Emily in Paris has been undoubtedly one of the most popular Netflix series, and -to be honest- as much as negative some may want to seem and criticize the vague and superficial content of the series, the majority of us is -impatiently- waiting for the next season.

Despite the "simplicity of the plot" (a young girl from Chicago moves to Paris for one year to help with the Parisian subsidiary of the marketing company she works, makes friends, and meets the love of her life), Emily has presented some exceptional professional skills that we believe would make anyone stand out professionally and help progress with their career. At the end of the day, that is the idea, isn’t it?

What job does Emily in Paris have?

To begin with, Emily in Paris, or Emily Cooper is a marketing executive in an American renowned firm. After her supervisor get pregnant, she is tasked to move to Paris for a year to help structure and organize a French boutique marketing agency that her firm recently acquired.

Emily's primary function is to provide an American viewpoint to this Parisian marketing firm, Savoir. She is there to bridge cultural gaps between the US and France (and with hilarious results!) and offer insights into American consumer behavior and trends. Therefore, a significant aspect of her job revolves around social media. She utilizes platforms like Instagram to promote brands and create buzz around them and their products. Emily interacts with various clients, working on marketing campaigns for luxury brands in fashion, beauty, and other industries. She has to navigate the french clients, and their ideas, and find ways to make those ideas appeal to a wider, and more modern audience. Interesting right?

Yes, it is. But the truth is that some aspects of Emily's job, particularly her rapid success and ability to generate viral campaigns, are a tad exaggerated for dramatic effect. Many people in the marketing field have pointed out that her job is not very realistic and that many different peoples' jobs are being done only by herself.

We won't elaborate on this for now but the important, as mentioned above is that Emily Cooper has inspired us with her energy and these are the skills that we will definitely keep for our own career benefit!

So, do you feel like getting a bit inspired by Emily's professional skills?

We do so we made it easier for you. Read and jot down what Emily does and we need to take as an example.

1. Emily is Bold & Not Afraid to Take Initiatives

Even though Emily is in a foreign country, not speaking the French language at all (well, Bonjour doesn’t count!), she never misses the chance to take the initiative and propose new things that would help her company look good and grow. She rarely waits for approval from her boss (Sylvie, we love her!), and she tries her best to carry out every project—even if she fails sometimes, nobody can blame her. She asks for what she wants even if they deny it. She doesn’t always make it her own (lacks experience), she shows a problem-solving orientation and creativity. This essential soft skill is crucial for every professional and something that your supervisor will definitely encourage.

2. Emily Always Shows a Positive Attitude

Who wants to work with a pessimist and moody person all the time, a person who is whining around the clock? Nobody, I guess! And this is why Emily shows an exeptional positive mindset when it comes to work (and in life, in general!). Emily always keeps a positive attitude, which, credit, where credit’s due, is quite contagious! She wins over customers, manages to make it her way, and is the office’s happy vibe. What is also exceptional is that she maintains her positivity even if "marketing catastrophies" happen or when her boss is making her life miserable—yes, she does! A positive attitude is undoubtedly a must-have in the workplace; you make people feel comfortable, boost your productivity, and reduce stress. Not to mention how popular it can make you in the office! Tastes like a promotion?

3. Emily is a Good Coworker and Collaborator

Although her first days in the Parisian company weren’t that successful, Emily managed to make good friends there, since she never gave up trying to build a rapport with her colleagues and her boss and she kept trying to help —sometimes with no particular success. She also tried hard to avoid conflicts; at the bottom line, she had her colleagues back, and, they did too for her, even when she got fired. So, being focused on your tasks is good, but having a friendly relationship with the people with whom you spend a lot of hours together is priceless. You never know when you will need them and on the plus side, it makes life at the office even more fun and bearable.

4. Emily Knows Networking

Emily’s boldness and growth mindset motivated her to try and network everywhere, from the metro station to the “boulangerie” from where she would buy her “pain au chocolat”. As Porter Gale mentions in her book“Your network is your net worth”, Emily definitely follows and applies that rule every single day. She was open to pretty much everyone and even to people who weren’t that friendly. But she never stopped meeting new people. Another excellent skill, though, was her ability to use her network in order to get the help she needed. A mistake many of us make is that we think we can do everything on our own. But, the truth is that everyone needs a hand from time to time, and Emily definitely knew how to use this hand! We monitor her networking skills and we certainly follow them ourselves.

5. Emily Takes Responsibility for her Mistakes

For a young and ambitious girl like Emily, mistakes are on the game, considering her little experience and being in a totally different work environment and working culture. Emily indeed made some -severe and/or minor- mistakes during her course in the Parisian working life. One of the major points of the show was Emily's struggle to adapt to French work culture since she had to deal with differences in communication styles, work-life balance, and overall business etiquette which caused a lot of challenges. Still, she never shirked her responsibility despite the consequences when she couldn’t solve the problems that had arisen immediately and the damage was done. Her courage and straightforwardness were rewarded at the end. After all, we all make mistakes at work. The point is to understand and aknowledge them and not avoid taking responsibility when we get caught.

Being a Marketer/Social Media Manager in Paris may not be that fun and glamorous in real life as in the series (or, maybe it is?) but Emily definitely gives us the inspiration and motivation to be even better in our real life -and maybe not so glamorous- work routine!