One day, one woman: Émilie Llorens: Operations & Sustainability
In celebration of International Women’s Rights Day on 8 March, this week we are highlighting some of the female talent at the heart of France’s Orient Express Racing Team. Today we feature Émilie Llorens from Normandy. When Émilie started she was responsible for CSR, but her role has increased to encompass Operations and Sustainability.
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MEET ÉMILIE
What is your role at Orient Express Racing Team?
I work in the Operations department across various projects and on the Orient Express Racing Team logistics. I also support the team in its sustainable development strategy and projects, which aim to reduce our impact on the environment and to increase inclusion in the world of sailing.
Where does your passion for the sea come from?
I come from a family of ocean lovers, my parents were scuba divers and took me with them from an early age.
What is your message on International Women's Day? Specifically to young women?
We are working to increase diversity and inclusiveness within the industry to create a level playing field where gender does not determine employment opportunities. Dare to walk through doors, train for all kinds of jobs, set no limits.
What are the main challenges to achieving greater parity between men and women in this workplace?
In the world of yacht racing, we have quite a few technical professions. If we want more women on our teams, we must start by getting them excited about engineering schools, technical colleges, etc. That's where the challenge lies: training. Our professions need to be promoted well upstream.
How do you see women in the world and in sport?
I think things are changing, but not fast enough. I've become very aware of feminist issues over the last few years. There are still huge problems, but I think it's really interesting to try to work on them and get people to take up these issues. Sailing is opening up, although there are still more men than women in the teams. Very often teams have to perform quickly because the campaigns are short, so employers turn to people they've already worked with. We're in a restricted environment. This performance culture can help women, but it also reduces the opportunities for those who are not in the business. Steps are being taken, particularly at the SailGP and the America’s Cup, but it should be more natural across the sport: having a female competition should be a no-brainer when there's a male competition.
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BIOGRAPHY
Émilie has a wealth of varied experience in the world of sailing and is a key member of the Orient Express Racing Team.
Émilie Llorens grew up in Fécamp, Normandy, in a family that was passionate about water sports – her scuba diving parents regularly took her sailing on summer cruises with friends. But although Émilie participated in a few sailing courses growing up, she didn't start competing until 15 onboard a First Class 8 at the Trophée des Lycées. She was immediately hooked and enrolled in a sports school, training every Wednesday and racing every weekend. Alongside cruising an Open 5.7, she also put in the hours studying and after two years of preparatory classes in Rouen she enrolled at the ESC Brest, a school that she chose because ‘they were doing the Tour Voile’!
During her final year of studies she did a work-placement at Air Liquide in Lorient and continued sailing on the side. Here she met some of the Groupama Team France staff and her future career clicked into place. “I didn't know what I wanted to do when I started business school. Sailing had always been my passion. But when I met people whose jobs were in sailing, it became clear to me that I wanted to do the same thing. I already had contacts in the sailing world because I used to sail, but I needed to establish myself”.
Émilie decided to do a Masters specialising in sports organisation management at KEDGE Marseille. As part of this she did a work-placement at the Yachting Club de la Pointe Rouge (YCPR), where she organised the 49er and 49er FX World Championships. "I was lucky enough to meet the right people who called me back for the J80 World Championships, the Normandy Channel Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre.”
Émilie went on to gain experience on the organisational side of yacht racing and events across different roles that included communications, general organisation, production, and hospitality. 2015 marked a turning point in her career when she joined the Race for Water Foundation as project manager for the MOD70 round-the-world race. The aim was to study plastic pollution in the oceans. It was her first international assignment and it enabled her ‘to discover sustainable development and environmental issues’. Crucial subjects that fascinated her and that would later play a central role in her career. The experience remains one of her best professional memories to this day. "It's the one that made me grow the most and made me aware of environmental issues and ocean pollution".
After exploring the world of football at EURO 2016 (managing Continental's hospitality programme in Marseille), followed by a first taste of the America's Cup (managing the on-water hospitality programme at the Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series in Toulon), she worked for the Vendée Globe press office.
Then came SailGP, where she managed the first SailGP event in Marseille during season 1, an experience she later repeated in Saint-Tropez. Next, she joined The Ocean Race as Sustainability Event Manager – a major opportunity for her to put the environment back at the heart of her profession. And something that she took back to SailGP with the Inspire programme and on to the Transat Jacques Vabre in 2021.
During The Ocean Race and at SailGP where she stood in for the France SailGP Team logistics manager, she crossed paths with Bruno Dubois.
Although she has one foot in the SailGP circuit with the Impact League, Émilie is now also working for Orient Express Racing Team on a freelance basis. "I originally came on board to work on sustainable development, but now I'm also working on logistics with Louis Viat, Director of Operations. I didn't hesitate because both subjects interest me. What's more, in the meantime I've been doing some training to get to grips with environmental tools and issues, particularly carbon foot printing. I've also learnt a lot about how to reduce the impact of an event from the people I've worked with.”
As part of Orient Express Racing Team Émilie's role includes managing operations linked to the life of the base, its assembly and construction, as well as environmental issues alongside Kellie Covington, with whom she defines the broad lines of the strategy. "I'm pleased that my job is so varied and that I can switch between subjects, because I'm not used to working on a single project. I'd never set myself a long-term goal in my career, but it's a dream come true all the same," confides Émilie, who enjoys ‘walking on the beach and being in nature’ when she's not working. On the other hand, she no longer sails because she ‘doesn't like to do things by halves’, and her schedule no longer leaves her time for regattas, plus she likes to get some downtime.
She can't imagine a professional future without the environmental dimension, which has become essential to her. Nor without challenges. "I want to continue to develop my skills and learn from the people I work with".
Date of birth: 21 January 1990
Place of birth: Harfleur, France
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ÉMILIE AND THE AMERICA'S CUP
What the Cup means to her: "It’s a grail. There aren't many equivalent events in sailing, it's unique. Working for a French project is an incredible opportunity.”
A specific memory of the America's Cup: "What really stood out for me was seeing people from Groupama Team France cry as they followed the races in Bermuda. I've often been on the organisational side and at that moment, I said to myself that it must be something to be part of a team. What drives me is the human side, working with people whose values I share and from whom I can learn.”