ABOUT SOFIE
and my ambition to help your talents grow
CURIOUS ABOUT MY CAREER?
I'd love to tell you about some key pivotal moments in my career that often took me into a new speed and dimension. An exciting track so far, and we've only just begun 🚀
Hi,
I am Sofie,freelancer in creative marketing and online advertising since 2017. I am located in the Belgian province Luxembourg and am very drawn to creative and unconventional thinking.
Love to meet people who'd like to challenge me, both as professional and as friend. I truly believe there are no limits in relationships based on good intentions.
I love free talks because it helps me to find out what's on your mind. Listening is something I truly enjoy, observing human behavior and exploring the mind. That's why I graduaded in Master of Arts in Literature and Linguistics, because storytelling is all around us.
However, I made a huge shift in 2017 when I decided to go freelance in digital marketing, embarking on a creative journey as a marcom professional. For the last 7 years I have worked for inspiring brands such as Intergamma, Buildwise, Benfida/Camfida and Indeed - leaving me with memorable experiences and beautiful stories to tell.
What's your story?
CURIOUS ABOUT MY CAREER?
I'd love to tell you about some key pivotal moments in my career that often took me into a new speed and dimension. An exciting track so far, and we've only just begun 🚀
2013: MASTER'S DEGREE OBTAINED
I graduated in 2008, but combined with a full-time job as an entry-level teacher, I also obtained my Master of Arts in Literature and Linguistics from the Free University of Brussels in 2013. When I took exams from students, I then took exams myself at the university. And since I was working full-time, I could only attend lectures on Wednesday afternoons. Pretty tough, about three years as a working student.
2016: STUCK IN MY JOB
In 2016, I was completely stuck in my job as a Dutch teacher in adult education. I had been given the opportunity to set up a communication project between companies and schools in addition to teaching; that was very nice, but unfortunately I could not continue this project and in the meantime I also wanted to do much more than teaching; so I decided to quit teaching and retrain as a Management Assistant (MA).
2016-2017: TRAINING AS A TURNING POINT
This MA program was truly an eye-opener. All those years I had been studying for a master's that I had enjoyed so much, but that I just couldn't do much with in practice. The theoretical exams were successful, but in the workplace I felt I was underperforming. I didn't get beyond basic skills in Word and Excel, and that's pretty confronting.
Bron: Het Laatste Nieuws ©
2017:FLOUNDER OR DROWN
In 2017, I chose the B2B marketing agency Living Stone to intern as an IBO where I could immediately put my new knowledge as an MA into practice.A "company culture" I did not yet know. Logical, since I had never worked in business before. And then I immediately chose a high-end marketing agency to intern.
At Living Stone, I really learned to flounder, because I was drowning in really everything. I can acquire new knowledge very easily, but learning to think pragmatically was harder than I thought. The school of life, I still call it. Fortunately, Bart and Anne-Mie (see: photo) showed great understanding when I started working within their agency.
2017-2018:BUILDING BACK FROM SCRATCH
With zero experience in marketing and B2B, I then discovered - during weekends - the joys of web editing and design💡It wasn't until I had the opportunity to customize websites that I discovered my creative skills. I personally found this moment to be the most important pivotal moment of the past decade. The realization that only by doing something new can you also get to know yourself better.
2019: ON EXPLORATION
In 2019, I founded the company 'Content+' and learned a lot thanks to people who gave me opportunities such as Joost Peeters at Intergamma and Reinold De Vuyst at Erpe-Mere municipality. With each project, I grew further and fulfilled a different role each time.
Conclusion: customers were satisfied, but I still had a steep learning curve ahead of me.
2020: MOVING TO THE ARDENNES
As a child I dreamed of living in a wooded area, but it wasn't until Living Stone that I realized this was actually possible. The only condition was that I had to improve my digital skills as much as possible, and that was getting better and better. Just before the lockdown times corona, on March 3, 2020, I moved to the Belgian province of Luxembourg, just in the nick of time. Finally I found a place I can call "home"🌳- that is my greatest happiness and I realize it very well, every day.
.png?width=2000&height=1125&name=Recruitment%20marketing%20agency%20Coconne%20in%20Rochehaut%20Bouillon%20(2048%20x%201152%20px).png "Recruitment marketing agency Coconne in Rochehaut Bouillon (2048 x 1152 px)")
2020-2021:STEEP LEARNING CURVE
Corona was a tough sell: I did not yet have an extensive network and did not even have a concrete business plan to work from my new location. Therefore, during the lockdown, I oriented myself and looked for new opportunities. These led me to numerous courses onbusiness management, marketing strategy,inbound marketing, Design Thinking, WordPress, LMS systems, SEO (Semrush), SEO copywriting,storytelling,content strategy, web design,brand strategy,market research, Online Persuasion andcontent marketing.
2021-2023: INCREASING FOCUS ON RECRUITMENT
In 2021 I worked on an intensive web project for Agilitas Group, in collaboration with the marketing agency Upthrust. Very nice, because I noticed how I could combine more and more diverse skills to work out creative solutions and deliver better results.
For example, with the product launch of Paymate (project at Agilitas Group) I enjoyed launching HR products, and so I gradually gained more knowledge within HR technology. Recruitment turned out to be a golden match on a personal level.
2022 was another important pivotal moment, as I had the opportunity to join Indeed as a Content Marketing Senior Expert and delve into data-driven recruitment.
PIT STOP: KEY INSIGHTS
💡Experience is the best teacher.💡A diploma tells nothing about the talents a person possesses. What a diploma does do is show potential.
💡Sometimes you just have to be very lucky to get opportunities from people who believe in you or even push you to do something you don't really want to do. It may very well happen that something turns out to be much more enjoyable than you ever thought possible.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
2024: NEW ROLE AS RECRUITER
SOFIE CALLEBAUT
Freelance recruitment marketing professional en founder van Coconne
Volg me op LinkedIn
Eind december 2023 nam ik ontslag en startte met het ontwikkelen van een online opleiding over recruitment marketing. Hiermee wil ik mijn inzichten delen en recruiters helpen bij het bedenken en ontwikkelen van recruitmentcampagnes.
In juli 2024 besloot ik om een nieuwe sprong te wagen in recruitment en de rol van recruiter op te nemen.
LET'S MEET
Want to tell your story? I'm all ears.