New York City: Philips Health

I am so fortunate to be a a part of the NYC ramble trip. Even though the journey isn’t over, the experience that I have gotten so far has been thrilling. I am excited to see the forthcoming events. When I first realized that we were going to Philips, I thought about how professional I had to be, and was already practicing how I was supposed to be conducting myself in a professional setting. But when I got to the company, it was a totally different experience. The team we met was very personable, and they gave us a lot of life advice. One of the pieces of advice that resonated was when one of the managers said “The best way to network is to not focusing on networking”. This comment helped me calm down and relax; sometimes we focus so much on appearing perfect that sometimes we forget that our imperfections could be perfect as well. I was so focused on saying the right thing, wearing the right clothes and caring too much about what others thought of me that I forgot how to be myself. The mind-blowing thing is: they expect you to be yourself.

I loved learning more in-depth of what the Philips does for mothers and babies, customizing the baby bottles to fit the needs of different babies is very creative. I loved the thoughtfulness in their ideas, because often times in society women’s struggles are usually ignored, especially mothers. It shows that they were considering ways to make the mothers' lives more easier instead of solely just profiting off their situation. They even have tips and tricks to help mothers out in their breastfeeding process! They were thinking not just about satisfying their pockets but also building a community for their consumers. I was curious about their steps towards sustainability because it seems like recently 'sustainable is the new profitable'. They adopted the circular economy when it comes to sustainability; they try to limit the amount of pollution they produce by extending the usefulness of their products. They avoid creating a huge waste that ends up in the landfills.

It was fascinating to learn more about an organization that cares about both its customers and the environment; their beliefs align with mine. This was a really informative experience, and it is unfortunate that it had to come to an end.