Will Work For Love: Sabrina de Leest, CityScape Media, Utrecht
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Sabrina de Leest 
is project manager at CityScape Media, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
In this postion, she handles a combination of project management and preparation of business proposals for clients.
- Describe your personal work space.
It’s a nice combination between old-fashioned paper work and high-tech media. We have a quite vivid office with a lot of new technical devices surrounding the desks. My desk is surrounded by daylight and decorated with paste-it papers full of reminders.
Every single day, a new idea is born and tested. Things are going at a fast pace now, especially on 3D content. It’s stunning to see the effect – how technique becomes interesting when it is connected to something else and becomes interactive, for example.
- How do you get to work?
I take my bike, which is typically Dutch, I believe. I live near the office of CityScape Media in Utrecht. This town is known for its universities. When summer starts, the city really comes alive and terraces invite you over.
- What is your average day like?
As a project manager I´m confronted with very different clients and cases. Each single case demands different techniques and suppliers. This means that with each project my business network grows and suppliers become friends.
Due to the fact that we operate mainly within the media business we often get last-minute calls. This means a high-tech solution realized within an impossible deadline. These kind of challenges I like, since this kind of situations demands a lot of creativity and ´friends´ within the network.
On a daily basis, we get new ideas from clients that we have to sort out. This often leads to new ideas and concepts. On Friday afternoons, we have our ‘end of the week drink’. At the end of the day, I have two small children whom I have to pick up after work.
- What is essential to your being able to work happily?
Flexibility, challenges, and never a dull moment.
- How flexible are your working conditions?
Very flexible. Intensive projects demand more hours than a regular 9 to 5 job. We are compensated for these hours by extra free days.
- What do you think your employer looks for in its staff?
Dedication and a willingness to think open-mindedly. Of course, you need to be interested in new developments and techniques.
- What suggestions do you have for your company?
Not to focus on one technical development, but in a combination of both technique and media. Interactivity will be the key solution within the next few years. People don’t simply stare at screens you know…
- Do you have any frustrations you would like to share with us?
The amount of technical details that are discussed at our office 😉
- What do you like best about your job?
The end result is always mind blowing. It’s not a display, it’s not a regular medium, it always has a jaw-dropping end result. Our clients come to us to get the real attention they want. They don’t come here to place an ad. 😉
- How open is your company to new ideas and suggestions?
CityScape Media is very open to new concepts and techniques. We integrate 3D-solutions with augmented reality and motion sensors, for instance.
- How much responsibility have you been given?
Within my area of project management, I get a ‘carte-blanche’. This means that when the technical solution is settled in our ‘dexter´s lab’, I will get a full written list with things that need to be arranged to start the project. From that moment on, I am responsible for the preparations and delivery of goods and extra services.
- How green are you and your company?
We do not print very much, everything is digital. We do not work with brochures, only digital leaflets. And, of course, my bike adds some green to it all…
Follow DailyDOOH