More than 100 bright minds from all over the world united in the FT Talent Alumni Night in London
On Friday 14 October 2022 the FT Talent Team hosted its first large-scale Alumni Reunion night which brought together more than 100 participants from all of our challenges since 2018 to the present date.
It united challengers from over the years in the FT London Headquarters and provided them with an opportunity to network, catch up and build deeper connections with like-minded people, all under the same bond around the Financial Times flag!
The energy was electric, many of the challengers travelled to London specifically for this night reminding us of the impact and power that FT Talent has had on these young people. Some of them took part in a challenge four years ago. Attendees travelled to the event from the USA (including 3 NYC-based attendees), Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, Iceland, Spain, Denmark, Slovakia, Austria and the Netherlands.
Throughout the evening the challengers heard from the FT Talent Team about upcoming projects. We also hosted FT interdepartmental collaborations, and attendees heard from Yasir Mirza, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, about the D&I initiatives he’s working on at the FT. They also heard about Working It from Kritasha Gupta, Head of Business Development, on behalf of Isabel Berwick, Editor - Work & Careers, and what workplace topics they’re covering in the podcast. We encouraged the alumni to spread the word in their networks around our products, specifically the FT Edit, that they were able to download on the spot!
In fact, we distributed leaflets throughout the event with an overview and QR codes for the attendees to scan, linking to all Working It platforms - Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Newsletter page, as well as FT Edit’s overview QR code linking to the app on Apple Podcasts.
This is a yearly reunion for our Alumni community - and we are seeing the numbers grow as we continue to reach brilliant people around the world. It also reminds us how valuable our FT Talent audience are in terms of giving us fresh ideas and perspectives on the future direction of certain industries, since they are building those futures as we speak!
We also received numerous registrations for our FT Talent Ambassadors Network - our program where our most engaged former challengers represent and promote FT Talent and FT through various initiatives for a span of 12 months, growing the FT Talent community worldwide. Our latest ambassadors have been a mix of university students and early career professionals located in 14 countries, from Vietnam to USA to Germany.
We look forward to the next FT Talent meetup: our NYC edition on the Future of News & “How to Engage the Under30s with the FT” is happening in December 2022 in our NYC Offices. Feel free to share this opportunity with your network!
P.S: Remember to listen to our recently launched podcast The Talent Show, if you haven’t already!
The FT Talent team
