Danielle Pye

Current Employer/Organisation Name

L’Oréal Group

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

After leaving Exeter, I did a grad scheme at Arcadia Group, the retail company that formerly owned Topshop, Topman and other well known high street brands. I was there for 2.5 years whilst doing a rotating grad scheme and studying for my CIMA qualification. I then moved to Revolution Beauty, a UK based beauty company where I was a Commercial Finance Analyst before being promoted to Commercial Finance Manager. Whilst here, I completed my CIMA management accounting exams, for which I received the global high score for one of my exams. After qualifying, I took a 6 month career break to go travelling and on my return joined the L’Oréal Group, where I am now Head of Finance for the 5 of the UK’s biggest beauty brands! My role focuses on the strategic side of finance and managing all aspects of the P&L for these brands.

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

I chose this career because I knew I wanted to continue my love for numbers that I developed from doing my maths degree but in an industry that I loved and excited me. I love being able to work with a range of different people on different topics such as pricing and promotional strategies and working on new product launches. It allows me to continue using my analytical and data driven brain but in a completely different environment where no day is the same!

Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?

President of Dance Society 2017-2018 and a committee member in 2016-2017.

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

I enjoyed the variety of different modules that you could take within Mathematics that could help you tailor your degree to your interests.

What did you most enjoy about studying here?

I loved the campus and the feel of Exeter itself. I felt completely at home there for my 3 years and loved being involved in extra curricular activities.

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

I knew from my first view to the campus that it was the right choice for me and I instantly felt at home.