MIREIA VILA

INTRODUCTION OF THE QUESTIONS

Good morning, we are students of the Cor de María and we are participating in a contest called Wisibilízalas and we
come to ask you some questions about your entire professional career.
Very good. Good morning, delighted to be with you.

The first question is about your current job and what it is about.
Right now, I am leading the technology people in a mass consumption company (PepsiCo) and what would it consist of? It would consist first of all of giving stability to our systems and applications, right now I am leading four countries, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Turkey and it is about giving, therefore, maintenance and stability to these applications in the first place. Secondly, it is about simplifying the entire structure and all our systems, which are many at the moment, we are talking about more than two hundred.

 

PRIMARIAN STUDIES
Well, now we will talk about primary studies and what wascyour career in primary and secondary school.
I studied like you at the Cor de Maria school, which makes me very excited, and my career, since I was a student, I would say quite good and, I liked the subjects more than technological sciences, mathematics, physics but also quite all the more part of languages, literature, history and others. So, it is true that during primary and secondary I never had a clear definition of wanting to dedicate myself to the world of STEM, it was something that came more at the level of a professional.

 

START IN THIS AREA
Did you choose delivery what you liked to do or to earn money, fame, obligation...?
Well, I think here, it was a bit of a mix, right? And I liked acting a lot, in fact, I had been with a theater group (mater) and at the time of deciding the studies I had doubts about dedicating myself and had the option of acting, in fact, I was about to start the tests in the theater institute and in parallel I was considering besides doing a slightly broader career that would give me different opportunities and finally I decided to study business administration and management at ISADE and in the end this has.

And how did you discover that you liked this field?
Well, I discovered that I liked this field so that the world of technology, I think it is an exciting world, right? That in the end what we do is transform, we transform the way in which we interact with that in some way we communicate in that we work with companies and also our lives, we are seeing it, right? With the mobile. A few years ago, the mobile did not exist and right now it is the center of the universe and with a single device we can do everything, right? From the photos, communicating with people who are in other countries, then somehow.

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Well, now that we have talked a little more about all the studies you have done them before dedicating yourself professionally to it, what career did you choose exactly? Where did you study?
I chose management and business administration, I initially did my specialization in the area of finance and then I did a master's degree, an NBA in France, Paris at AGC University and there I did my specialization in marketing, you see, nothing to do in STEM. At the time I didn't even know what the STEM world was and somehow, I wasn't very aware either. So that was this first part, so I also did some.

Did it cost you a lot to get out of your degree?
No, I think not. It was five years that I brought them quite well and in this sense no. The truth is that they were very interesting and very good years.

 

EQUALITY
And in the race, there was equality? That is, if there were more men than women are...
In my case it was one, a career in management and administration, with which, perhaps the percentage was 40% women, 60% men. There was quite an equality. Perhaps the issue of equality is something that, yes, at a professional career level, there I have seen that there was an inequality because perhaps there.

Were the same number of women who took off the race as that of men?
Proportionally yes.

That is, that the same amount left the race proportionally?
Yes. The same amount / proportion in some way of women and men, was the one that also started and ended the race.

 

JOBS
Well, and now, in the place you work, what is done?
Well, that's what I told you, right? These three pillars on which we are working, at the technology level. Well, there are different aspects here: bringing stability to these systems, especially the issue of simplifying all applications, because you have to imagine that we have very old applications, over 20 years old that, in some cases, are not even supported. So, all
these applications what we are trying to do is increasingly standardize and globalize. I am in a global company, with which there are many countries. We are with more than 250 countries and more and more what we want to do is centralize, have economies of scale and at the same time simplify this entire system. And then the issue of digital transformation, that here there are also many initiatives that we are launching, especially last year and this year, at the level of digitizing the sales force, for example, all our sales forces, because they had very useful tools old, they went they made the orders to the different stores with very old tools. Now we have gone to the iPad world and now because this year they already have all their iPads, they have much more information, in real time and somehow this allows us to make better or make better decisions in our day to day.

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And in the place you worked before, did you do more or less the same? Or ...
Yes, very similar. I was coming, I had been in the Netherlands the last seven years, within another consumer company, Heineken, and there basically, maybe the focus was very data- level, there my role was more than, we can simplify all the more part of what we say master date, big data, which is also a topic that is now very growing and here, then, the topic was, in this globalization, how can we centralize this data to have better visibility, to make better decisions and for the in the end, because enabling all the other business processes at the purchasing, sales, ... level and in the end ensuring that this base is much more solid and we can really trust it, right?

And did it come a long way, did it come to you, did it cost you a lot to get to where you are now?
Well, it was one, a long-distance race I would say, right? I would say that there have been many steps, there have been many experiences, it has not been easy at some moments and I think and we will talk later, because such has been more complicated than at others but no, I value it and see, it has not been impossible but yes that really, in every moment I have had to be very aware, I have also had to adjust my way of doing my leadership, to be able to advance and to do it in the most consistent way with myself, right? And my values ​​and also with my challenges, that this is very important to have clear, because what are the challenges that we want to achieve and how can we do it.

And what have you done to achieve all this?
Well, a lot of effort, I would say a lot of perseverance, having very clear values ​​and especially who we are at all times and in this sense never lose this perspective, right? Be very clear about what the priorities are, and dedicate these efforts to the priorities, don't be distracted, right? For other topics that can sometimes be important to other people, but not for you, then it is important to be very clear about this and always work with this vision in mind and with a lot of perseverance and a lot of effort.

As you said a second ago, have you had any trouble getting here at your job?
Well, it wasn't a problem, was it? I believe that, if they have not been experiences that the end, if there is a last learning, they do not become problems, but they really are opportunities, and in this sense, for example, at the moment when we have become a mother, do not? That I have my son who is now 7 years old, I think that the moment of motherhood is a moment that impacts us all a lot, right? Because it is a moment that the issue of personal and professional conciliation is much more complex, so at this moment, for me, it was difficult, in fact, I had to resign professionally, but then when I returned to work, because I also found challenges to say, oysters, I am at home, with my son but I am thinking about the work that I am not doing, I am at work and I am thinking that I have to go look for the child and I cannot do it well either . So somehow I felt that I was neither a good mother nor a good employee with whom I had to reinvent myself, right? So perhaps this was the most critical moment of being able to achieve this reconciliation between personal and professional life, that at every moment of our lives we will find moments of this type, right? Motherhood is a clear example, but we can have someone from the family who has a problem, some personal illness or someone from our environment. So I think it is important at this time to also understand our context and to know how to accept the reality that we have to live and that at some point, because we will value our personal life and perhaps leave our professional life more parked, and in some other moments such Once we will turn around and, because we will focus much more on the professional part and our personal part will happen in a second area ... So, if we are aware of it, I think it is a first step and knowing how to accept it, is the second step for be able to face it.

Do you have any anecdote or experience of your work that you want to tell us?
Anecdote in what aspect Generic or ...?

Why don't you tell us Mondays, they are very important to you.
Mondays are inspiring, right? I think ... if not, no. This is because I was recently in an interview and Judit this is known very well and was in one program, a podcast that was inspiring Mondays, right? That was how we started on Mondays and I think it is very important to start with energy, especially the week. Every week is a new adventure, in the end this gives us
different perspectives and, I think it is important, because we always focus on it with the best attitude, always trying to have a positive impact on our teams, on the people who are around us in our organizations and , also always thinking about our development and ours, let's say before, not only professional but also personal. Anecdotally, I use to tell an anecdote that happened to me during my period in China. I spent a year living in Shanghai, that was a, a full-fledged experience for which the culture is very different. Asian culture in this regard is very different. Above all, for them, they have a hard time expressing emotions and always, right? It is very much to read between the lines and to read everything that is non-verbal communication. So, I remember that we had a meeting in front of the whole team and of course, there was a mix, right? There were mainly Asian people, they also had people from the Barcelona team and we had a meeting and, at the end of the meeting, I asked: Are there any questions? No one raised their hand. Of course, I say, how strange, right? I have been here talking for an hour, there is no question, this is something that we have not blocked. So, we were going with a translator who somehow helped to do like all of this, right? Explaining the case of questions and others, he helped us, and he came to me and said, Mireia, I think there is a question, will you let me try to see if I can get it? And I said, yes, yes, go ahead. I remember that his name was Boxin and I said, if Boxin go ahead, ask and asked the same question. And he said: are there any questions in the room? No one raised their hand. Well, it may be that no one has a question, but then he started looking person to person from the audience and said, excuse me, do you have a question? And that person said, yes, I have a question. And he asked a question that was very valid and that somehow, we all stayed, I was surprised. When we finished the meeting, I went to Boxin and I said to him: Boxin, how is it possible that, I have asked the same question, you have, but you have seen that person had a question. He told me, here in Asia, normally the subject of non-verbal communication is more important. If you notice, the people who are in a meeting never look at you, they don't make eye contact. In fact, everyone is looking at the papers ... No one makes this contact. When someone makes this contact, it means that someone really has a question or wants to say something. With which it is important only with the brightness of the eyes to know if that person has, wants to ask you a question or not. So, for me that was like an experience of these vitals that seemed incredible to me and that I then applied to other meetings. And when somehow, I had to ask the question, I would look closely and ask the question and I would find the people who were looking at you and someone who was looking me in the eye knew that they wanted to tell me something else. So, this was one of those experiences that helps you then too, wasn't it?

Do you have any recommendations for future STEM girls?
Many recommendations, I think. The first is always to try to be consistent with yourself and in some way be consistent with what you feel, what you think and what you say. Because many times in this world, it is a world that is dominated by men and that is the reality. And many times, and it has happened to me in my career, we get carried away by how things are done in a certain way and especially in a much more masculine way: more competitive, more focused on results and, here I think that the It is important to be consistent with yourself and in some way do this leadership from a feminine point of view, where we have very important values, especially in connecting much more with emotions, to be much more empathetic to promote this collaboration between people. So, these are very own feminine values ​​that I believe we must promote more and more and will allow us to be much more consistent and authentic with ourselves. The second topic is a topic that I see a lot, because I am also in certain women, is that of having confidence with yourselves, right? We usually tend to be very humble. I think that finally we have to believe that we are good at what we do and have confidence in our abilities, not be afraid and take advantage of all the opportunities that are presented to us and, in some way we are aware that we can do it and we can do it the same or better than how men are doing it. And finally, right? I would say something picking up this message that I have shared before being capable of at these important moments of our life that will be found, of being able to have this conciliation between personal and professional life, but always from the point of view of acceptance and trying to find this balance, which sometimes will not be perfect and nothing happens for it not to be perfect. We must be able to accept, sorry, that sometimes it will not be perfect and sometimes it will be, but this does not allow us to continue advancing in this race.

Have you ever had any restrictions on your work?
No. The truth is that in this case I have always been very lucky to have a lot of flexibility and to have, therefore, bosses who in this case have made it much easier for me to reconcile and also advance my career.

Is there a lot of work in your field?
There is a lot of work, there is a lot of work to do and I believe that the subject of technology is a subject that is now booming, right? And we are seeing, then, that technology is increasingly a strategic issue in any company and in some way, it is helping us to position it in a very different way, right? I believe that when I started in this world, well over 17 years ago, technology was seen as a cost center, in the end it was another issue of systems, of a technological and highly technical world. Now we are seeing that this is completely changing and each time technology is bringing value to the business in a way that allows us to grow and allows us to give a value to our consumers and our clients that, in some way, we have never been able to anticipate. I believe that now, technology is becoming this oxygen that is lacking in companies that are lacking in order to achieve this positive change, to do things differently and to reinvent ourselves, right? in our organizations and in our careers so that people like us who come, since we have been in this world for a few years, it is also about unlearning how we have been doing things in the past to re-learn by how we have to do the things of facing the future. This perhaps is the great challenge that we have in our teams and that is the challenge can be more interesting.

After all these years of work, would you change jobs or continue the same?
This I think can never be said, right? The truth is that I am very happy, I enjoy my work with all areas, right? Well, the international exposure that I have, because of the opportunity that I have to work with people in my teams, but also, because all this digital transformation that we are experiencing and we can be ahead leading this from our companies. Okay, well, I think this is a topic because I am passionate about it and right now, I don't have any job changes
planned. If it is true that perhaps I am promoting other facets that I would never have expected within my professional career, right? Above all, promoting the whole issue of the empowerment of women in this STEM world, I think it is vital and a lot of work to be done, but I do believe that we are more and more women who are promoting this change and thanks to all the effort, all these organizations, all these women and all this work that is being done, I think we can go further, and I believe that this year and the next years will be years of accelerating all this positive change that I am increasingly paying more girls than You are promoting this change also from the new generations, which I think is where there is more work to do and I really love being in this meeting, because in the end it is you, right? The new generation that should push this change and be able to inspire and do it from this perspective seems to me the best thing that can happen, right?

Your work, where are you now, do you think there is about men and women?
Yes, our work the truth is that we are in a global work with which we are living in many different cultures, with a lot of diversity, not only of gender, but also generational. There are many generations that coexist, from millennials, generations more like me, right? Even more of people with more talent than, since he has been in the organization for more than 30 years. So we have different processes, both selection and promotion, as well as very equal remuneration in this sense, because there are no differences at the gender level and in this aspect we try to be as inclusive, as fair as possible and always based a lot on what is performance, with what is the push and with what are the results of each person individually of the sex, of the age or of whoever they are, right?

 

PERSONAL OPINION

What is your opinion on feminism?
Feminism, this is a very broad topic, isn't it? I, the truth is that I have one, I am very active in this regard and I think that it is very important to promote feminism, from time to time, there is gender equality and I like to approach it from the company point of view, ¿ do not? Because in the end, I believe that feminism is a reality that in our society is in our lives and is the reality of our companies. Well, for me it is not so much a social imperative that I achieve this gender equality, but it is really a business imperative that in the end what we see are diverse teams in all these aspects add up with which, it is important to promote what from companies, from our day to day, and from society.

And because you think women sometimes don't choose to do STEM careers.
I think it is an issue that there are different factors at perhaps a historical level, that these races are, in some way, better viewed by men and perhaps there is a more masculine preference in this regard. Sometimes, it is also due to ignorance because perhaps I have not had masses of female references in this area, with which we have not felt identified with these women who perhaps are also doing a good job in this regard. So also, the ease, right? To progress in this world, because if we have female references, we have also been able to progress in these worlds ... it is also something that as we have seen more, because historically for men, we see that perhaps we will not have as much projection at the career level in this world, right? And that because it pulls us back while being able to choose this type of racing.

Do you think it is easier for men to achieve all this?
I think that more than easy, from the point of view of men, in the end, right now the business world and not only STEM is led by men. This is the reality. So normally, here is an issue of limited beliefs. Normally we tend to hire people who are more like us, so it happens that if there are more men in leadership positions they will usually prefer or tend to hire these men to carry out these leadership positions. From this point of view, they have it easier and there are many more men, but that does not mean that women are also making ourselves a place, as I have said we are more and more and if we are very clear about these issues that we were talking about having confidence In ourselves, giving visibility to the work that we are making, make it very clear that at certain times we should not pass this acceptance, I think we can also achieve it. I also think that we are at a very key moment in this whole revolution, the fourth industrial revolution that we talked about, I think that the issue of female personal skills is much more important or they have a much more key role than male leadership, therefore, I think we are in the moment to be able to promote this change. We need you and many more women who want to take this path because there really is a lot of work to do and it is the key moment to be able to make this happen.

Instead, do you think there are jobs where there are few men?
Yes too. We see it in our day to day in the company. There are certain departments that are headed by women, for example the human resources department. Marketing too, perhaps is more mixed, but women predominate. It is true that perhaps there are more types of jobs in which we see more this female predominance than male. But I think that more and more of all this is fading and that this diversity is important for being much more effective in our results. Then more and more diversity is sought.

Do you think this will change over the years?
Yes, I believe that it is changing and that the percentages are already changing and that there must be a positive message for all this to happen.

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FINAL

Well thank you very much for letting us do this interview and good luck to you.
Thank you very much. Good luck.