In the first episode of Brussels, What Do You Do?, our street-style series about the people behind EU affairs careers, we meet Helene Nicora. She is Director General of Parkinson’s Europe, the European umbrella organisation that speaks for people living with Parkinson’s. She also works as a trainer, helping organisations build leadership and adaptability through […]
In the first episode of Brussels, What Do You Do?, our street-style series about the people behind EU affairs careers, we meet Helene Nicora. She is Director General of Parkinson’s Europe, the European umbrella organisation that speaks for people living with Parkinson’s. She also works as a trainer, helping organisations build leadership and adaptability through behavioural neuroscience and creativity.
Helene explains what her organisation fights for: equal access to care, treatment and support for people with Parkinson’s and their carers across Europe. Her long-term goal is simple. She wants to be out of a job because a cure has been found.
She also talks about her own path to Brussels. After studying and working abroad and completing internships in Geneva, Edinburgh and Paris, she landed her first role through her supervisors’ recommendations, for a position that was never publicly advertised. Her advice to job seekers is to go the extra mile, be authentic, and write applications that show why the role matters to you personally. She also argues that, with the rise of AI, soft skills like motivation, communication and strategic thinking will become the real differentiators.
Is the Brussels bubble really an ocean of sharks? Helene doesn’t think so. She describes it as a place of strong friendships and coalitions, and in one word, a catalyst.
