Wakam Inside: Sophie Berets

We sat down with Sophie who joined Wakam almost 10 years ago. Sparkling and always with a smile, Sophie had 5 different lives with us before becoming Product Team Lead. She shares with us her joy of life and tells us about her daily life at Wakam between laughter, meetings, and above all lots of people.

Hello, can you introduce yourself?

Hello, my name is Sophie Berets. I come from Nice, but I am a Parisian for 14 years. I am working at Wakam for almost 10 years and had 6 different jobs in the company. As you can see, I am living proof there is a possibility of internal mobility. We can say I am an enthusiastic person who takes things in life in a very positive way!

I really like the company and I’m very attached to it. I find there is a really special spirit in the company, with a lot of solidarity and humanity.

For your sixth job at Wakam, you are “Product Team Lead” but what does it exactly? 

I lead the product team composed of 5 people. We work in pairs with the Pricing squad and more broadly with the Project, Revenue, Legal and Reinsurance squads…

In concrete terms, our role is to build insurance products in line with the Pricing squad. We co-create with our partners the product they need and elaborate together with the associated guarantees. For each guarantee, we define the level of coverage with the associated deductibles. We are in constant discussion with the Pricing squad to ensure the financial balance of our products.

We are also working on the regulatory aspects of the product. It must be in line with the market and correspond to the needs of the end customer.

And finally, we take care of the implementation of the product. So, we write the specifications of the product (guarantees, covers, exclusions…) and the API mock-ups that we publish on our IPASS portal.

Wow, in fact, you’re in touch with the whole company?

Yes, this is the favorite part of my job actually! We are in touch with 90% of the company and everyone contributes to the creation of the product. The construction is really transversal: you always have to ask yourself in which perimeter I create it and the squads involved (Revenue, Reinsurance, Legal, Claims, …).

You don’t work much with the Marketing and Communication Squad…

(Laughs) We worked a little with you and especially with Pierre* when he had some time! He created documentation to highlight our products. And moreover, with the rebranding, we had to change all our contractual documentation, so I worked a lot with Eric** and Léna***. We work with you but on small and specific projects.

(Marketing Lead at Wakam*)
(Chief Marketing & Communication Officer at Wakam**)
(Communication Lead at Wakam***)

It’s not going to be easy with everything you’ve just told me, but what if you had to explain your job to a three-year-old child?

I build security for people and make sure that what I build is going to be useful to them.

Why did you join Wakam?

Back then, I was working in the automotive industry and I didn’t know anything about insurance. It was 2011, and the previous years had been difficult for the automotive industry. I didn’t want to be labeled “Automotive”. Most of all, I was thinking that insurance is a product that is always needed.
At the time, I told myself that it was a sector in which I was investing for the future and the opportunities would be rich, numerous, and interesting.

I don’t have the impression that you made a mistake by having done 6 different jobs…

(Laughs) No, it was clearly a good bet!

What do you think about the insurance sector?

I know that everyone sees it as an obligation. My friends who don’t work in the insurance sector have a very negative view. The little contact you have with your insurance company often comes at a difficult (when you have problem!). And often insurance is seen as a financial institution that is looking to improve its profits and lower its costs.

But this is not the vision we try to spread at Wakam. I manage a team in which there are legal experts who master the legal texts. But the question we ask ourselves every time we create an insurance product is very simple:

“What will happen to a client at the time of the claim?”

To protect ourselves from fraud we have to put in place a number of controls and people see this as something negative. They think we are trying to limit our help as much as possible when this is not the case. We always put ourselves on the side of the insured and say to ourselves: is it in line with reality? Because in the end, we are not only creators of insurance products but also users!

If you create an insurance product and there is no claim, it’s because you’ve created a bad product.

What is a typical week for you at Wakam?

The beginning of the week is often reserved for internal and team meetings. These are important moments to exchange and ensure that everyone is aligned with the company’s strategy. Every Tuesday we also have a meeting with the whole company to validate (or not) deals.

Then, for the remaining two or three days we have discussions with partners, product design workshops, document review, API building and internal kick-offs.

But don’t worry, it’s also a lot of exchanges and laughter within the team!

What are you working on right now?

We are structuring and strengthening the team! As I told you earlier, we are doing a lot of things and the number of partnerships is increasing, but with the same team size as 2 or 3 years ago.

The objective is to have strong skills with, above all, strong adaptability. In the team, everyone is involved in everything (API, product design, legal, …). We’re really building up and creating real expertise in product creation, so we’re looking for talents who are ready to take a lot of challenges! And who will complete the expertise of the current team composed of Laura, Nathalie, Anissa, Patrick, and Yassine. It’s this human dimension that I really like at the moment.

Something you’re super proud of that you did at Wakam?

Keep up the rhythm! You need a strong resilience to be in the company because the rhythm of work is fast. But I’ve always been lucky enough to be accompanied and defended by my bosses. I really think that’s what helped me to hold on for so long.

I’m pretty proud to be where I am too. When I look back, I didn’t know anything about insurance, but it’s been 10 years since I’ve been here, 10 years that I’ve been having fun, 10 years that I don’t regret having joined the adventure, and most of all, 10 years that I still have so much fun in my job.

If you could change one thing in the office?

It would be amazing to have all the company on the same floor!

If you could describe the culture at Wakam, what would you say?

Agility and tailor-made: we deliver insurance products in just a few weeks for all types of partners. But human relations also play an important role, so I would add: solidarity, mutual aid, and friendships.

If you could change jobs, what you would do? 

Insurance is a sector that I really like and I like this company, so I would continue to work at Wakam! My absolute dream would be to create a subsidiary in Nice!

Otherwise, I would become a singer! A kind of Janis Joplin but maybe less bohemian! (Laughs)

So, I have to ask who is your favorite band?

For sure the Eagles and the song “Hotel California”.

If you could switch places with someone for a day?

I did it a little! We had set up an internal “live my life”. I swapped places with a business developer and it helped me a lot in my current job to better understand the difficulties they were facing.

I would love to work in the People Team. I’m lucky to be at the works council so I often work with the team. I really like their approach and the team is great!

If you had a piece of advice to give to be hyper-efficient at the office?

A lot of organization! As soon as I have to do an action or a task, I put a slot on my agenda with a particular code color. As soon as I have to send an email, I open one and I put at least the subject and the recipient so that I can remember it later.

What is the first thing you do when you arrive at the office?

I organize my emails according to whether it’s “for information” or if I’m expected to take action.

Your favorite restaurant next door?

It’s been 5 years that we’ve been in the neighborhood, so I have a lot! But the question is to know if I give my good addresses… (Laughs)

I like “Cevicheria” and “Elementaire” very much. They are two very zen and beautiful places! But my favorite restaurant is “Friends & Family“, we eat there divinely well and the people who run the place are adorable.

The final word?

Happiness.