Today being International Women’s day, we thought of nothing better than to share a conversation with businesswoman extraordinaire, Linda Valette. As a Senior Executive with a successful 17 years of career within the financial sector, Linda has worked in several banks and is a member of several business associations. In the latest years, she was appointed as Executive President of Banesco Banco Múltiple (worked until January 2017), making her the first Dominican and woman in the history of the National Financial System, to preside over a Commercial and Foreign Bank in the country.
She has been recognized by Citibank DR for the important contribution in the growth of the Consumer Bank, in APAP for the achievements in growing the Retail Segment, by the Director of Boston University Executive Education as Top 5% of the classes and for being a major contributor in the implementation of the university’s internship project in 2012, by Forbes 2015 and the 2016 Revista Mercado among the 25 most powerful business women in the Dominican Republic, by Mercado y Tendencias (Market and Trends) among the 100 most outstanding CEOs in Latin America in 2016.
In this conversation, we hope Linda’s story inspires, intrigues and resonates with you.
Q. What is your definition of a success?
A. I believe you are successful when you love and you are happy with what you do. [Success is] when you are in balance and harmony with your family and yourself. When you can help others in some way and leave a positive mark on their lives. The most important thing [to be succeed] is when you have fear of God in your heart.
Q. Who has influenced your career?
A. I have had the opportunity to work alongside exceptional people who are passionate about what they do, are highly experienced, and have a high level of ethics. Their friendships and humanity, has allowed me to take the best of them, and become an more enriched human being.
Q. What have been your biggest challenges as a woman and what have you learned from them?
A. My biggest challenges as a woman is having to go the extra mile, raise my standard, and prepare in order to be listened to and respected. The challenge lies in breaking stereotypes and persevere no matter how hard the process may be. The learning process is not to change your essence. It is to follow your heart, your instinct, and maintain your values above anything else. What you give, you receive and who you are will follow you throughout your life.
Q. How do you balance family and work?
A. It has been very difficult to be a mother with many responsibilities that have no set schedules. So I can say that this process has been the most difficult one. The ideal is to be able to take advantage of every moment and to schedule accordingly so that you can have time with them. For at the end of the day [Family] is the most important thing in your life, the only sure and eternal thing.
Q. How has being a Christian shaped you?
A. Faith has helped me to stand in spite of the storms, to be more fair and have more balance. When the love of God is in our hearts we do not need to conceal, or pretend an attitude or act. When the fear of God is present in our lives we are simple, authentic and complete, then, we live without fear of man.
Q. What message would you give to humanity about (how to be and how to treat) women?
A. When addressed on gender equality Warren Buffett mentioned that part of his success lays in the fact that he’s only competing with half the world’s population. There is something that is very important and that we still lack much as this gender. As women, and that is supporting each other more. We must work to support one another, even more in terms of work, and encourage each other. In the same way, at home we must educate and exemplify this to our daughters, so they can raise their voices and to continue forward, never allowing them to be marginalized in any facet of their lives.
If women had occupied senior positions in companies and the governments in history, surely there wouldn’t be a lack of these current standards. Therefore, it is evident that there is a need for policies that promote the participation of women in the economy and even, laws for equality in both the business sector and in the political to promote a more impartial and fair society, which improves the levels of social and economic well-being.
