Nathalie Scouarnec

Nathalie Scouarnec graduated from ECPM in 2009 with a specialization in analytical chemistry. However, it is in the field of materials that she works today, as she is in charge of the Materials Laboratory of the Packaging Expertise Center at L'Oréal in Aulnay-sous-Bois where she manages a team of three technicians, thus realizing that it is possible to work in a different specialty from the one chosen at school.

She owes this position, in particular, to her successive internships, which were essential to refine her professional project. After an internship as a technician in an oceanographic chemistry laboratory where she analyzed samples from the ocean floor, she worked as a trainee engineer in Düsseldorf, Germany, in the Quality department at Cognis, even though she didn't speak German at first. During her year of professionalization, she continued in the field of analytical sciences in the biotechnological processes department of Sanofi-Aventis and then had her first experience in the field of packaging at Procter & Gamble in Brussels, where she learned to work in an intercultural environment on packaging concepts for detergents in developing countries. "I was even able to conduct consumer tests in Cairo," she says. After an R&D internship at L'Oréal, she obtained her engineering degree and went to Peru to work as a humanitarian and eco-volunteer. Upon her return, and thanks to her experience at Procter & Gamble, she obtained a position at the Packaging Expertise Center at L'Oréal.

To carry out its role of expertise, it relies on its knowledge of analytical chemistry using various techniques of materials analysis (infrared spectrometry, DSC, etc.) or characterization (surface energy, filtering power, colorimetry, etc.). It also has a mission of materials management in order, for example, to find alternatives to avoid monopoly situations on certain materials. As guarantor of material vigilance, it trains L'Oréal employees in the application of REACH in the field of packaging. Other missions of the materials laboratory include carrying out approval tests to check the quality of standard supplier products and supporting innovation to develop new technologies.

Her training at ECPM gave her, she says, "a good scientific foundation in chemistry and polymers, as well as the rigor necessary for this profession. You have to be curious and learn as you go along. What I like about this job," concludes Nathalie Scouarnec, "is the diversity of exchanges. Every day is different: we work on a wide variety of subjects with all the brands, all the divisions of L'Oréal, in all the geographical areas of the world.

Propos recueillis par Muriel Aubeneau