Cassandre Mariotto: From the Sorbonne to Cambodia, the Journey of an Asia Enthusiast

An international relations student at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, passionate about Japan since middle school and a walker of the Shikoku pilgrimage, Cassandre Mariotto came to Cambodia for her final internship at Mintha Care, where she led the company’s CSR projects. Between discovering the country, gaining self-confidence, and a clear-eyed look at inequality, she talks to Cambodge Mag about this Cambodian chapter of her journey.

Cassandre Mariotto at work in Mintha Care's offices in Phnom Penh

Could you introduce yourself in a few words?

My name is Cassandre. I’m from Toulouse but moved to Paris six years ago to continue my studies. I’ve been passionate about Japan since middle school, and I still find myself in awe every time I visit a new country in Asia. I love action, whether through my hobbies – diving, martial arts, hiking – or simply through my pace of life!

Tell us about your academic background

I studied at the public high school Ozenne in Toulouse, where I started learning Japanese. I then joined a hypokhâgne class (an intensive humanities preparatory track) at Henri IV in Paris, where I spent two years. I enjoyed literature and the humanities, but I felt I needed something more concrete, so I switched to a Magistère/Master’s degree in International Relations at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. In 2024, through a student exchange, I had the chance to spend a semester at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. I then took a gap year, which allowed me to extend my stay in Japan and complete the 1,200-km Shikoku pilgrimage entirely on foot. In September 2025, I finally began my final year of my Master’s, and I have just completed my studies by defending a thesis on Japanese–Korean relations viewed through the lens of the colonial period. I will return to Japan in September 2026 to attend a language school and refine a level that is still not quite suited to the professional world.

Tell us about your early professional experience

I don’t have much professional experience. As an anecdote, I started out working in cornfields and peach and apple orchards. In Paris, I discovered the travel agency Voyageurs du Monde, where I’ve spent my summers for the past three years. I also became a private tutor in French and history, and occasionally worked as an examiner for the French mock baccalauréat. The only activity I’m still involved in today, and have been for over a year, is that of editor and writer for Asialyst, a web media outlet specialising in Asia, where I handle the back office.

Tell us about your relationship with Cambodia

Honestly, I didn’t know much about this country before setting foot here. I left with only a few historical notions in mind and an idea of the places I wanted to visit. It was precisely the unknown and the call of adventure that pushed me to move to Cambodia.

How did you come to work for Mintha Care?

My Master’s programme requires students to complete a final internship in order to graduate. I won’t hide it: I first tried to find an opportunity in France or Japan. I faced rejection after rejection and was starting to lose hope. A former classmate, then an intern at Mintha Care, told me the company was looking for its next team member. She spoke very highly of her internship and of Cambodia, so I applied. The appeal of the unknown, my classmate’s enthusiastic account, and the missions I was promised won me over.

Describe your professional activities at Mintha Care

The tasks I carried out at Mintha Care were very varied. Every internship begins with training on the dermatological and beauty products marketed by the company – Bioderma, Nuxe, Roger & Gallet, and Evian sprays – to ensure a certain level of expertise among new arrivals. I was then assigned a major project: ensuring the continuity of the company’s CSR initiatives. This involved building or developing partnerships with NGOs, making sure projects ran under the best possible conditions – including sending Cambodian students to complete a placement in dermatology or dermato-cosmetology at UHS, within a French teaching hospital – as well as handling LinkedIn communications about Mintha Care’s CSR actions. In this context, I also had to take charge of directing a documentary, which should be released before long. Lastly, I occasionally worked in sales.

This internship truly immersed me in working and negotiating abroad, which, for a student in international relations, has been an invaluable learning experience.

Cassandre Mariotto in front of Mintha Care's offices

Tell us more about one of your projects

I’d like to mention a project that combined my work with my discovery of Cambodia: writing an article on how Cambodian society relates to ghosts. It was during a visit to an NGO with Mintha Care that I first heard about local beliefs surrounding ghosts and spirits, which inspired me a great deal. I think this article shows a side of Cambodia that is probably unknown in France.

What do you do outside of work?

I enjoy simple things: discovering a new café where you feel at ease, hiking and visiting historical sites, going to the cinema, reading… I also do a lot of sport and have practised combat sports since I was five years old. I keep learning Japanese, even though this year my final thesis took up most of my time.

What do you like most and least about Cambodia?

What I like most: the deep kindness of people here, from curious and warm looks to sincere smiles. A small thing, perhaps, but I love that everyone calls each other bong – brother or sister – because it gives the impression of solidarity and mutual respect between people.

What I like least: I say “impression” of solidarity because the thousands of beggars in the streets seem to suggest otherwise. There is, of course, extreme poverty in France too, but I have the feeling it’s less widespread than in Cambodian society. When I see people going through the rubbish I’ve just put out, it makes me want to cry and makes me angry – at a world that tolerates such inequality, and at myself, because I take part in it.

What lesson do you take away from this experience?

Professionally, I feel I’ve gained more confidence in myself. I also discovered that a company – the private sector – can genuinely work towards the common good, in its own way.

From this Cambodian chapter, I come away having grown, humbled and full of admiration. Admiration for a people who have risen above their traumatic past; humility before a country that is gradually revealing its wonders.