Communications & writing
Cristina
Cristina
Ranchal
Senior communications leader – strategic, executive & corporate communications, PR, brand and reputation. Also: the writer behind everything below.
Senior communications leader – strategic, executive & corporate communications, PR, brand and reputation. Also: the writer behind everything below.
I lead strategic, executive and corporate communications for global organisations – building brand, reputation and trust with employees, media and stakeholders alike. Over 15+ years across Barcelona, Amsterdam and London, I've built communications functions from scratch, led media relations personally for CEO visits and major announcements, and advised C-suite leaders through business transformation, corporate rebrands and organisational change.
At Adevinta I run a €7M+ global communications budget spanning brand, internal and executive communications, through the Center of Excellence that sets governance and standards across international markets. Before that, I built the communications function for Houzz across Europe and APAC from zero – managing a team of up to 12 across eight markets.
Outside of work, I write: about anchors and uncertainty, about the entrepreneurs around me and what they believe in, about the space between what I can explain and what I can't. This site is where the two live side by side.
An anchor doesn't just hold you still. It tells you where not to drift.From "The Anchor, One Year Later," September 2026
An inspiring optimist, quick to act on what feels right – a natural leader with a sharp sense of justice and an instinct for reading people before they've said a word.
Type via 16personalities ↗Currently on a career break.
I have always been more comfortable with things I can explain.
Data. Logic. Evidence. Cause and effect.
And yet, over the last few years, I have found myself surrounded by people who talk about Zodiac signs, astral charts, manifestation, energy, intuition and the universe as casually as I talk about communications strategies.
I mostly listened. Sometimes I laughed. Sometimes I pushed back.
And then, slowly, I started asking more questions.
This article is not really about astrology – although there is quite a lot of it. It is about spirituality more broadly, and what happens when someone who has always approached these things with a healthy dose of scepticism starts becoming genuinely curious.
About why we look for meaning in things we cannot completely explain. About manifestation and visualisation. About intuition. About whether what we project shapes what comes back to us. And about whether believing that things happen for a reason can actually make us more resilient when they do not go the way we hoped.
I still do not know exactly what I believe.
Since we moved to Sitges, astrology has become the background music of my social life. I will be at dinner and someone will ask for my Zodiac sign with no preamble at all, like it's the most ordinary question in the world – and within minutes, three people are explaining my own personality.
I have pushed back on it before. My husband is a Virgo too, and we couldn't be more different – so how much can really be written into one sign?
Nobody ever misses a beat with the answer: "That is because you have a different ascendant, Cris. Tell me your birth day, time – as precise as possible – and place, I'll check right now."
And out comes the phone, ready to run it through Claude on the spot, like finding your astral chart is the most normal thing in the world in a diner with friends while you are enjoying your coulant.
So I'm a Virgo. Organised, detail-obsessed, quietly stubborn about getting things right – apparently that's not personality, that is placement.
I laughed it off the first few times. At some point, though, I stopped laughing it off completely, and started actually listening.
And then, a few days ago, my mother – who has always ignored all of this completely, and has never believed in any of it – told me something, and I could hear her almost defending herself as she said it.
"Cris, you know I don't believe in zodiac signs," she said. "I believe in science."
Almost like she needed to justify the fact that she had looked at it at all. But she had found out, a few days earlier, that she is Capricorn – same as my brother – and she recognised herself in it immediately.
That was not what actually surprised her the most, though. What surprised her was looking up mine. She read what Virgo is supposed to be and found it unsettlingly accurate – for me.
I think she felt a kind of relief reading it. Like it gave her an explanation she did not know she needed – for the stubbornness, the relentless attention to detail, the refusal to let something go until it is actually right.
Not something she did wrong raising me. Not something either of us has to take personal credit or blame for. Just something that is part of who I am.
And that got me thinking. Why did it feel so accurate to her?
Part of me wonders if it was not really the stars at all. My birthday lands in late August, and this summer I was completely bombarded, on every Instagram feed, with posts about what Virgos do, feel and react to. Maybe she was not reading my chart so much as absorbing, secondhand, the same content I had been swimming in and reposting for weeks.
Which does not make her wrong. It just makes me wonder which one of us actually did the convincing. And more broadly: when did this get so sharp?
Has astrology genuinely become more precise in the way it is interpreted and talked about? Or are we simply paying closer attention, doing more of our own quiet self-analysis because we need language for things we do, patterns we cannot otherwise explain and – if we are parents – behaviours we watch showing up in our kids before we have had much chance to shape them ourselves?
I do not know if it is a way of justifying who we already are, or a way of becoming better equipped to understand it – in ourselves and in the small, specific people we are raising, who arrived with personalities stubbornly their own.
Maybe both. And maybe it does not matter which, if either one leaves you a little more patient with yourself and with the people you love.
That same thought keeps coming back to me because I am surrounded by entrepreneurs, and many of them believe in things I never used to take particularly seriously.
That during a full moon, people make worse decisions, as if things are more likely to get out of hand. That certain days are not for signing anything important. That cards can tell you whether an investment that looks good on paper is actually one you should make. That you can feel, physically, when the timing is off, even when the numbers on the page say otherwise. That some spaces hold bad energy and need to be cleared before anything good can happen in them – and that once they are, they can attract good things back.
I used to find some of it a little much.
Now I just notice it, and I understand it more than I used to.
Building something that does not exist yet – a company, a project, a career – means believing in an outcome you have no proof will arrive. You cannot always run that on logic alone. At some point, you need something to hold the gap between the plan and the not-yet-real.
For many of the people building things from nothing around me, spirituality seems to help hold that space.
And I can understand why.
I used to think passion was enough on its own – passion, patience, or simply the willingness to keep jumping, frog-like, from one attempt to the next until something finally landed.
Maybe that is still true.
But I have started noticing something else in the entrepreneurs around me: when they do that same jumping with the quiet relief of believing they are not doing it alone, it seems to make them sturdier. Less hard on themselves when things do not go the way they wanted.
None of them claim spirituality fixes anything or guarantees the outcome.
What they say, more or less, is that it does not hurt – that it lets you hold the journey with more peace, and sit with frustration and failure differently.
The learning is still there either way. You still have to face what went wrong. You still have to do the work.
But it does not completely flatten you while you do.
Put that plainly, and it stops sounding naive to me. It starts sounding like another way of building resilience – which is not a bad trade at all.
And then there is manifestation.
We went on holiday to Ibiza – sunny Ibiza, or so the brochure promised. The day we arrived, it was raining.
We had a table booked at a beach restaurant for the local speciality: lobster with fried eggs and potatoes, the kind of meal you plan a whole trip around.
My friend looked at the sky and said, "Let us manifest it. Let us say it out loud – if we do not, it will not happen."
So we did. The whole way there, out loud, half-laughing at ourselves.
The rain was still falling when we set off.
By the time we arrived, it had stopped.
We got our sunny afternoon and our lobster, and it was every bit as good as promised.
Weather, coincidence, or something else – I genuinely do not know.
But there was something about saying it together, out loud, half as a joke and half as a dare to the universe. It did not feel like wishful thinking while we were doing it. It felt like we were participating in something, not just hoping for it. And it brought a completely different energy to the moment – a positive one. Instead of giving up, accepting that the weather had ruined our plans and looking for another option, we just kept manifesting. We kept believing that somehow, it would work out.
And perhaps that is why I realised I already have my own version of it.
When I visualise something, it is not vague. I picture an actual scene, not a feeling in the abstract: walking into a specific room on a specific morning, the quality of the light, the first sentence I say in a new team's first meeting and the tone I say it in – steady, curious, not performing confidence but actually holding it.
I picture my own shoulders dropping, the particular way they do when a room finally feels like the right fit.
That specificity is the whole point, and it is also where the discipline is.
You cannot visualise a place you refuse to believe exists.
It has helped me manage frustration, in my career and outside it, more than once – not by pretending things are fine, but by giving me somewhere specific to aim while they are not yet.
Maybe manifesting is the loud version and visualising is the quiet one.
Maybe they are the same instinct wearing different clothes – both of them a refusal to simply accept the weather as it is, and a way of asking ourselves whether saying, picturing and believing in something different changes how we move towards it.
Which brings me to the phrase I keep coming back to.
There is a saying in Spanish: lo que sucede, conviene.
Roughly – what happens, happens for a reason. If something is for you, it will happen. If it is not, perhaps something better is coming.
I want to believe that completely.
I am being tested on it right now.
There was a role I let myself get excited about – genuinely excited. I told people about it. I pictured myself in it.
But somewhere underneath that excitement, much quieter, there was also a feeling that perhaps it was not quite the right match.
And when it did not happen, alongside the disappointment there was also a strange kind of recognition.
It made me wonder: how much of what we think shapes what we eventually deliver?
Not necessarily in a mystical sense – in a completely practical one.
If you walk into a conversation with a tiny part of you questioning whether something is quite right, does that leak into your tone? Your energy? The question you do not quite ask with full conviction?
Does the other side feel it, even if neither of you could name what happened?
I think about this in ordinary moments too, not just the big ones.
There is a version of "what you project is what you attract" that belongs on a poster in a yoga studio, and there is another version that is simply true, in a very unglamorous way.
If you are generous, people tend to be more generous back.
If you are genuinely curious about someone, they often open up further than they would with someone just going through the motions.
If you are passionate about the work, other passionate people tend to gravitate towards it.
None of that is magic. It is closer to a feedback loop.
But from the inside, sometimes it can feel a little like magic.
So perhaps that is my half-formed answer.
I do not think I manifested an opportunity away. I think sometimes we know things before we are ready to articulate them, and that knowledge can come through in a hundred small, unconscious ways.
Maybe that is not the universe deciding our fate.
Maybe it is intuition.
Maybe it is self-awareness.
Maybe it is our own behaviour quietly moving us towards – or away from – what fits.
Or maybe there is something else going on that I still do not fully understand.
And that is where I am right now: somewhere between scepticism, curiosity and a growing willingness not to dismiss something simply because I cannot explain it.
And then, because curiosity always gets the better of me, I did the one thing I probably should have done much earlier: I looked at my actual astral chart.
Not because I needed more proof of anything. I just wanted to see it.
So I asked Claude to calculate it. And looking at it felt like looking in a mirror.
Which immediately brought back a memory. Two years ago at work, we ran an exercise where everyone took the 16Personalities test and shared their type, so we could understand each other better – how we each prefer to work, communicate and make decisions – and use that understanding to collaborate more easily.
Mine came back ENFJ, "the Protagonist." Reading it felt exactly like reading my astral chart now: uncomfortably accurate.
The Protagonist: warm, idealistic, driven to help people become the best versions of themselves, quick to sense what someone else is feeling before they have said a word – and just as quick to speak up when something feels unjust, even when it is easier to stay quiet.
And that is where things got really interesting. Because when I put the two side by side, the overlap was hard to ignore.
"Warm, forthright" is the first line of the ENFJ description – and my ascendant is Sagittarius, associated with directness and big-picture optimism, and with the first impression you make on people.
The leadership-through-visibility part, the willingness to stand up for what I believe in – that is sitting right on top of a stellium in Leo: Mercury, Venus and Mars all there, which is about as loud a signature for "expressive, warm, driven to lead out loud" as a chart can give you.
The humanitarian streak – caring about "the world," not just the person in the room – tracks with my Moon in Aquarius.
And the practical part, the "talk the talk and walk the walk" instead of just giving inspiring speeches, is Virgo: my Sun and my Midheaven both sit there, which is probably why my career and my core self have never felt like two separate things to reconcile.
Even the one caution in the ENFJ description – that pushing too hard can leave people feeling resentful – I recognise in the same Leo placements associated with the confidence and visibility in the first place.
Two completely different systems, developed in completely different contexts, somehow describing the same person from different directions.
And I find that fascinating.
Which makes me wonder: why do we find some frameworks for understanding ourselves perfectly normal, while others make us immediately sceptical?
I am not suggesting we replace personality tools with astral charts. But if either one prompts a useful conversation about how we communicate, make decisions or relate to others, perhaps the interesting part is not proving which one is "right." Maybe it is the questions they make us ask.
And I have to admit: two completely different approaches telling me so many of the same things about myself?
That definitely made my rational side stop and think.
I started writing this because I have been thinking a lot about that phrase lately.
Lo que sucede, conviene.
I still do not know whether everything happens for a reason. I do not know whether we manifest things, attract them, intuit them before they happen, or simply become better at recognising what was right for us once we have enough distance to look back.
And I definitely do not know whether the stars have anything to do with it.
But perhaps I do not need to know.
What I do know is that believing there is something ahead – another opportunity, another room I can already picture myself walking into, another thing that will make sense of the one that did not – makes me approach what comes next differently.
Not passively. Quite the opposite.
You still have to do the work. You still have to learn from what did not work. You still have to put yourself out there again. But maybe you can do all of that without treating every closed door as proof that you were heading in the wrong direction.
Maybe sometimes it was simply not your door.
And perhaps that is what lo que sucede, conviene means to me right now.
Not that everything happens for a reason.
But that I can choose to believe there is still something good on the other side of what happens.
And if that belief makes me more curious, more resilient and more willing to keep going, I am quite happy to leave a little room for the universe.
For now, at least.
What about you? Where do you sit on all of this – manifestation, astrology, energy, intuition, things happening for a reason?
Do you believe there is something more to it, or do you think we simply get very good at finding meaning afterwards?
I genuinely want to know.
P.S. For the astrology people who have made it this far and are now wondering: Virgo Sun – practical, analytical, detail-obsessed; Sagittarius rising – direct, optimistic, always looking at the bigger picture; Aquarius Moon – independent, analytical and humanitarian; with Mercury, Venus and Mars all in Leo – warm, expressive, passionate and apparently very comfortable leading out loud.
So yes, there is quite a lot to unpack there too.
First published on LinkedIn, September 2026
A year and a half ago, I wrote here about the power of finding your anchor during uncertain times. When you feel you are not bringing enough, when you need time to find the thing that sparks joy, fuels your passion and brings you close to your purpose.
In my case: to empower myself to empower others, especially women.
I didn't plan to write a sequel. But enough has shifted that it feels almost necessary – more for me than for you, surely.
After two intense years of managing uncertainty, learning by the day and pushing myself to the limit – partly because I couldn't say no, partly because I could feel the end approaching – there was this constant pull: deliver to the highest standard and figure out what's next, at the same time.
That feeling is hard to describe. So many moving parts. New projects that made me feel alive and genuinely needed – projects that fueled my passion and kept me busy, but the good kind of busy. Busy enough that it was easy to lose myself in the work and push aside what I knew was coming.
But the deadline wasn't moving.
After that adventure – one I would never regret, and would choose again even knowing how it ends – the summer gave me something I didn't know I needed.
For the first time in my career, I got time to slow down. I pushed myself to stop controlling every detail and just be with the girls and the family. Enjoying being a full-time mom, a full-time wife, a full-time daughter, a full-time friend. Time to work out, read for hours, long lunches, slow mornings, gardening.
No calendar running my day.
Ok, wait. That isn't me. No calendar?
Of course there was a calendar – a colourful one, full of doctor appointments, social plans, PT sessions, reformer pilates... But for the first time, it was flexible.
Well… kind of flexible.
Now we are back to school, and I'm genuinely grateful for that summer. I would tell anyone going through something similar to take that time, if they can get it.
But somewhere in the middle of all that rest, I noticed something I hadn't expected: not being productive – in the strictest sense of the word – doesn't sit well with me either.
That surprised me, although apparently it surprised absolutely no one else.
I have spent so much energy over the years learning to let go of control and stop measuring my worth by how full my calendar is that I assumed the opposite lesson – that once I had time to sit still and do less, I would be fine with it – would come just as easily.
It didn't.
Rest gave me what I needed, physically and mentally. It gave me time to get back on track, to put myself together. But it didn't give me what makes me feel like myself.
I have tried to describe what exactly changes in me when a slow week turns into a full one.
It isn't adrenaline, and it isn't the tidy satisfaction of ticking things off a list – although that feels good too.
This goes beyond that. It's closer to focus.
My thoughts stop scattering across ten things and line up behind one. Conversations get sharper. Curiosity explodes. I notice I'm quicker to laugh, not slower – which is the opposite of what I would have guessed before I paid attention to it.
I feel a kind of aliveness in being useful for something specific that just enjoying "free time" alone has never quite given me, no matter how much of it I have.
I don't think that makes me someone who can't switch off. I think it makes me someone who knows exactly what switching on feels like – and misses it incredibly when it's gone.
A few weeks ago, work picked back up – intense, right in the middle of a lot of family socialising – and it felt good. Really good.
Not because I love intensity for its own sake, but because I could feel my brain switch back on.
I'm at my best when work, family and sport move together.
Not one instead of the others. And not one after the others are finally "handled." All three, moving at once.
That is not a preference I'm choosing. It's the combination that makes me feel alive, and I have stopped pretending otherwise.
To be clear: this isn't about loving the girls any less when I'm not fully present, or needing to escape family time. It's the opposite. I love that time precisely because the rest of me is switched on too.
So while everyone keeps telling me to enjoy this time – and I am – I also can't wait to find my place in a company again.
Not just any company, though. I have become pickier, on purpose.
I want to work somewhere that is genuinely focused on what matters rather than what sounds good in a deck. Somewhere that deliberately brings together great talent and, above all, great people – people who care, who are passionate about what they do, and who want to make a difference. A company that actually invests in and develops its people instead of simply hiring them and hoping for the best.
I have been lucky enough, more than once in my career, to work in companies that operated that way, in teams run by strong, empowered women who led by example – places where people were genuinely at the centre, not just words on a values poster in the lobby.
I know what that feels like from the inside, and I'm not interested in settling for less.
I'm hoping to find that again.
None of this means standing still.
I work out every day, and I feel stronger for it – in ways that have less to do with how I look and much more to do with how clear my head feels.
But I also want to keep exercising my brain, reconnect with my purpose, and put some of the experience I have been fortunate enough to build over the years to good use.
So I recently volunteered to join Ashoka as a Communications Support Partner, using my experience to support an organisation that backs social entrepreneurs and helps them sharpen how they tell their stories.
There is something meaningful to me about using the privilege of having this time – and the experience I have gained along the way – to give something back.
Staying useful and contributing to something that matters feels far more important right now than simply staying comfortable.
And it keeps that muscle warm – the same one I'm looking forward to bringing, full-time, to whatever comes next.
An anchor doesn't just hold you still. It tells you where not to drift.
A year and a half ago, mine told me to slow down and reconnect with why I do any of this.
Right now, it's telling me something different:
Keep moving, Cris!
First published on LinkedIn, September 2026
Last week, I met with my dear friend Anna del Pino. After pouring out a raw confession about how I've been feeling, she still sat there, fully present, taking it all in (I've never met such an active listener in my life). She has always been great at this, but this time, she was voiceless – literally. She had physically lost her voice (which, ironically, seemed to help), but she was also speechless emotionally – not just because of the weight of my words, but because of how I was speaking about myself.
And then, after what felt like a monologue (sorry, Anna!) that lasted through lunch and a 20-minute walk, with whatever voice she had left, she asked me: "When was the last time you sat down and wrote?"
She challenged me to put all these thoughts into words and share them with my network. "Why don't you talk openly about it? You're probably not the only one feeling this way."
She made me promise that I would write something down by today... and as you can see, I almost missed the deadline. I used to write a lot – mostly research-focused articles – but never about my personal feelings. It has been an interesting – and very uncomfortable – experience putting my thoughts out here like this – I am not a personal diary person – and I was ready to make up an excuse (I could find many; it has been a tough week, indeed), but I'm grateful I still found the time to do it.
Have you ever felt lost? Like everything around you is completely out of control, and you can't seem to catch up? That feeling of anxiety sneaking in, while imposter syndrome quietly hangs around, just waiting for the right moment to show up.
I've been feeling this way lately. And honestly, it's not because I'm too busy. It's actually the opposite.
Imagine this – I even considered having another baby. I never really bought into the whole "40s crisis" idea, but as I approach 40 in August, it seems to be hitting me hard.
A year and a half ago, fresh off turning 39, everything felt like it was falling into place: new job, new city, new house, the girls settling in beautifully, new friends, being closer to family, amazing weather, and the sea – hello, I live by the sea! So tell me… when did everything decide to go wrong?
I like to have a sense of control – it gives me peace of mind. I organise my trips to the minute, and while I can be super spontaneous with short-term plans, I need structure when it comes to the big picture of my life. I feel efficient when I'm busy, when I have projects on the go. Right now, I'm balancing the full-time job of being a mother of two and a professional, and I'm in the middle of building a house from scratch.
Don't get me wrong, this should keep me entertained and busy, but somehow, it still doesn't feel like enough. The reason I feel this way is that I realise I always need something in my life that sparks joy and fuels my passion – a balance to everything else that isn't as fun or passionate any more. Something that reminds me of my purpose, just to keep everything flowing. When I am missing this, the feeling of losing control finds no barriers and takes over.
A close friend recently introduced me to the concept of an anchor – someone that provides the emotional and financial support needed to step back, reflect and regain clarity. In times like these, when life forces you to slow down, it's the perfect moment to rediscover creativity, rethink your purpose and truly understand what makes you happy or what is next for you.
In my case, my anchor is my husband. But an anchor can be anyone – a partner, a close friend, a mentor, or even a community. It's someone who offers a sense of security, allowing you to focus on yourself for once.
Too often, we rush into decisions just to regain a false sense of control – jumping into jobs, projects or routines that keep us busy but unfulfilled. Without an anchor, it's easy to let life move into autopilot mode, becoming just another part of the machine, moving through the motions without passion or purpose.
I have been on and off, trying to fight this false sense of control. Some days, I just don't care and want to turn at least one page, and other days, I remind myself: you are fortunate to have an anchor and finally have the time to step back and think bigger.
The house isn't ready yet – nothing new if you've been talking to me recently. But some unexpected news has abruptly shaken the realisation of our dream home, and it's very much beyond our control. On top of that, the uncertainty at work is weighing on me, adding to the chaos.
Uncertainty isn't new to me, and I'm quite good at reframing – but only when it affects just one of my pillars. If everything else is good, in those cases, I can find the positive side and usually come out stronger. But right now, with more than one pillar shaking, it feels like everything is falling through the cracks.
On top of that, I've been struggling with the feeling that I don't know enough, that I don't bring enough value, that maybe I'm not as competent as I should be. The uncertainty and pressure from all directions – personal life, work, and everything in between – have me second-guessing myself.
I needed something to anchor me. Something to remind me of my worth and help me get past these feelings of self-doubt.
And then I remembered my purpose: empower myself to empower others, especially women.
This has been my guiding principle for the past year or so, after a leadership purpose training, but somewhere along the way, I lost touch with it. I've been so caught up in the demands of daily life that I forgot about the bigger picture of why I do what I do.
But now, as I reflect on everything, I know it's time to take action.
Not just talk about it, but actually do something about it.
Because when I'm focused on empowering others, I feel that spark. I feel the joy and passion that has been missing. And that's what drives me to keep going.
Here is what I've realised in the past few weeks – nothing dramatic or bouleversant, don't expect big revelations – but still important to acknowledge and repeat more than once:
It's okay to not have everything figured out. It's okay to take a step back and lean on your support system. It's okay to take your time making decisions.
But accountability is key. If we don't actively strive for growth, we risk getting stuck in routines that don't serve us. By aligning with what truly matters and taking action, we create the opportunities we've been desiring.
We don't always have control over everything in our lives – and that's okay. Let me repeat it again, but louder: that is okay. We can't predict the future or force things into place, but we can control how we respond. We can control the choices we make and the mindset we adopt. We can learn to reframe and find the positive in every situation.
When we stay accountable to our values and keep our long-term vision in mind, we create a path forward that feels aligned and meaningful.
And most importantly: take care of yourself. Put yourself at the centre for once! If you don't do it, who will?
When life feels uncertain, having strong routines helps maintain clarity and energy. Prioritising movement, self-care, social connection and rest allows us to face challenges with resilience.
Move your body: work out three to four times a week. Fuel yourself well: eat foods that make you feel good. Give yourself space: whether that is resting, working out, journaling or spending time alone. Socialise: find your "vitamin people" and spend quality time with them, whether that is your partner, your kids or your besties.
These small but essential routines, which can be easily combined, anchor us when everything else feels unstable.
Balance isn't about controlling everything. It's about navigating uncertainty while staying connected to what truly matters.
I've felt in control before, and I've gone through this kind of uncertainty before, but it's always good to say it out loud or talk to someone to help you navigate it. You don't always need to be there for others. Find your anchor, and they – whether it's he, she, or them – will be there for you.
Life won't always go according to plan. But if we keep our purpose front and centre, stay accountable and take care of ourselves, we can move through challenges with confidence.
We already have everything we need within us. We just have to trust that sometimes, taking a step back is exactly what we need to move forward.
First published on LinkedIn, January 2025
Today marks International Women's Day, a global celebration dedicated to uplifting women and honoring our achievements. To me this day is more than a celebration. It is an opportunity for all of us to rise our voices to call for gender parity and raise awareness about women's equality. An opportunity to challenge ourselves and our current policies and see what else we could be doing because, without gender equality, a sustainable future is unlikely to happen. But where should we all begin?
Some months ago, I wrote an article about women's journey to break the glass ceiling and reduce the gender gap, where I also covered the changes in women's representation over the past years, how gender diversity transforms and impacts positively businesses and society, and more recently, how COVID-19 affected women's representation in senior leadership. I couldn't find a better day to release this and share some insights about where we are in terms of gender parity and what is preventing women to advance in their careers.
2020 was a year unlike any other. Covid-19 created new challenges for employees and highly affected women at work.
The pandemic threatened to slow down the positive advancements made towards reducing the gender leadership gap in the past years. When I first started to work on this article, I was looking for some positive signs that weren't erased by the pandemic, but reading through research and testimonials, the outlook was discouraging. And then, suddenly, something happened. Kamala Harris made history. She became the first woman, first black, and first Asian-American U.S. vice president-elect. 2020 wasn't all bad, after all.
As a woman and a professional, currently in a leadership role, I never felt threatened by a male-dominated culture or felt held back in my life, education or career because of my gender. I have always been surrounded and inspired by strong working women in my family that expressed their early desire to develop their professional careers. I am lucky enough to work for a company where women are supported. I work with leaders who embrace their role, pursue what they want and live their lives and jobs with passion. Women who lead by example, showing strength and conviction in their decisions to push the boundaries of gender equality.
In November 2020 Kamala Harris achieved a milestone in the U.S. government leadership that no woman had ever before: she was the first to hold that office. She was the most recent example of a generation of women who are leading the change, as the first woman to break the glass ceiling – or at least crack it. And her election was even more significant for Black women. Her victory uplifted the Black female community, inspired and energized them. At the forefront of political and social progress, she was leading the way and preparing the ground for many women to come. Fortunately for us, she was well aware of her significant responsibility and the example she set for women and young people. And her victory speech couldn't be more reassuring. She recognized this historic, glass-breaking moment as vice president-elect and acknowledged Joe Biden for breaking one of the most substantial barriers in the U.S. by selecting a woman as vice president.
"While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last. Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities and to the children of our country regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message: dream with ambition, lead with conviction and see yourselves in a way that others may not simply because they've never seen it before." – Kamala Harris
Harris's speech was an emotional one for many women around the world and me, as we were witnessing a historic moment. I felt empowered by her words. It is uplifting to see a woman in power inspire you to become anything you want. A woman who acknowledges the fight of many women before her who battled for women's rights, including their right to vote – such a great way to commemorate one hundred years since that major landmark in the history of U.S. democracy. I can't imagine how women of color felt at that moment, having someone who shares similar thoughts and beliefs, who represents them and is determined to make a safer world for everyone, after years of racial injustice for many women.
I went back to my research to look deeper into the topic. Are these public demonstrations in women's empowerment transforming the current situation and pushing towards gender diversity? Will these changes positively impact the access of women to key leadership roles across the board?
We have seen positive signs of reducing the gender gap in the last five years before the pandemic. While women's overall representation seems to be close to parity (near half of the world's workforce are women), research from Catalyst about "Covid-19: Women, Equity, and Inclusion in the Future of Work," shows that the gender leadership gap is still significant.
Furthermore, McKinsey's 2020 report about "Women in the Workplace" notes that an increasing number of companies see the value of having more women in leadership. Since 2015, the number of women in senior-vice-president leadership has grown from 23% to 28% and, particularly in the C-suite, with an increase from 17% to 21%. The gender gap in leadership seems to be improving, and we are heading in the right direction. Still, despite many women's efforts to break the glass ceiling and the positive progress in the representation, this research alerts that parity remains significantly out of reach for women, particularly for women of color, who are underrepresented at every entry-level.
For many years, I believed that the glass ceiling – a term that refers to that systematic barrier that is keeping women from rising to senior leadership – was the major obstacle preventing women in their path to leadership positions. However, recently and contrary to one's belief, I found out that fixing the broken rung is the first step to achieving parity. The broken rung refers to the obstacles women face at the start of the corporate ladder. The glass ceiling is not the biggest barrier to getting parity into management. Earlier in the pipeline, at the step up to manager, is where women are getting stuck.
Contrary to the general understanding, the broken rung is a reality, and to me, it follows logical reasoning. Since men's representation at the manager level is significantly higher than women's, there will be fewer women to hire or promote to senior managers. Therefore, the percentage of women at every subsequent level will decrease. This is particularly true in the case of Black and Latina women. Research reports that for every 100 entry-level men promoted to manager, only 68 Latinas and 58 Black women are promoted. Likewise, for every 100 men hired as managers, 57 Latinas, and 64 Black women are hired.
On top of this, as I mentioned earlier, we can't ignore the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic added to the list.
According to McKinsey's latest study, Covid-19 "turned people's lives and workplaces upside down and disrupted workplaces in ways we've never seen before." Many of us struggled with work, childcare, and homeschooling responsibilities, in addition to mental health and burnout issues. Anxiety and stress caused by financial and career insecurities resulted in nearly half of employees reporting that they consistently felt stressed at work during the pandemic. A third admitted feeling exhausted or burnt out. For working parents and – once again – working mothers, especially women of color, burdens were notably harder and heavier. A friend told me that during the first lockdown, she felt completely lost, that she was not doing enough, not enough at home and at work.
I felt I was failing at everything. I was asked for the impossible. Performing at the same level as I was in the office with a two-year-old kid at home… I had to reorganize my whole life to fit work and daycare. My days started at 6am and ended at 11pm. I couldn't disconnect, I was "always on." White woman, senior leader, full-time employee, one child.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Black women was even more disproportionate, and they faced greater challenges. This same study confirmed that they were more than twice as likely as women overall to say that the death of a loved one was one of their biggest challenges during the pandemic, and they felt uncomfortable talking with colleagues about it. Additionally, in the workplace, they were underrepresented in senior leadership and promoted more slowly.
Covid-19 also made working parents go through tough challenges. With the schools closed and childcare centers shut, many had to take care of their kids and homeschooling while struggling working from home. Some even were forced to choose between their jobs and staying home to take care of their children. And once again, childcare and housework mainly fell on mothers. According to research, during the pandemic, mothers of children under age 10 who are in dual-career couples were twice as likely as men in the same situation to spend more than five additional hours per day on household responsibilities.
The pandemic revealed how disproportionately family and household activities are distributed. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 85% of women and 67% of men spent some time on household activities such as housework, cooking or financial.
Given the intensified challenges that mothers were facing during the pandemic, near two million women – one in four – were considering taking a leave of absence, downshifting their careers or quitting work altogether, warned McKinsey's study. Mothers were significantly more likely to be thinking about taking these steps than fathers. This was the first time we saw signs of women leaving the workforce at higher rates than men; in the previous five years of this study, women and men left their companies at similar rates. This unprecedented crisis was risking all the progress achieved and gains made to date.
But I strongly believe this crisis also represented an opportunity for companies and public services to assess how they were doing and make the right investments and changes in building a more flexible, inclusive, and supportive workplace.
The Covid-19 crisis overstretched companies worldwide and proved their capacity to adapt and their determination to do it right. How companies confronted these unprecedented challenges and put the right strategies in place determined their success as we move to a more inclusive and gender-equal world.
Companies seem to ignore that diversity in leadership is good for business, and women in senior and decision-making positions, in particular, contribute positively to any organization. According to researchers Paul Gompers and Silpa Kovvali at Harvard Business School, venture capital firms that increased their female representation in partner hires by 10% reported an average of 1.5% increase in overall fund returns each year and obtained 9.7% more profitable exits – a significant figure given that just 28.8% of all venture capital investments achieve a profitable exit. In its report titled "The diversity and inclusion revolution," Deloitte confirms that companies with an inclusive culture are six times more likely to be innovative, ultimately translating into better financial results as they can stay ahead of changes.
Despite these benefits, company disparity in the tech industry is even greater. Since I started working in a Silicon Valley company many years ago, I have seen good progress to break up the boy's club. We're seeing many thought leaders, female CEOs, and founders emerging to drive change – from Safra A. Catz, CEO of Oracle, and Susan D. Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, to COOs and CFOs like Meta's Sheryl Sandberg and Microsoft's Amy Hood. A Morgan Stanley report found that, for the technology industry in particular, gender diversity and performance are a pair: more gender equality likely corresponds with increased productivity, greater innovation, higher employee retention and better risk management – all critical factors for staying competitive.
Adi Tatarko, co-founder and CEO of Houzz – the leading platform for home renovation and design – shared during an interview for Forbes that we live in times where it's possible for women to have a professional career alongside doing other things in their lives, including being a parent if that's what they want.
"It's possible. You just need to do it your way. You need to set up rules the way that work for you. It doesn't need to be perfect or be exactly like what someone else has built. Stay true to yourself; that's what counts." – Adi Tatarko
It's a fact that women are great for business, and a study from Nordea supports this. After analyzing near to 11,000 publicly traded companies across the globe, results showed that companies with a female CEO or a female head of the board of directors had averaged 25% annualized return since 2009 – more than double the 11% delivered by the MSCI World Index. "If you invested in a company with a woman at the helm, you would have outperformed the market," said Robert Næss, the portfolio manager at Nordea.
A similar phenomenon is observed in politics. Electing women in public services and politics does make a difference in people's lives, and people perceive women to be equally good political leaders as men. According to Pew Research Center's survey on Women and leadership, most Americans find women indistinguishable from men on key leadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation, with many saying they're stronger than men in terms of being compassionate and organized leaders.
When it comes to political leadership, research shows women also govern differently than their male counterparts. Women legislators are more likely to introduce legislation that specifically benefits women. To this point, 34% of adults consider that women are better at working out compromises than men; only 9% say men are better. In addition, when it comes to being honest and ethical, research confirms that women are perceived to have a clear advantage over men. However, women only score a bit better than men when working on policies to improve the quality of life and defend their beliefs despite political pressure.
But what stands out most to me is that having more women in politics changes significantly how society perceives women, which is the root of the problem. By having more women in government, we are sending a subliminal message to educate people, and most importantly, to kids and young women, on the value of having women in power. And at the same time, we help them to change their self-perception and reinforce their capabilities. Ultimately, we will be sending a meaningful message: you can do it too.
Kamala Harris said during her speech that she was thinking of her late mother and "the generations of women, Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women, who throughout our nation's history have paved the way for this moment tonight."
Is there a new generation of women leaders breaking the glass ceiling?
There certainly are. I firmly believe there is a new generation of women out there cracking the glass ceiling, inspiring and expanding the possibilities for many women to postulate themselves for executive roles. A new generation of leaders serving as role models and sending a positive message that women can achieve top executive roles. A new generation that is making significant changes to prepare the ground and empower other women to take on top leadership positions in politics and business. However, I also believe the root of the problem is much deeper. It is clear that there is still work to do to reduce the gender gap in manager and leadership positions, but women's determination to change this won't be enough.
The Covid-19 crisis provided a unique opportunity for companies and organizations to finally confront their realities and make the right choices to end current and future gender inequality. However, it also created new challenges for many women at work and at home. When quantifying the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 on gender disparities globally, a research paper from the Lancet indicates that the pandemic intensified the levels of pre-existing inequalities between women and men and the indirect effects have affected women disproportionately.
Leaders across all levels in both private and public organizations play a crucial role to promote change. They need to encourage women in their team to actively participate in the workforce, to speak up and raise their hands to take on more responsibilities and apply for leadership positions, all while equipping them with the right tools, abilities and confidence to overcome the barriers they face and achieve their career goals.
The choices we all make today will affect real progress on the road to equality and determine the role of women and other underrepresented groups in the workplace for years to come.
First published on LinkedIn, March 2022
It was May 2020, millions of people in the U.S. took to the streets to demand justice and police accountability in Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The story made the headlines around the nation, from small town TV stations and papers in Pennsylvania to the LA Times and the New York Times, and spread out rapidly across national borders, gaining international attention in over 60 countries. People worldwide were flooding social media with posts and stories to support the protests. George Floyd's killing not only triggered a wave of activism around the world but also gave the Black community in the U.S. the opportunity to be vocal about continued racial inequalities and loudly share their personal race-related experiences.
My own experience of race-related issues growing up in a white, middle class family in southern Spain was limited. I have always been surrounded by white people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Racial and ethnic diversity wasn't part of my vocabulary. It was only in my twenties, when I moved to Paris to work in a high school in the suburbs, that I started my journey of self-education. While teaching Spanish to a very diverse group of students – including children of African immigrants, others born into dysfunctional families, teenagers who suffered mistreatment and lived with very limited resources, girls who were discriminated against because of their religions and beliefs and more – and getting to know their stories made me realize my reality as a white woman was very different from theirs. I learned inequalities have a disproportionate impact on people of color and other marginalized groups and gained perspective on the challenges they have to face every day.
Many years later, I moved to London to work for a U.S. tech start-up. Joining a predominantly female workforce was already a big change towards gender diversity – and a step forward in my self-education – compared to my former company where I was the only woman in a white male club and with a culture of toxic masculinity, as I'd now describe it. Since then, I have seen real progress in the Diversity and Inclusion field at this company and a conscious effort from HR and leadership teams to continue to drive the diversity agenda forward, through programs, policies and company-wide roll-out trainings. I, personally, join the unconscious bias training session every year and take every opportunity to educate myself, celebrate diversity and champion people from all over the world to be their true selves. However, it was clearly not enough.
I made this realization when the Black Lives Matter movement arrived in the UK in summer 2020. I was quite shocked to read so many horrible situations from my friends and peers. I cringed when I knew what Black people and other people of color have to go through daily. The truth was more complicated than I thought and, sadly, I had no idea it was this bad. My friend Joesy Anacoura, UK senior Partnership Manager at ManoMano, told me it can take longer for sellers to take her seriously than her white counterparts.
"I have noticed other colleagues being mistreated and them having to experience inner conflict, having someone there to reassure them that it was not their fault, someone who is not directly impacted but can relate to the situation helps them define their next steps and offer support." – Joesy Anacoura
I felt disappointed in myself. I should have been more aware of my friends and coworkers' daily fights against systematic racism, which manifests everywhere, from individual thoughts to public institutions and private organisations. Racism exists across all levels of our society including education, housing, wealth, workforce representation and more. And despite my best intentions to be supportive and learn, posting a black square on social media or not being racist was simply not enough. I needed to actively join the fight against it.
I didn't want to feel this way again. I knew I could do better and push further outside of my comfort zone. I also realized this wasn't about me, no matter how angry I felt and how strong my feelings were. My role wasn't to be a spokesperson for Black people as I won't be able to understand their concerns as they do, but I could be a better ally. I could use my white privilege to make change and educate myself and others in the community by learning more about different cultures, races, ethnicities, and religions I don't identify with. Furthermore, I could work towards equity for all people and strive against racism and other inequalities, in both my personal and professional life.
That is why I didn't hesitate to join the Diversity and Inclusion group of my workplace at the early stages of its creation in October 2020. A D&I group is a shared space for individual growth and learning, with a mission and – most importantly for me – a commitment to embrace and accept cultural diversity and differences while celebrating what makes each of us different and unique. I couldn't find a better place to be and continue my journey through self-education and awareness, nor to drive effective change.
Research provides new insight into how employers understand D&I and its essential role in bringing meaningful change and how it also makes perfect business sense. According to the third report from McKinsey released in May 2020, "Diversity wins: How inclusion matters" – a study which investigates the business case for diversity – organizations that work on diversity and inclusion are more innovative and productive, which results in a higher market share and greater customer loyalty. On the employee's side, a diverse and inclusive workforce leads to more commitment and better satisfaction from their employees, and therefore better retention.
The same study from McKinsey shows that while some companies have made significant improvements in their journey to a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workforce and workplace, they still represent a small percentage of businesses. Progress overall is still slow and there is a long way to go before true diversity and inclusion policies are in place across all levels. But before immersing ourselves in this topic and looking into how companies are doing in this area, let us start from the beginning and learn the basics.
When I decided to learn more about diversity and inclusion, I had to do some research about these two concepts to understand what they mean and how they work together. Though diversity and inclusion are two different but interconnected terms, they are often considered the same thing, and some companies misinterpret that striving for a more diverse workforce would automatically make their company a more inclusive place.
In short, diversity would be the what and inclusion the how. More specifically, Catalina Colman, director of HR and inclusion at Built In – a U.S. online community for startups and tech companies – said, "Diversity is the presence of differences within a given setting." This includes, but is not limited to, race and ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, religion, disability, sexual orientation, language, education, national origin, marital status, whether or not you have kids, physical and mental abilities and more. These are all components of diversity.
Inclusion, on the other hand, aims to build a welcoming environment that embraces differences and empowers people by respecting and appreciating their diverse talent. "It is the practice of ensuring that people feel a sense of belonging in the workplace. This means that every employee feels comfortable and supported by the organization when it comes to being their authentic selves," Colman said.
Another concept that comes into this equation is equity. According to Colman, equity is the process of ensuring that processes and policies are impartial and fair and provide equal possible outcomes for every individual. Once a company has a diverse and inclusive workplace, employers need to ensure that employees feel included and get equity. That means they not only have a job, but they have the same ability to get promoted and to contribute and have the same impact in the workplace as their coworkers do.
Now we know what diversity and inclusion mean, why is the business case for diversity and inclusion stronger than ever? The past two years, unlike any others, with an ongoing pandemic and the rise of anti-racist protests globally, have created new challenges for organizations and have driven a significant shift in the workplace in terms of D&I. Looking at the responses of over 5,000 employees in the Lenovo and Intel joint survey "Diversity + Inclusion in the Global Workplace" on the evolving role of diversity and inclusion within the workplace, we see that Diversity and Inclusion are no longer just a "nice to have." The new generation entering the workforce want to join companies with values they can identify with. Having a diverse and inclusive culture is now a key differentiator to attract and retain talent. Therefore, Diversity and Inclusion should become a key element of people services' operations and leadership teams' agendas.
Listening to Rachael Wilson in reWorked – the diversity and inclusion podcast – I got a clear overview of what 2020 meant in terms of D&I in the workplace and what pushed companies to do better and take action to build more inclusive and diverse work cultures. George Floyd's killing was, once again, a huge moment for business reflection and made ground for business change across all levels. Wilson explains how consultancies specializing in diversity and inclusion saw an explosion in demand as this event inspired many companies to review, redefine and test their response to the Black Lives Matter movement. It was no longer enough for organizations to make a public statement about diversity or a quick revision of their company values and missions to give an air of inclusivity. They finally understood that the efforts needed to focus on taking action.
However, the pandemic also forced many businesses to look carefully at their budgets and reconsider where to allocate their funds. The McKinsey & Co study shows that 27% of reported organizations put their D&I initiatives on hold in an effort to decrease expenses during the pandemic. That is because many companies still perceive Diversity and Inclusion programs as expensive and not a business priority. Unfortunately, on top of this, working from home schemes have created new challenges for companies in maintaining diversity and inclusion policies. Fostering a feeling of belonging and building connection between employees, especially with those who do not have a good internal network, make it difficult. A similar struggle is facing female employees who have to take care of work and the household and family responsibilities. My peer Leslie Poortman, Senior Sales Representative at Houzz, told me that working in a company with so many women in upper management showed her how very understanding leadership can be in a successful and high-achieving company as it pertains to work-from-home environments for mothers.
"In the past, I have worked in environments that did not care if you had these types of home responsibilities and as a result, the stress related to juggling parenting and working to my best ability have instead been competing factors." – Leslie Poortman
Despite these challenges, the associated benefits of spending on building a strong D&I program cannot be ignored. Companies need to understand that diversity and inclusion initiatives are a must, not a luxury. According to the "Diversity wins" report from McKinsey, businesses with a diverse and inclusive workforce are more likely to overcome the crisis successfully.
Furthermore, research shows that a company that prioritizes building a diverse and inclusive workforce is in a stronger position to attract and retain new talent. In fact, according to talent acquisition platform Glassdoor, 67% of job seekers said a diverse workforce was important when considering job offers. This is actually the number one priority for Charles Gary, Talent Acquisition Manager at LinkedIn, whose job is attracting and onboarding new talent. Gary explains that there is nothing that he loves more than to welcome a diverse group of individuals.
"I have felt that inclusion and belonging and I want to share that with others," Gary said.
A diverse workforce also leads to more innovation and better problem-solving. According to Josh Bersin, a global research analyst on corporate talent, diverse and inclusive companies are nearly two times more likely to be change-ready and 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their market. Vishi Prakash, People Services Partner, APAC at Houzz, aligns with the idea that investing in attracting and engaging a highly diverse workforce and cultivating a work culture which effectively promotes inclusivity and equity at all levels are key components required for any company that looks for sustainable long term business performance.
"It impacts morale, engagement, and also impacts the relationships we form at work. Being part of the People Services team, I want employees to feel safe and supported in the workplace and D&I is very much part of that," said Prakash.
Now is the time for companies to take action and put their organisations on the right path towards a diverse and inclusive workplace, but where should companies begin? Consultancies specializing in Diversity and Inclusion recommend to start focusing on three key aspects. First, businesses need to deep dive into the data, review their current policies and programs. Data would give them an overview of where and how they could start making a difference. D&I audits help to understand how far a company is from meeting diversity standards and help them to challenge the existing programs and policies in place. Secondly, experts recommend to work with senior leaders and managers as they are key in driving the diversity agenda forward successfully. And finally, employers need to work closely with their people services teams to create a comprehensive training program that provides all employees with the right tools and education, D&I consultants said.
The key is to go from awareness to action. If after reading this article, you would like to educate yourself and do more, a great place to start is to do your own research. Listen to voices that are different from you and engage with diverse communities. Take the time to expose and educate yourself, to work on becoming more sensitive and foster diversity and inclusion around you in both your personal and professional lives. It is only when we understand the pivotal role we all play in creating an inclusive society, that we are able to take action and help to build a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace and world for everyone.
First published on LinkedIn, January 2022
Currently on a career break, figuring out what's next.
This summer meant real time with my husband and the girls, three hours of reading a day, and long sunny afternoons in Sitges.
It also meant building: this site, and no small amount of experimenting with AI along the way; a short autobiographical novel on maternity without labels, still very much a work in progress; evenings editing my husband's book; and a website for my family's olive oil business, to help expand sales.
Alongside all of this, I am figuring out what I want to do next professionally. I know communications will be at the heart of it, but I am also thinking more about purpose: doing something I genuinely believe in, where I can have an impact and put my experience to good use. And I am enjoying being open to where that might take me.
The fastest way to reach me is LinkedIn – messages, roles and collaboration ideas all welcome there. Or drop me a line directly.