To give the community a face and to show you who we are, we will introduce a WDS Supporter each and every month. We start the year with Pilar Ruiz de Temiño.
About me
I’m a Spanish 30-year old living in Zurich since May 2021. I have more than 8 years of experience in digital transformation and digital business, and since I moved to Switzerland I had the opportunity to join Tupperware Brands (yes, the most iconic brand for food containers in the world 😉). There, I’m responsible for Digital for all EMEA markets. I act as bridge between business and technology teams, helping the markets identifying their opportunities and needs to boost the business by implementing new digital solutions for the salesforce, and I lead directly those projects with the IT team.
If you want to connect with Pilar, find her on Linked-In.
How long have you been a member of WDS?
I’m a recent member since a few months ago. I am excited for everything that is to come yet, and I would like to be a very active member for many more years and be there to support for as much as the community will need me.
“What inspired me to become part of WDS was, when I discovered it’s a community focused on promoting diversity and leadership for women in the Digital Swiss Ecosystem. It brings together great talent to create new growth opportunities and true friendships.”
What was your first interaction with WDS and how was it for you?
I have to say that I haven’t had the chance to be involved yet in any activity or network, since I properly joined WDS only few months ago and there has not been that many events going on in Zurich since then. I look forward from now on to be able to be part of most of them and get to know everyone.
However, I’m aware that many other things were going on these past months that implied such hard work and effort from the WDS team, as for example getting out a new amazing website and platform for the community for a better experience! So congrats to all of you, I am sure this will boost the community and allow richer interactions among all of us.
What was the reason you joined WDS?
I have always been involved everywhere I’ve lived (Madrid, Pamplona, Taipei, Montreal...) in different communities, to not only enlarge my network but also to enrich my know-how and experience and get to know other amazing people and stories. Therefore, since I moved to Zurich, I wanted to look for something similar. First, I found Tech Face and it was when I discovered WDS. I loved the idea of putting together such a great women’s community to create more business opportunities in digital for us and that supports organizational transformation leaps.
Tell us something about you that might surprise us
I’m a passionate cooker and trips organizer. It has always been my hobby. Travel the world and organize my trips from beginning to end while enjoying the start with research so much. But not only my own trips, I also love to organize other people’s trips, and provide tips and recommendations. I also love cooking.. for me and for others. I love to be host and organize great dinners at home. I consider myself a very creative person and I wanted to do something with it. I recently opened an Instagram account to share all this with the community I want to build😊 (you can follow me here - @pilsplace)
Of which professional achievement are you especially proud of?
From a professional point of view, I’m extremely proud of what we did as a team in my years in L’Oreal Luxe, where we lived and experienced the whole digital and E-commerce revolution around 2015-2018. We settled the basis and strategies for what was coming in the beauty industry. From an E-commerce point of view, we were pioneers in this industry for a long time with several programs and pilots that we created with some of the retail brands. We experienced growths of over 60% year over year.
In a recent occasion, I’m so proud that I got selected this year among all women in Tupperware worldwide to become part of the Signature Leaders program for a full year. This consisted of a full Global Development Expedition for women, and not about women. Signature Leaders is designed to augment, rather than replace, existing corporate executive leadership development. These are programs for women with the highest potential, to fast-track them into next level leadership. Therefore, I’m quite proud of it. It’s going to be an amazing journey full of learnings and enriched experiences, getting to know great women too.
Are there many women in your industry? Why is that or why not?
There were a lot of empowered women working in the beauty industry. As a fact, most of the C-Level were women, also in the digital area. However, it is true that when I moved to other industries, such as my current one, especially in the IDT (information, digital and technology) teams, the highest percentage of employees are men. I believe that organizations and communities such as WDS, are great ways to help swift this trend. They will make companies aware of all these great female talents in digital and tech, but also take the fear of some women to move in this very interesting field of work.
Especially in IDT the highest percentage of employees are still men. I believe that organizations and communities such as WDS, are great ways to help swift this trend.
Which aspect of your industry might interest other women to start work in this field?
The most interesting aspect is the area where I work: Digital and Technology. At first, it might not sound very fancy, but I do believe that there is so much more room for female talent. It is a very strategic area that is now leading the revolutions and evolution in the market for most of the companies. Therefore, it would be amazing to have empowered and great women in place, leading this new era of digital revolution, focused on new technologies and innovations that are changing the world so fast.
Which future trend is the most interesting in your opinion?
Well.. so many different trends that could be highlighted, but if I have to stick to one, I would say the metaverse and virtual reality. I take this as the most interesting one, not because I’m a full believer of the metaverse, but because I am very curious where it takes us as a society and how this will change our lives. At the end, the metaverse is described as the inevitable evolution of the internet. But in my opinion, it will be an evolution on a higher level and not only change the internet. With no doubt it will become one of the most disruptive trends that has happened in decades. I think the metaverse is going to have an effect in many different areas, in the way we live, work, move and interact with others.
