Nele Odzuck

Less than seven years after graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University, Nele Odzuck now leads more than four teams at Tiktok.

Nele graduated from GCU London with an MBA in Luxury Brand Management in 2017.

During her studies, she received a Marks and Spencer Scholarship through GCU, which helped connect her with an industry mentor and an industry internship at the leading UK retailer.

Nele says that hands-on experience helped ignite a passion for digital marketing, which led her to pursue the career she’s in today.

Nele’s teams at TikTok work with a wide range of brands from L'Oréal to Hugo Boss to help grow their advertising revenue on the global social media app.

As Client Solutions Lead for TikTok DACH, Nele heads up TikTok’s Consumer Goods teams, including the food & nutrition, beauty & healthcare, fashion & luxury and comprehensive retailer/home/decor teams, across Germany and Austria.

We sat down with Nele to find out more about her experience at GCU and her career journey so far.

What do you love about working at TikTok?

“I think it’s really the people I love most about working at TikTok. I have the privilege of leading most brilliant, inspiring and internationally diverse team of individuals who are always looking for ways to innovate.”

How did studying at GCU prepare you for the world of work?

“GCU had partnerships to offer that connection to the business world, which is so important. The networking opportunities GCU provided opened huge doors for me.

“For example, GCU had a partnership with a charity that provided women who couldn’t afford business attire with corporate clothing to help them feel ready for interviews. We organised a fashion show to fundraise and invited a lot of really important people from the industry, it was a great event and networking opportunity.

“It’s important to offer that industry connection, rather than being disconnected and focused on academic study alone. A lot of professors also had connections throughout the industry, which was also really helpful.”

What did you do while studying to enhance your CV?

“There were some great opportunities at GCU. In my course there was a mandatory internship you had to look for and it was really important to do that.

“Through Glasgow Caledonian, I had a scholarship from M&S and an internship there where I worked within various departments and found a real interest in digital marketing.

“I was also able to get partnered with a mentor, she was leading the photography team in charge of images and marketing at M&S. She’s a really inspiring woman and I’m still in touch with her.

“If I didn’t have that experience I would have gone into fashion buying - that was my plan.

“It was great that GCU had that partnership that enables you to get on-the-job experience. It was so helpful to know which area I wanted to go into while I was still at university.

"I was also a student representative at GCU London for one and a half years so I was able to organise projects and events. GCU really enables students to be proactive, come up with their own ideas and lead projects.”

What advice would give to current students to get the job/career they aspire to have?

“Be diligent and work hard – most of the time if you work hard, follow up and show your work ethic, the rest will come.