A study conducted in 2022 by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) shows that in half of the organizations surveyed, female participation in Digital Transformation processes is less than 50%.
The LATAM leaders presented below are paving the way to inspire and support a new generation of women in the data center industry.
From Law to Servants
As a child, Adriana Rivera Cerecedo, current executive director of the Mexican Association of Data Centers (MEXDC), wanted to be the president of Mexico, so her father recommended that she study law, since at that time most of the leaders in her country had this profession.
She later earned a law degree, with a focus on environmental management – which was in line with the new passions she had discovered while attending college.
She was in public service for 25 years with this specialty, until she made her transition to data centers, where she would apply her legal knowledge to sustainability issues and promote the use of renewable energy.
Cerecedo had to work while raising her daughter as a single mother and, thanks to the support of her family, was able to find the balance between her professional and personal life, until she took on her current position.
In addition, she enjoys the support of experienced colleagues, both men and women, who have demonstrated an open attitude towards his position.
This spirit motivates her to continue growing and developing personally.
“I believe it is our duty, as women, to continue responding to the call for professionalization among young professionals. In this sense, I can say that the MEXDC association has launched a pilot scholarship program for young people who want to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for the data center industry and 75% of the scholarships were given to women.
“This reflects an important shift: women are starting to take an interest in technology and specialize in areas considered to be dominated by men. Not only is this inspiring, but it also reminds us that we must open our minds to all opportunities for development. The data center industry is growing at a breakneck pace and will need diverse talent to meet the challenges of AI, the 5G network, and the metaverse,” said Cerecedo.
From a Maquiladora to the Commercial Area
A lover of mathematics and with an engineer father, Rosalinda Pérez, Sales Manager for Data Centers, Vertiv LATAM, dedicated herself to studying Industrial Engineering to have a broader scope in her professional career.
She started working as an engineer in a structured cabling factory for telecommunications.
Her love for technology has always been present; So when she was offered a position in the commercial area, which implied a change from the manufacturing area to a sales executive, she didn’t think twice.
Pérez took advantage of this opportunity to enter a completely different world and specialize in the data center market.
Today, she leads a team made up of both men and women, demonstrating that gender is not a determining factor for success, but versatility and the willingness to learn.
“In my teams there have always been men and women, however, I also want to say that it was not gender that determined who would be part of them, but professional capacity and these advantages we women bring to this market and that give us a differential.
“It’s not all inequality in the bad sense, there are things we should take advantage of. It’s very nice to see a woman in the commercial area in an industry with so many men,” she said.
This March, Pérez celebrates her first year at Vertiv, which was also a great challenge.
For this reason, she invites women who are still deciding what they will study and where they will apply for a job, to consider the data center industry as a market that is not only the present, but also the future, since it remains in constant evolution with technological trends such as AI, IoT and 5G.
From Data to Cloud
With 30 years working in technology services companies, Heidy Bauer, Director of Cloud and Data Center Services, SONDA Chile, still wonders how she got into this industry – she originally preferred to be surrounded by numbers, algorithms and algebra.
Bauer graduated in mathematics and computing, but in a short time she arrived in IT services and never left the issue of technological outsourcing and, consequently, spending a large part of her day involved with data centers.
After a few years in account management positions related to data systems and IT services, she ended up leading the unit dedicated to technology outsourcing at SONDA.
With so many years of experience, Bauer has witnessed firsthand the transformative impact women can have on the data center industry.
“I am absolutely convinced that we are the architects of our destiny. So, we shouldn’t underestimate our capacity and we shouldn’t create barriers where there aren’t any.
“We often have this prejudice ourselves and I have the conviction that we need to start from the assumption that we are all on a level playing field,” she said.
In an ever-evolving environment like data centers, Bauer considers diversity to equate to innovation, and that’s one of the key benefits of having more women in the industry.
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