Interview former ambassador: Beau

Who are you? 
Beau Bergmans, 28 years old & I live in Antwerp

What did you study?
Psychology & Fashion Management (Fashion Business Administration)

What did you do after your studies?
I did my internship at Café Costume & was offered a full-time contract. Before that I put away my plans for a follow-up master in Stockholm or Milan. I became a purchasing & production assistant and grew into it. As part of a small multifunctional team, I also had the opportunity to work in other departments, from finance & accounting to visual merchandising, marketing & design.

In that time I also had the pleasure of supervising various trainees and setting up and supporting various projects such as our MVO story with Flanders DC.

How did you end up at Young Patterns? How did you become an ambassador?
Because Café Costume has a good reputation as an internship company and employs many young people in its team, I came into contact with Ann Collier through an ex-colleague. She approached me for an interview for Ivoc’s trade magazine and that is how the ball got rolling.
I was really enthusiastic about the initiative from the sector to focus more on guiding young people to a good place to work and, above all, to make the sector understand why young people are an asset to your company rather than a threat or ‘too big’ an investment. Together with our HR department, we often talked about Employer Happiness (happy employees deliver better work, are more committed & stay with a company longer) so by investing in them, you invest in your company 😉 I think some Belgian fashion companies could still adopt this philosophy 😉

How long have you been an ambassador? What have you done in this time?
I have been an ambassador for 2 years. I was there for the start-up event and after that I co-organised 2 other events. With our group we often brainstormed about how we could make the Young Patterns concept more widely known, I spoke at sit-ins and other contact moments with students about the possibilities within the project through my position within Café Costume and I supervised a few interns through the project.

What are you currently working on?
After 5 years with Café Costume, I decided to start a new chapter. I was going to travel in South America for 6 months together with my boyfriend, but due to corona we never got to leave. I decided in the first lockdown to make my entrepreneurial dreams come true.

I started as a Virtual Assistant to support entrepreneurs in the creative sector. With planning & structure and content creation. Along the way I discovered my passion for coaching and at the beginning of this year I made the switch to being a mindset & business coach. As a Peace of Mind mentor, I now help those same creative entrepreneurs to realise their own dreams. In this way I contribute to peace of mind & freedom 😉 and I build on my own dream of being able to support people from all over the world as a digital nomad.

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