In the course of her cooperative business administration studies, Esther quickly developed a strong interest in marketing and international management. For her thesis, she chose to examine the ways in which corporate culture is shaped and developed during the course of M&As. In 2003, she was able to experience first-hand the diversity of corporate cultures thanks to a grant from the Carl Duisberg Society that allowed her to travel to Malaysia and participate in an internship there at BP. For many years, she was responsible for management activities at BP Germany – always with an emphasis on the areas of operations, marketing, and HR management.