We all have seen that yellow castle in front of EC3. For those of you who don’t know, that is Skånis. Maybe you have been there during Novice Week or just drank coffee with your friends there. But who is actually there during the days? I can tell you that it is the Board of LundaEkonomerna. I have been spying on them during the week, and of course I will share my experience with you.
Monday – International Affairs Manager & Communications Manager
I walked into Skånis undercover on Monday morning. When I walked in, the board had their Monday morning meeting. And I’m not allowed to be at that meeting. What a great start for my mission to spy on the board… or not.
Melissa “Mel” Barragan Ruiz, International Affairs Manager, offered me a cinnamon bun and said that their meeting won’t be that long. During my week with the board I have established that Mel is the real fika boss. She is a half timer so she combines her work in the board with her studies in international business. In the union she handles the student union’s strategy regarding international matters, and of course teaches the rest of the board some Mexican traditions. For example, I know how to do the PERFECT guacamole now.
Since I am the Editor in Chief for Lundtan I had a meeting with Clara, who is the Communications Manager. Her work includes being in charge of the LE brand and all internal and external marketing and communication, and their strategies. She is also my contact person, so we had a meeting about how I can improve my work in my committee. We always have a blast at our meetings, we gossip a lot. Today she told me all the ideas she has for the LE TikTok, and I can tell you that Bianca Ingrosso will have some competition the upcoming month.
Tuesday- Educational Affairs Manager & Vice President
Since I combine spying and study Veronica “Vero” Larsson, the Educational Affairs Manager, asked me some questions about my education. Veronica is responsible for the coordination and monitoring of educational surveillance on faculty level. I told her my opinions on my education and asked her if there were any plans to improve my institution. By coincidence she had a meeting with a person from the institution. Her position on the board isn’t just a half time job, she is also the student’s voice and represents us to LUSEM.
But there is no Marlin without Dory. No Romeo without Juliette and no Vero without Yegi. You have definitely heard them laugh and you see them together everywhere. You can’t name a more iconic duo than them. Yeganeh “Yegi” Ranjbar is our Vice President. She coordinates and leads the educational surveillance, as well as having regular contact with the faculty. And if the President can’t participate, she will act as President. Vero and Yegi work a lot with each other and you always see them on the dancefloor having the time of their lives.
Wednesday – Corporate Relations Manager & Internal Relations Manager
A little bird whispered that LE has a new potential big collaboration and it was an active member that told our Corporate Relations Manager (corp), Stina Antman about it. Sadly I can’t tell you which company it is, it’s something between the active member, Stina and the person who will be elected as the new corp. She has been in contact with this company and informed them about the partnership, handled situations when the company had other references and discussed this with Filip and Simon. She talked the whole day about what a successful collaboration this can be, I believe her! Her main task is to create contact between students and their potential future employer and is responsible for the student union’s relation to the corporate world. She is also responsible for nine (!!) project leaders within the union, impressive. She is like our big sister <33
Talking about birds. I thought I heard a nightingale today. After looking for it without luck I realized that it was another songbird called Rasmus Engström that was singing. Some of you may know him as the Supreme Marshal of the Astro Order but his full time job is to be the Internal Relations Manager in LE. Except that he is singing all the time he oversees and coordinates the collegium and its members along with being responsible to facilitate and develop the union’s internal documents. In other words, the collegiums therapist. He also ensures that it doesn’t “sings too little” during sittningar. Believe me! If he gets the chance to sing, he takes it!
Thursday- President, Treasurer & Corporate Sales Manager
Have you ever seen a Mini Cooper around EC and wonder who is the lucky one that doesn’t need to bicycle up the hill every day? Of course it is the President, Simon Öhlin. You can compare him with Joe Biden if you want to, but I would say that being president over the U.S is pretty lame compared with being president over LE. Mr. Pres is the main spokesperson and has the uttermost overall responsibility of LundaEkonomerna and leads the Board’s daily work as well as strategic development. He represents the union in vital bodies both in Lund and around Sweden. In other words, he shows the rest of Sweden that LE is the best union. And yes, he can have some problems with English sometimes. According to Simon, Cornelia “Corre” Zanders only does recipes and moms… Doesn’t she do receipts and taxes??
Sorry Mr. Pres, I can tell our members what a Treasurer does. Cornelia is responsible for the union’s accounts and the reporting of the finances along with taking initiatives to improve them. Her daily work contains all the money that LE has. Cash is queen would I say!
The best part of being at Skånis during the week must be lunch time. All gather around the two tables and eat lunch together. We have been talking about everything. The weekends, that Stina doesn’t like sauce (??), the half timmers summer plans and that Simon is an extremely picky eater. No spicy food, no vegetables, food that tastes something is a big no!
During lunch, Filip Brolin, the Corporate Sales Manager told us that he had applied for a marketing job this summer. The thing is that he isn’t the best when it comes to social media.
When he was the project leader for INTC he changed the profile picture instead of uploading a story… It’s great that he is the best at continuously working to create new contacts and relations for the student union. He is a star when it comes to connecting with new companies that will collaborate with the union and that the relationship between LE and our external partners is exceptional. I can promise that I have learned so many new “göteborgs jokes” from Filip that I recommend him to be a comedian after he graduates.
Friday – Social Affairs Manager
Hoot Hoot, I see an owl!! Oh, it´s Magnus “Mange” Malmberg. His part time job is to support all active members who work with social activities and events and works towards ensuring that LundaEkonomerna’s social environment is thriving and maintaining high standards. He is not just an owl, he is also the Social Affairs Manager. He started his LE-life his first semester and has done it all from active member to project leader, member of the General Council, toastmaster and now a board member. Double thumbs up for that! During this year he has been in contact with the Head of Akademiintendenturen at Lunds University AKA the person at LU that ensures that LE follows all traditions. He told me that he has learned so many lundatraditions during his year on the board. When I asked if he could share some with me he said “no, you need to apply to the board to get this information”. Well, this is a reason to apply!!
It was hard for me to stay at Skånis the whole day since his work with Ugglan is top secret, so is my spying and two spies shouldn’t be at the same place at the same time. So I went to Ideon instead. And guess who I found there? Simon and Rasmus! They did the most important work during the whole week, or should I say the whole year? They defrosted the freezer at the office at Ideon.
Jokes aside. After this week I have seen that working on the board isn’t always super serious. After all, they are just students that have a great interest in management, leadership and of course the members of LundaEkonomerna. Coming into Skånis is like coming home to your best friends. You always get a cinnamon bun, a great laughter and get provided that LE is in the right hands. ´Cause their work is incredible and without them LE wouldn’t be anything. So the answer to the question, who is at the yellow little castle in front of EC3?, Its the royal family of Lund and you can now be a part of the new family that will be elected in April. The application closes on March 19th. And even more information can be found here https://www.lundaekonomerna.se/students/get-involved/ . I recommend you to book a fika with the board members, you won’t be disappointed.
