ESCP ALUMNI magazine - # Special issue 2024 - 27

Career ❙ Big Interview
By Ana Boyrie
" It's a privilege to be made
constantly uncomfortable by
new things you need to learn
and comprehend "
Ever since he was a child, Normanno PISANI (MiM 17) has always been a globetrotter.
After Argentina, Spain and France, the 31-year-old Italian landed in Great Britain. For the past
five years, he has worked at TikTok as Global Head of Editorial. Despite the London greyness,
it's with a smile that he looks back on his career and talks about the great opportunities offered
to brands by the platform.
Normanno PISANI (MiM 17)
global Entertainment Partnerships Lead
at TikTok
You're from Rome originally. You
have now lived in London for six
and a half years. You're quite the
city guy...
Normanno PISANI: I've always been a city
guy! I have a very international background.
When I was 2 years old, my dad got a job
offer in Argentina. In one month and a half,
he decided to move the whole family - I
have two brothers and one sister, four kids
is quite a big family - to Buenos Aires. I lived
there for four years. The family motto is:
you've got to be international. That is why in
Argentina - despite both my parents being
Italian - my brothers, my sister and I went
to a French school. Even when we came
back to Rome, I passed my 'baccalauréat' -
my major was economics and social sciences
(ES) - in a French high school. The idea my
parents wanted us to integrate was: yes,
you are Italian, but you've got to expand
your horizon as much as possible, you've
got to learn as much as possible, you've
got to travel as much as possible. In some
ways, that's what led me to choose ESCP as
a business school.
Thanks to ESCP's program, you
visited five different cities in two
years, in four different countries,
right?
N.P: Yes, the first year was in Turin. Then I
ended up in Milan for an internship, where
I worked in venture capital. I've always
been very passionate about technology. So
I was really interested in understanding
how startups financing was functioning at
the time. The second year at ESCP was in
Madrid. Then I did an internship at Amazon
in Luxembourg. The third year was in Paris
and I finished back in Milan at Google
Cloud.
ESCP Alumni Magazine Special issue ❙ 2024
What impact has traveling had on
your career?
N.P: It's had an impact on my career in
several ways. In Madrid, I had a friend who
had done his internship at Nintendo. That's
when it hit me: " I can actually work at the
intersection between creativity, entertainment
and technology " . I could choose something
that I enjoy, that is interesting to me.. It was
quite a turning point. Then, I think traveling
makes people very adaptable. Every time
you change countries, you basically have to
restart all over again. Even the basics like a
bank account, your phone number, finding
a flat, learning how to navigate the culture...
You're used to constant change. Traveling is
the best way to connect with new people,
with new cultures, new ways of thinking. It
also teaches you empathy, I think.
As it happens, adaptability is quite
a crucial skill in your current
position at TikTok...
N.P: Definitely! That's the important bit.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a privilege to
be made constantly uncomfortable by new
things you need to learn and comprehend.
When you work in an organization like
❙ 27

ESCP ALUMNI magazine - # Special issue 2024

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