Humans of IHS is a mini-portrait series that features the people who make IHS a unique place. Many of the urban professionals with common roots at IHS, often describe it as a very welcoming, familiar space, where they not only acquired valuable knowledge for their career, but also formed solid ties and friendships with their peers. This is what drove us to create this mini-series: the wish to give others a glimpse of the amazing people that make IHS special.
Elena is an IHS alumna from Russia and graduated in 2020 as part of the Infrastructure and Green Cities Master track. After graduation, she stayed in the Netherlands and is currently working at T-Mobile Nederland as an Internal Control Specialist.
Her first impression of the IHS classroom was meeting many international people. At the time, IHS had around 90 people from 46 different countries. “I still remember that figure,” – she says. She specifically remembers the action planning model looking complicated and intense at first but later on realising how much insights she’s gotten by working on it with international students. “You absorb all of these cultures into yourself, and as a result, you can produce a lot of output out of that.”
When asked about what drives her in life, she recalls her favourite quote:
“Always do what you love, be curious, go deeper and never stop yourself because you might find very interesting results.”