One Yes and a Co‑op in Japan Helped Sephora Find Her Voice—and Her Path
Sephora Révolus’ Co‑op work term did more than fulfil a program requirement. In Tokyo, working as a marketing intern for the Japan Association for Working Holiday Makers, she created social content and led English cafés—informal workshops where clients practiced conversation before heading abroad. The role brought together everything she was learning in Business Management and Entrepreneurship at Algonquin College. It demanded planning, audience insight, campaign execution, and iteration. Most of all, it showed her what was possible.
“I realized I love communicating,” she says. “Give me a reason that matters and I will stand up and speak.”
Finding Her Footing
Sephora never had a single, tidy answer to the question What do you want to be?
“When I grew up, I wanted to be like Barbie,” she says. “Barbie had so many professions—she was always doing what she needed to do. I could never answer people when they asked what I wanted to be, because I didn’t really know who I was.”
Growing up in an Ottawa housing community, she learned to stay curious, ask questions, and try new things even when the path wasn’t linear.
After high school, the list‑maker in her took over. She wrote out Algonquin College programs, weighed the pros and cons, and chose Business Management and Entrepreneurship, starting in winter 2024. “It was a bit uncomfortable,” she says, “but I kept moving and kept asking questions. I kept showing up and let my mind catch up to where my feet already were.”
A Dream That Would Not Go Away
Travel never left the page. In fact, it was supposed to happen before she ever began her post‑secondary journey. So when Sephora started exploring opportunities at the College, she kept that dream alive, continually asking about exchange and study‑abroad options. With Co‑op in level three, an international work term finally felt within reach.
Most students begin their search on HireAC because it centralizes postings and applications. Sephora did that—and more. After a short meeting with her Co‑op student advisor, Laura, she understood the extra steps an international placement would require and felt encouraged that it was still possible.
“I kept hearing classmates say, ‘Nobody told us we could do Co‑op abroad,’” she says. “My question was, who told you that you could not?”
Her search led her to Go International, a Vancouver‑based organization supporting work‑abroad experiences. When she saw Japan listed under the Working Holiday Visa option, it clicked. “Japan has always been a dream country for me. Seeing it as a Co‑op possibility felt like it was mine.”
There were real decisions to make. Bringing her very attached pandemic dog wasn’t feasible due to Japan’s animal‑quarantine timeline. “It was an early lesson that sometimes you make hard choices to make the bigger thing possible.” Leaving her dog with a close family member made the decision a little easier.
Support at Algonquin College filled in the gaps. The Centre for Accessible Learning helped with technology needs. The International Education Centre guided travel registration and insurance. And in a standout act of care, Yoko and Yuki from the Co‑op and Career Centre stayed up late to join meetings with her future employer in Japan, bridging language and time zones. Funding support came through a Go Abroad bursary and Guard.me international insurance.
“It became a race against time—visas, letters, proof of funds, and full‑time coursework,” she says. “The effort felt invigorating because it was for something I really wanted.”
What the Work Looked Like
In Tokyo, Sephora’s role kept evolving. Alongside another Canadian intern, she helped build a new service that gave Japanese clients a place to practice English before their own working holidays. She launched and managed social pages, designed and analyzed surveys, handled client communications, and planned and facilitated English cafés. She also produced a short interview series with colleagues who had lived abroad, giving clients relatable stories and practical advice.
“It was highly entrepreneurial,” she says. “There was no step‑by‑step checklist. You design, test, learn, and repeat.”
Her level‑three digital marketing coursework became real‑time practice. Audience research informed content choices. Metrics-guided iteration. Classroom skills transferred cleanly into a new culture and context.
A concept she encountered in Japan helped her name the experience. Ikigai is the overlap of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. “For me, it is helping others through creativity and communication,” she says. “My Co‑op experience in Japan connected those dots.”
There were difficult days—time zones, homesickness, and the weight of living alone in a new country. “I had faith,” she says. “There were too many well‑timed moments—from the pilot program to the bursary to the people who helped me—for me to think this was random. I am so grateful for all that has transpired. Grateful to the school, my family, friends, God, and of course, my colleagues abroad.”
Bringing It Home
Back at Algonquin College, Sephora is not the same student who once introduced herself and stopped there.
“Going to Japan broke a glass ceiling I had put over myself. Once you step that far out of your comfort zone, higher levels feel visible.”
When a social media role for Business Management and Entrepreneurship opened at the College, she hesitated—her term was heavy, and her grades mattered. Then she remembered planning campaigns in Tokyo, leading English cafés, and editing interviews at her desk overseas.
“I did all that in another country. I can do this here. Even if I’m not perfect yet, I can try.”
“That was the lesson,” she says. “So much of this was about trying. Take steps toward your happiness, again and again. It was scary, and it was worth it. If you find the spark, chase it. Even if it seems impossible. You owe that to yourself.”
For Students Ready to Connect the Dots
Take a first step. Open HireAC and browse Co‑op postings. Talk to the Co‑op and Career Centre, ask your professors and coordinators for advice, and visit the Centre for Accessible Learning and the library. Keep exploring beyond campus. Dream big. The supports at Algonquin College are here to help you begin.
On March 25, National Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Day, Algonquin College recognizes the faculty, staff and employer partners who make experiential learning possible. Sephora’s experience illustrates the impact of cross-departmental collaboration — from Co–op student advising to accessibility and international education support — in helping students grow with confidence and purpose.
