Aurore Nizot
Global Sales Manager – Polypropylene, Vistamaxx, Exact
ExxonMobil
Aurore Nizot Global Sales Manager for Polypropylene, Vistamaxx, and Exact at ExxonMobil and an Executive Board Member of EPCA, opens up about the winding path that took her from chemical engineer to global sales leader. She shares what her first leadership role taught her about communication and coaching, what it actually takes to build a team that is both high performing and genuinely engaged, and how mentors and sponsors have played very different roles in her career. Aurore also speaks candidly about relocating her family across countries, the importance of finding your footing before diving back into work, and how a 42 kilometer trail run keeps her grounded amid it all. She closes with warm, practical advice for the WIC community on authenticity, resilience, and remembering to have fun along the way.
From Chemical Engineer to Global Sales Leader: Aurore trained as a chemical engineer, but it did not take long for her to realize her real interest was in the business side of the industry. She built her business acumen through data analysis before moving into a commercial role in industrial lubricants, including selling fuel to airlines. Her first leadership role came in customer service, where she led a team of 20 and discovered that helping people grow was what truly energized her. From there, she took on a sales management role spanning France and Benelux, requiring her to lead across different regions and locations, then moved from France to Belgium for a Europe sales role before a role in manufacturing and supply chain, where she joked she learned more about nonverbal communication than she did Dutch. A relocation from Belgium to Houston brought her first global role with full profit and loss responsibility, and with it, the challenge of navigating corporate headquarters across cultures and time zones, particularly in Asia. She went on to serve as Chief of Staff for the Global Supply Chain VP, then stepped into her first executive role as EMEA Supply Chain Manager before becoming Global Marketing Manager for fluids. Aurore has changed roles roughly every two years, moving across sales, marketing, supply chain, and in various EM businesses. That variety kept her learning continuously, deepened her cross functional understanding, and helped her build a strong network both inside and outside the company.
Learning to Lead: From Doing to Enabling: Aurore describes her first supervisory role as a pivotal moment, and the biggest adjustment was learning that she was no longer personally responsible for delivering the work. Instead, her job became enabling her team to deliver the results. She learned that a team is not there simply to execute on instructions; people need the space to create the work themselves. That means giving the team clarity on where they are headed, removing obstacles in their path, and communicating clearly, since what feels obvious to a leader is not always obvious to everyone else. That first experience also reshaped how she coached. Rather than handing people the answer, which only creates dependency, she learned to ask what they thought the best approach would be. That requires making time to truly listen and understand each person's perspective, and building an environment where the team can succeed on its own terms. She also points to the importance of connection across cultures, noting that a video call with cameras on can carry nonverbal cues that get lost entirely in a typed message.
Building Teams That Are High Performing and Engaged: For Aurore, clarity, empowerment, and trust are the foundation of a strong team. It helps enormously when people can see the bigger picture and understand the context behind decisions. She believes people should not have to wait on her for every decision; instead, they need to know the destination and the boundaries they are working within, with the confidence that she is there as a safety net. Just as important is helping people recognize when they need help, and making sure asking for that help is never seen as a failure. She has also found that teams with cross functional experience consistently deliver stronger results. On balancing autonomy with accountability, Aurore is clear that expectations, responsibilities, and decisions need to be spelled out from the very beginning, so everyone starts aligned.
Mentorship and Sponsorship: Two Different Kinds of Support: Aurore draws a clear line between mentorship and sponsorship. A mentor is there to help you think through problems, test ideas, and vent frustration, and her best mentors have been former managers who worked closely with her and knew her well. A sponsor plays a different role entirely: someone who speaks up for you and actively advocates on your behalf when you are not in the room. When it comes to developing talent, especially people who are not naturally the most vocal, Aurore encourages leaders to genuinely get to know their people: what motivates them, where they want to grow, what their strengths are, and what stretch opportunities and support they need to go beyond their comfort zone.
Relocating - A Way to Strengthen Resilience and Adaptability: One of Aurore's biggest challenges, and opportunities, has been relocating with her family, and she stresses that it has to be guided by clear priorities and intentional choices. Her own perspective on moving traces back to her childhood, when her family moved within France and she had to find her place and make new friends all over again. That experience shaped how she has approached every family move since. Her children were quite young during the move from Belgium to Houston, the largest relocation the family made, and she made it a priority to help them find their footing first: settling into a school, finding the right home, and building a support system. Once that foundation was in place, she found she could fully focus on work.
Staying Grounded Outside of Work: Leadership can be demanding, and Aurore is intentional about how she stays grounded outside of it. She is an avid runner and likes having a goal to work toward; training for a 42 kilometer trail run gave her something to focus on and a welcome escape from the pace of work. She also makes time for family and friends, and finds that the mountains, whether through hiking, cycling, or skiing, are where she recharges most.
Advice to the Women in Chemicals Community: Asked what advice she would offer the Women in Chemicals community, Aurore's answer was simple and heartfelt. Be authentic, and believe in yourself. Do not be afraid to make mistakes; what matters is learning from them quickly rather than dwelling on them. Do not hesitate to ask for help when you need it, and look for ways to support and empower others as you go. And through all of it, remember to have fun.