Travel pays off for alumna
Five cities in two weeks.
That was the itinerary Chelsea Paquette, BComm 14, followed when, as a Commerce and Administration Students’ Association (CASA) executive, she took a cohort of 30 Concordians to China in 2015.
The John Molson School of Business (JMSB) students visited the emerging superpower to survey its business customs. Paquette organized stops at companies such as Bombardier, Ubisoft and Alibaba, the Chinese ecommerce giant that had just surpassed Walmart as the world’s biggest retailer.
Paquette standing in front of a mural in Bogotá, the Colombian capital.
Now, Paquette works at Hopper, a Quebec-based company that produces a handy travel application. The app aggregates airfare data to give users the best estimates for when to purchase their tickets.
Paquette also co-founded her own company, the Emerging Markets Project. Through the company she brings students from across Montreal to foreign countries to study their business climates, like she did while at Concordia in 2015,
Please describe what you do at Hopper.
Chelsea Paquette: “My job is basically to make sure the passengers are having a good experience.
I work in support and operations. I'm there to see how we can make the app a better experience for the user, and to help users with any issues they have while using the application or while flying.
I build reports, figure out how to automate processes, take complaints and feedback and try to determine how we can apply it by providing the product team with the best [complaints] or the ones we hear the most.”
What makes Hopper different from other deal-hunting platforms like Expedia or Orbitz?
CP: “The main differentiating factor is that Hopper is a data analytics company. It works with predictions, so we can actually tell you when not to buy. It builds that trust with the consumer.
We understand that airline travel can be a pain, and we work with the customer to help them through different situations while travelling. We’re on the customer’s side through the booking process, or at least we try to be as much as possible.”
Describe the experience of taking Concordia students to China to witness the business environment.
CP: “When I came back from a Case competition in Singapore, I was already looking towards Asia. I was in CASA [the JMSB student association] at the time. Then someone told me: ‘Oh, we have this great project we’re working on. Would you like to get involved?’
Four of us started moving forward. We worked closely with a travel agent and contacted different companies. One of my team members secured company facility tours with Alibaba, Bombardier and Ubisoft.
We had about 30 students go to China in the end. It was a fast-paced itinerary. We did five cities in two weeks — but [former dean Steve Harvey] ended up funding the trip and supporting it.
It was great. Students were able to learn about business in China, and the trip exposed some of the major business cultural differences between there and Canada.”
Chelsea Paquette at Creame, a government-supported incubator focused on helping entrepreneurship and business in Colombia.
And now you also run a company based off this initiative.
CP: “Yes, the Emerging Markets Project. We [organize trips for] aspiring professionals to emerging markets to learn more about their business cultures, business practices and the opportunities of working with them.
This year we’re offering Colombia, China and India. Travelers have two weeks to go to three or four cities.
They will meet locals, attend business etiquette and language classes, and will have a chance to learn about new industries within the country. We don’t learn much about emerging markets in school, so we want to bring these eye-opening opportunities to students and give them a new perspective.
We hope that they return with a better understanding of the business and cultural environment of that country so they can work with them in the future.”
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