moving back to the Netherlands.
Why an MBA?
I studied hotel management in the Netherlands in the early 1990s. For me, that was management first and only then hotels, but, at the time, I found it hard to see the value of a general academic degree; the few programmes I would have been interested in were simply well beyond my budget, so I settled for more practical training.
Towards the end of that programme, I did an internship in the USA, where I stayed on for as long as my residence permit would allow. When I returned to the Netherlands, I did not want a career in hotel management and realised that I needed far more training in order to get into human resources management. I saw an ad in the papers from a US-based company looking for junior consultants to work on a project in Switzerland. It was the kind of company that takes graduates and trains them to their own specifications. I was 23 years old and life was hectic. Since I grew up in Germany, the language part came easily. The rest did not. It was tough, with long and exhausting days, but I learned an incredible amount.
Through that project, I came into contact with colleagues who were involved in management skills development. When I saw what they did, I was sold on the spot. I wanted to do the training myself and the company allowed me to move into that direction. I was taken back to the States for a thorough training. It was yet another tough period of constantly stretching the boundaries of my skills. When I was ready to be parachuted back into Europe, I worked in Belgium, Germany and Austria, and finally ended up in Switzerland again.
Private reasons kept me there and, when the consequences of my half-hearted choice for a first degree came knocking at my door again, I decided I would try for an MBA. I wasn't supported financially this time, which made all the difference.
Why Lausanne?
I shopped around a bit and let my choice fall on Business School Lausanne. I must admit that it was a gut decision that had more to do with the intimacy of the place than a thorough comparative study of different course programmes. What struck me was the small group sizes and the fact that the faculty came directly from their hectic business lives into the school to teach. It made for excellent training.
The MBA
The cases often stimulated me, and the motivation of some of the most enthusiastic fellow students and professors I have ever met guided me through. Studying at Business School Lausanne was easily as intensive as on-the-job training had been, but the drive was different and it was a very fulfilling experience. Even subjects I never thought I'd be any good at caught my interest. I discovered a well-hidden passion for numbers and other things I had never expected to find.
After the MBA
Via a stint as a headhunter in Zürich, I found my way back to the Netherlands and, this time, settled back in a lot better than seven years earlier. I started off working in the human resources department of an ICT company.When that sector crashed, I was approached by an ex-colleague from Austria who was in the process of setting up a management-training branch for a small consulting agency.We set it up together and I enjoyed the work, but, earlier this year, I decided to leave the training to the trainers and focus my energy on heading our human resources department.
'Studying at Business School Lausanne was easily as intensive as on-the-job training had been, but the drive was different and it was a very fulfilling experience.'
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