Thibault Trancart, Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble
Thibault Trancart
Nations 2011
Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble
Switzerland
Learn more about me:
I am currently a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. I became blind in 2006 after double retina cancer and countless medical interventions. I have always refused to be treated differently from others and I followed a normal academic path. I went to Nations to learn English in order to go to University in North America, as they are generally better equipped to welcome students with handicaps. So after my IB, I went on to study at McGill University, becoming the first blind person to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce from the Desautel Faculty of Management. Regardless of the obstacles generated by my handicap, I was able to enjoy my student life to the fullest.
In the fall of 2015, I decided to throw myself into a new challenge: Paralympic Alpine Skiing. This adventure started as a joke with a friend, neither of us had any training in competitive sports and it ended at the Europa Cup level in March 2020. In these four and a half years, my guide and I created the Blind Trust Ski Team, competing first at the national level and then in the international circuit as part of the Development Section of the Swiss Paralympic Ski Team. We participated in races all over Europe, as well as in the US, skiing down slaloms, Giant slaloms and even some Super Gs.
I have been working at Procter & Gamble since 2021 following an internship I did there. I have also set up NoBlink to speak at conferences or organise workshops to inspire others and change the way handicaps are perceived in society.
My favourite Ecolint memories would be all the amazing people I met and the great parties. We are now all scattered around the world for work or studies but we try to catch up.
Thanks to Ecolint, I learned English and was able to study at McGill but I think I also experienced the “North-American” mentality. We were allowed to dream big and told that it is not a failure if we do not succeed. The only failure is to give up because other people tell you it is impossible. I do not think I would have decided to be a Paralympic Alpine Skier without Ecolint. I never made it to the actual Olympics but for me, this was not a failure at all. It was interesting to see the difference in approach even among my coaches. For me, it was a success even if I did not reach the goal and this is the Ecolint mentality.
I would never do the two years of IB again! But for the rest, I do not think I would do anything different, I really enjoyed my time at Ecolint.
My words of wisdom for Ecolint students: do not be afraid to dream, and dream big. What is important is not the goal, but what you learn along the way and the pleasure you take from it.