How does your usual day look like?

I’m not a morning person and I would love to start my day as late as possible but….it sadly starts before 7am on most week days. I try my best to compensate on weekends with 9 hours of wholesome sleep and recharge.

With my eyes barely open, I check emails from bed before preparing breakfast for my 13 year old daughter. Emails from Asia have already stacked up; some urgent some not.

Green matcha tea, shower, make up and I’m then in zoom calls from 7.30am for most of the day.

If I work from home, which I do 3 times a week, the day is packed with calls of all types. No day looks the same. On any given day I can be speaking to clients from anywhere in the world, discussing how we can help them. Then I could jump from a client call to an internal one talking about product related topics, operational subjects, or marketing campaigns, back to external calls with other types of affiliates or vendors.

What lockdown taught me was that I should try and schedule calls for 20 or 50 minutes and avoid a full back-to-back day without any breaks which was a source of anxiety. Now I structure things, so every meeting has purpose with at least 5 mins to prepare for the next call whilst preparing yet another coffee!

When I go to the office I cycle if it’s not raining heavily. It feels amazing. I also love riding my motorcycle to get to work on rainy days. All the best ideas appear when I’m on two wheels for some reason.

The days in the office I try to have fewer zoom calls and spend time interacting with my UK team and colleagues in the office.

The day goes so quickly that before I know it, it’s time to cook dinner for my daughter and myself. I love the Waitrose recipes (yes those freebies you find when you enter the shop) and I have been collecting them since 2017. I have created my own personalised catalogue after having tried them all. After my daughter has gone to bed, I review the day and spend time reflecting and strategizing. For me this is the time of the day I am more creative. I don’t own a TV, the “silly box” as we call it in Spain, so if I still have some energy before going to bed, I do a bit of Pilates in my living room. Midnight is when it ends.

What are the things you like the most about your job?

I love the fact that I keep learning every day. I am extremely lucky to be exposed to clients from different continents and all type of segments, each one with different needs, constraints, regulation and perspectives.

What are some of the skills you utilise the most in your day-to-day at work?

Day to day I have to interact with a number of internal stakeholders and external clients so people skills are key. Making the effort to connect with people and empathise leads to much better out comes.

What was the toughest career decision you ever made?

Having difficult discussions with colleagues and clients is one thing but managing irreconcilable differences is another. Sometimes it’s in everybody’s best interest to identify when working relationship isn’t working and to take remedial action, often time that can mean letting team members go. The key is to try every other avenue first, and wholeheartedly.

What is something you had to learn to become better at your work?

Patience. Often, I have a strategic vision but want to climb the mountain before preparing properly whilst enthusiasm levels are high. I can say first hand that success is 90% in preparation.

What's the one piece of career advice you have for anyone interested in following your footsteps?

If you are committed to solving problems and meeting challenges with the ultimate intention of serving clients in the best way possible you seldom go wrong.

What's your number one productivity hack / when or how are you most effective?

Know when you are most productive. I am at my best in the afternoon, so I save more complex strategic problems for later in the day.