Celonaut Spotlight: Sophia Wieland, Sustainability Intern

At Celonis, we put our technology into the hands of those who will use it for good and help our customers make their processes more sustainable and less wasteful. We're committed to running our company in an environmentally sustainable way and are doing our part to ensure a better future for all. And that’s where our Sustainability department comes in! Meet Sophia, our very first Sustainability Intern, as she shares more about her exciting experience as a Celonaut and the importance of sustainability.

Sophia Wieland

Sustainability Intern

Why is sustainability important to you?

I specialized in geography in high school, where I learned a lot about geology, climate, and weather. I realized how fragile our environment and climate are and how much they affect our living conditions, access to resources, and ultimately our wellbeing. If you realize that our planet depends not on us as much as a society depends on the planet, you cannot claim that sustainability is unnecessary to you.

In 50 years, I don't want to tell the story of how we messed it up, I want to share how we made things better.

How did you end up at Celonis? What was it about this internship that made you want to apply?

After my master’s studies in Sustainability and Social Innovation in Paris, my goal was to apply what I learned and gain practical experience in a company. I was initially looking for an internship in the energy sector. But when I came across Celonis' internship description, my first thought was that process mining and sustainability together make complete sense. From my prior work and project experience, I realized that companies are often limited in their sustainability actions because they do not have the correct data or information to make better decisions. Therefore, I liked the idea of joining the Sustainability department at Celonis to drive solutions from an environmental and social perspective.

So what is a Sustainability Intern exactly?

Essentially, you are a sustainability promoter who brings an external viewpoint to the team. I highly appreciate that Sustainability Interns are a fully integrated part of the team. Celonis' goal is to support 10,000 companies on their journey towards net-zero by 2030. My responsibility is to help Celonauts and customers understand why sustainability matters and enable them to identify sustainability opportunities that can be realized with our product, the Execution Management System (EMS).

What is unique about the Celonis Sustainability department?

The company, people, and perspectives.

• Company because it is a unique experience to work in the Sustainability department of a hyper-growth company.

• People because I have the chance to work with a fantastic team from which I can learn a lot, fostering my personal development. 

• And finally, perspectives, because this internship allows me to see sustainability topics and challenges through different lenses, for example, customers, partners, engineers, salespeople, marketing, or human resources.

Describe what you have learned so far. Have you worked on any cool projects?

I've learned how the Celonis EMS breaks down information silos and helps make sustainability a decision factor in different processes. Moreover, I learned how important it is to promote sustainability internally, and that employee engagement is an indispensable part of it.  Additionally, I worked on the Celonis Sustainability Base Camp, a training track that explains key sustainability concepts in the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. We hope it raises awareness of the main challenges our world faces and inspires people to act. That’s why we do not only promote this training internally but also provide free access for external learners on our Celonis Academy Platform.

You mentioned the importance of employee engagement. Does Celonis have any initiatives to drive this?

Yes! We have a great employee community called Celonis4sustainability where employees from across the company exchange ideas on how to drive sustainable change internally and for our customers. There are also working groups for specific topics, such as a sustainable travel policy, procurement, and IT device donations. In my opinion, this initiative deserves much more attention because it is setting the foundation for making Celonis more sustainable. People from diverse backgrounds can integrate sustainability in their jobs which is extremely important because they spread the word and inspire others.  In addition to the community, we recently launched Celonis Impact Days globally. Each year, Celonauts get three days off of work to focus on impactful projects that bring our values to life.

You mentioned our values. To wrap up, which of the Celonis values matter most to you and why?

The FISA value (Focus, Invent, Simplify, Act)! I love the mentality to focus on the most important tasks and keep them simple because I often overthink. My team often promotes the slogan “think big, start small, act fast.” That helps me a lot to progress and be more satisfied with my work.

👩‍🚀Sophia Wieland, a working student in the Sustainability team, joined Celonis in August 2021. Before Celonis, Sophia received a Bachelor's degree in Management & Technology at TU Munich. She is currently studying a double master's degree at TU Munich in Management & Technology - specialising in energy markets and power engineering, and HEC Paris in Sustainability and Social Innovation.

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Eylül Yesilyurt

Global Talent Acquisition Enablement - Working Student