MAELLE GAVET

I have American friends in France, and when I meet with them, they tell me about everything that is wrong with France. I think there is a general expat syndrome, which means that whatever country you are in, you are always missing your own country and always thinking that the country you live in is actually not as good as it could be.

A great deal of energy is spent daily on pushing the Russian e-commerce boom along while managing all aspects of growth and development along the way.

I am an optimist. I believe the future is bright. I think people who see life painted in dark colors are the ones who do not take ownership.

The fundamental vision hasn't changed. What does change is how you get there, because there are still problems you have to figure out.

The Russian customers don't feel very comfortable with online transactions.

The goal wasn't to create a billion-dollar company. The goal was to create something useful where I could learn things.

The pickup points are a natural additional network for delivery. For me, the surprise is that Amazon didn't come up with that idea.

It simply isn't acceptable for the likes of Google, Facebook, Amazon and others, which amass data by the terabyte, to say, 'Don't worry, your information's safe with us, as all sorts of rules protect you' - when all evidence suggests otherwise.

Russians are not a very friendly people. It's hard to get them to speak nicely to the customers. It's just not in their culture.

Consumers learn the value of being sure that what you want to buy is what you buy.

Ozon.ru is made up of four businesses. Ozon.ru is an online retailer, O'Courier focuses on shipping, Ozon.Travel, and our most recent acquisition, Sapato, the leading online shoe and accessory retailer.

The Priceline Group is a truly globally-scaled digital e-commerce Fortune 500 company operating world-class brands. I look forward to contributing to the Group by identifying new opportunities and operating synergies that enhance its already strong track record as a global digital pioneer.

I can be more cold than people would like me to be.

The biggest deficit in terms of gender equality at Ozon lay in our IT department. So we made a decision, along with our key IT leaders, to remove all filters and systemically interview all the women who apply.

Not only is self-regulation largely a fantasy, but repeated scandals across multiple industries have proved that companies are fundamentally incapable of self-regulating for the greater good.

The general message would be to say to all these young people: If you have entrepreneurial aspirations, there is money, there are consumers, there is a huge market. The only thing you need to do is to go there and start doing things.

After I completed the project for BCG, I was offered the position of Director of Marketing for Ozon.ru.

The problem is Silicon Valley, which is an amazing ecosystem, also ends up being an amazing bubble, with white guys talking to white guys about white-guy problems. So it's great, but you kind of miss a lot of things around you.

There is very little room for relaxation, but as long as I capitalize on those brief moments of peace, I'm okay with that.

At Ozon, salaries are evaluated every year based on market benchmarks which are gender neutral.

All the big online retailers are looking at how to enter the Russian market.

I can tell you that when you're counting every penny, knowing that you are a single bad decision away from bankruptcy, you inevitably lose focus on what really matters for your business.

Within Internet users, you have a big chunk of people who can convert to online shopping.

The history of business has shown that companies usually only regulate themselves if they're forced to by legislation, or out of self-interest - often in the shape of a marketable message that will help sell more products.

There's always a fine line between being too focused and missing opportunities, or being too wide and taking on too many.