00:00
Hola. I'm Claudia Romo Edelman and I'm Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner.
00:03
And this is a podcast,
00:05
a La Latina, the playbook to succeed being your authentic self
00:08
today, Nanette Coro,
00:09
former global president of the vaccines divisions advisor.
00:13
In this episode, you're gonna learn three main takeaways.
00:17
Number one, why being a Latina gave her the upper edge
00:21
in leading the development of the COVID-19 vaccine in record time.
00:25
Number two, the importance of speaking up to be noticed but
00:29
make sure that you're well prepared that you have the facts and
00:32
that you anticipate the questions that will be asked.
00:34
And number three, how being her unapologetic self became her superpower
00:39
and gave her an edge.
00:41
This and more in a podcast.
00:52
welcome to the podcast,
00:54
a La Latina, the playbook to succeed being your authentic self
00:58
today, an incredible literal Trailblazer,
01:01
incredible path breaker. Nanette Coro Nanette spent 21 years at Pfizer
01:07
Her last role was global president of the Vaccines Division.
01:10
She led the development and launch of the COVID vaccine.
01:14
She's a board director at Pharma Jet,
01:16
a company that focuses on needle free injection solutions which my kids
01:21
She's also on the board of Hex,
01:23
a publicly traded by a pharmaceutical company focused on the development and
01:27
commercialization of novel vaccines.
01:29
And finally, she's a board director for idea public schools,
01:33
one of the fastest growing network of tuition free K to 12
01:37
public charter schools. Nanette.
01:40
What a pleasure having you here today.
01:43
I'm very excited to be here with both of you.
01:46
And again, with our objective of sharing our experiences that
01:50
will help our younger women Latinas to continue growing and grow even
01:56
faster in their careers.
01:58
I mean, you're a true Trailblazer.
02:01
You have made history and you have saved so many millions of
02:05
lives. I would like to start with our favorite subject of
02:10
what made you be who you are and what you do today
02:13
tell us about your background.
02:15
I have lived in several countries.
02:18
I have lived in Puerto Rico,
02:19
which is where my mother is from.
02:21
I have lived in Spain,
02:22
which is where my father is from.
02:24
I have lived in the United States,
02:26
which is where I did my education.
02:28
And again, growing in in an immigrant family,
02:33
my parents were always encouraging my siblings and myself to aim high
02:39
at all time. So as immigrants,
02:43
my my parents raised us with the responsibility to have a
02:50
positive impact, to contribute to the community that we lived in
02:57
and to the world around us and also having lived in different
03:01
countries that taught me to be sensitive about the different cultures.
03:07
And it also taught me to be respectful of different ideas.
03:13
These became important success factors for me as my career
03:20
grew at pfizer, especially when I was getting the opportunities to
03:24
have global roles. So yes,
03:27
so my heritage definitely played an important role in who I am
03:31
but also in how I grew professionally.
03:35
Can you talk to us about your education?
03:37
And like why did you decide to study in the U SI
03:40
also know that you have a phd,
03:43
you've gone to school most more than most people.
03:47
Why, why did you make those decisions?
03:51
goes along the lines of aiming high,
03:55
I started with a phd in Pharmacology and then I was doing
03:59
my phd in Pharmacology.
04:01
I grew an interest in business and I was curious to
04:07
know what kind of positive impact I could have beyond the laboratory
04:15
research wall because most people that do a phd in Pharmacology,
04:18
you stay, you stay in academia.
04:21
Yes. So then I went ahead and combined my phd
04:26
in Pharmacology with an MB A and I was fortunate that I
04:31
could get both at Wharton Business School.
04:34
I mean, I could get both at the University of Pennsylvania
04:37
Of course, the Business School is the Wharton Business
04:39
School. And and this combination then allow me to grow
04:45
my career in the health care industry.
04:48
And then this combination also allow me to have positions like new
04:53
product planning, positions in marketing,
04:56
general management. And then the ultimate role that I had at
04:59
pfizer, which was being the global president for,
05:03
for the vaccine portfolio at pfizer.
05:05
I feel like you just like jumped ahead.
05:08
I'm gonna take you back.
05:09
OK. Why did you study pharmacology?
05:11
We know like Claudia has the stats but like it's not a
05:15
career that Latinas were not pursue.
05:18
I don't know the numbers,
05:19
you know, so just to put that into perspective is so
05:22
important for our audience to hear that aim high is an encouragement
05:29
particularly in STEM. We have been making waves.
05:32
We are 19% of the population and we used to be 1%
05:36
in STEM. Now that percentage is really growing and we're getting
05:42
But in phds, we're only 1% of our relation that manages
05:46
that. It seems to be like a daunting or very expensive
05:50
choice to make. But particularly in natural life sciences is an
05:54
area where we still have to push for more and more Latino
05:58
insertion. And it seems to me one of the reasons why
06:01
we're not there is because we don't have the encouragement.
06:04
No one told us we don't have the role models.
06:06
If you can't see it,
06:09
Yeah. No Absolutely.
06:12
again, I have always was interested in sciences and
06:17
as an undergrad, my my major was chemistry.
06:22
in my interest of applying,
06:25
getting closer to applying the science into human body is that then
06:30
comes pharmacology. But then again,
06:33
my interest and then going beyond the walls of,
06:37
of, of a laboratory,
06:38
lab comes the business degree.
06:41
So is that full combination of science and business that I developed
06:48
Because that allows me to do my ultimate goal,
06:52
which was to have a global impact in public health for your
06:56
parents in stem or in global health.
06:59
Because I would have never thought about making an impact in global
07:01
health. So how did it come to you?
07:05
my dad came to Puerto Rico to marry my mother.
07:12
And again, I don't know that we want to go into
07:14
the details on how they met,
07:15
but they met when my mother went to Madrid for a vacation
07:19
they dated for two years via letters.
07:25
And and then my father left Madrid,
07:28
left his mom, his sister to marry my mother in Puerto
07:31
Rico. But it was during the time of Franco and during
07:36
that time, as you know,
07:38
opportunities for to low class people were very limited and he saw
07:45
coming to Puerto Rico as an opportunity to grow.
07:47
Then in Puerto Rico,
07:49
he studied physics and he got a master's in physics,
07:52
then he was a professor in physics.
07:54
So so that's how the stem came about.
07:59
My mother, on the other hand,
08:01
was on the side of entertainment.
08:04
I don't know if my uncle is Paquito Cordero in Puerto
08:08
Rico. Do you know that name?
08:10
And and my mother and and my uncle partner
08:15
to bring entertainment to to Puerto Rico,
08:20
I don't know if those names ring a bell to you.
08:22
So it was totally two different areas.
08:25
But then my interest leaned towards,
08:27
towards the towards the stem.
08:28
Maybe because in my mind,
08:30
I thought that that was the harder part to do.
08:35
And that's how came into me.
08:39
That's a beautiful love story and just like seeing it through your
08:42
career strategically for the Latino community,
08:45
we have to get into those professions because tech and health care
08:48
are two areas in which we're under represented.
08:51
But they are the future.
08:52
I think that it is encouraging to have you so that younger
08:56
Latinas can and younger mothers can tell their kids that it is
09:02
So we can encourage more and more people to not only aim
09:04
high but aim high in areas where the future lies.
09:09
Do you want to talk a little bit more about like where
09:11
do you see stem particularly the Pharma and the health health care
09:16
industry going absolutely, it is,
09:18
it is an area that while,
09:19
as you mentioned, we have been increasing our Latin representation in
09:26
different industries, science and technology continues to be lagging even significantly
09:32
more than any other of the industries.
09:35
I mean, I think that in the Pharma space,
09:38
the percent of Latina women are in the low teens,
09:43
I'm not even sure if they are even double digit to
09:47
So it is an area that we need to continue raising the
09:52
awareness and and continue providing younger women the confidence that
10:00
it can be done and that you can be anything that you
10:04
want to be and that nothing and nobody should hold you back
10:08
And that if you get accepted into,
10:11
as you know, into any of the universities in the United
10:14
States is because you can do it.
10:17
So there's no need to doubt yourself.
10:18
There's no need to have insecurities that even if you get accepted
10:22
to Cornell or Harvard or any of the top schools in the
10:25
United States. Oh my God,
10:27
am I gonna be able to compete?
10:29
You will be able to compete and you need to go for
10:32
it and you need to make it happen and really have the
10:35
courage to make it happen,
10:37
which that comes then with the resilience that we have as,
10:39
as Latin women and let's face it.
10:42
You and Annette are a celebrity of science.
10:45
Your Nobel prize winner material.
10:49
I've heard your name particularly in the time of COVID.
10:53
where I learned that the first vaccine,
10:57
I don't know for people that,
10:58
do you remember how desperate we were in a COVID time to
11:02
when is the vaccine gonna come?
11:03
And how are we gonna get out of this one?
11:05
And then it was you a Latina that invented the COVID vaccine
11:10
And I cannot tell you how proud I am of you
11:14
of having a Latina having done that.
11:16
And how much I wish my mother would have gotten COVID after
11:20
so that I would have have allowed,
11:22
you know, like her to enjoy the benefit of your
11:27
incredible work so that she could have gotten the vaccine
11:30
before passing. Yes.
11:34
I am truly and generally sorry for,
11:37
for your loss. And and thank you for your
11:40
kind words. Of course,
11:45
it was a team that involved a combination of Pfizer scientists and
11:51
bio antic scientists and people in the regulatory space,
11:56
people in the manufacturing space,
11:59
people in the medical space and people in the commercial space.
12:02
So bringing all those best brains together and to collaborate very efficiently
12:10
and effectively was one of the key success factors in the development
12:15
of this vaccine in record times,
12:17
right? Like people say,
12:18
well, how could you develop a vaccine in nine months?
12:22
When usually it takes years,
12:25
the answer is that collaboration played a very important role.
12:31
But also we took many steps that traditionally we will do them
12:37
sequentially, we did them in parallel.
12:40
Got it. So let's talk a little bit more about
12:42
that story because I think it's like I wanna almost,
12:46
I close my eyes and feel your stress and feel like what
12:48
were the decisions you had to make and more importantly,
12:51
what do you think is the superpower that you have that made
12:57
you successful in that role?
12:59
Because yes, there were a lot of people and it wasn't
13:02
only your success, but you kind of coordinate,
13:05
right? And get everybody to work towards the same goal.
13:08
So what's your superpower?
13:10
Well, in terms of superpower,
13:13
I have to say that leadership is is one
13:18
of the areas that I take in men's pride while we
13:23
were developing the vaccine at the beginning.
13:27
Of course, we didn't know if we're gonna be able
13:32
However, we felt privilege,
13:35
we felt privilege having given the opportunity to look for that solution
13:41
to find a vaccine that will end with as we all
13:46
know, a devastating pandemic and all this was achieved because
13:55
the people that were involved were totally committed and inspired by that
14:01
opportunity. We thought that if not us,
14:05
then who and that gave us the energy that gave us the
14:09
drive to work seven days a week 14 to 18 hours day
14:16
long for months nonstop.
14:20
but you say if not us who I don't have the data
14:24
but I imagine there were a lot of people trying,
14:27
if you, if you read the story of Shackleton,
14:29
that was trying to get to the,
14:32
he was trying. But there were like all these other
14:35
sailors trying to get to the South Pole.
14:37
I imagine there were a lot of teams that were trying to
14:40
create a vaccine and you guys did it.
14:42
And you're saying they were inspired by the mission but 14 hour
14:49
days, 1418 hour days,
14:52
How much inspiration do you need?
14:54
Like, what did you know?
14:55
It's like you're leaving your family.
14:58
what do you think where you take credit?
15:01
I feel like you're not taking the credit of your leadership.
15:04
You're saying the situation,
15:06
everybody. What, what do you feel like you did?
15:08
How did you inspire them and tell your story?
15:11
Yes. Well, you're absolutely right that leadership,
15:15
I do consider leadership to be one,
15:16
my, one of my superpowers.
15:18
I I read a book titled Five Graces of Leadership
15:22
by the author of Gary Burning Song.
15:25
And and that book resonated very strongly with,
15:31
with me because I mean,
15:35
with the five grades of leadership which which include G for
15:40
gratitude, R for resilience,
15:44
A for aspiration C for courage,
15:48
I was going to say commitment,
15:50
courage and e for excellence.
15:53
The author uses e for empathy.
15:57
excellence was extremely important because excellence became a signature of of
16:05
my team and and of myself and then to me,
16:09
gratitude meant recognizing the efforts of the people in my team,
16:15
the people involved, especially when they were going above and beyond
16:23
I think that us Latins immigrants resilience is almost in our DNA
16:29
and resilience being resourceful and making things happen and never giving up
16:35
was it was also an important leadership trait that I conveyed to
16:40
my team at the same time,
16:43
aspiration, like I said,
16:44
at the beginning, always aiming high and always going beyond what
16:51
is expected because if you aim high,
16:55
your achievements are always gonna be better than what is already
16:59
available. Let's put it that way and then comes courage
17:06
We need to have the courage to,
17:10
first of all take thoughtful risks both at a personal and at
17:15
a professional life and also have the courage to be our unapologetic
17:22
self to speak up to put forward our thoughts and our ideas
17:27
And and then after courage,
17:29
of course, excellence,
17:31
and for me, excellence was extremely important because the environment that
17:36
I was in was extremely,
17:40
extremely competitive. Did you ever doubt that you were gonna achieve
17:44
like that. You were gonna end up with a vaccine that
17:47
work. How did you get like 2020?
17:52
We were sure we weren't sure at all.
17:55
And it was not until the fall of 2020 that we got
18:00
the results of the clinical trials that told us,
18:06
yes, we have a vaccine that is effective.
18:09
Yes, we have a vaccine that is safe and yes,
18:12
we have figured out how to manufacture a vaccine in a platform
18:16
that has not been manufactured ever before,
18:18
which was the Messenger RN A.
18:22
with characteristics that we needed to figure out like a temperature of
18:26
minus 70. We need to figure out how are we going
18:28
to those vaccines into the hands of as many people as possible
18:31
around the world with a temperature that needed to be minus 70
18:35
degrees such that the vaccine remains stable.
18:39
And at the same time,
18:41
the launch the commercial launch and all of this needed to be
18:45
done in the short period of time because people,
18:50
millions of people were unfortunately around us.
18:53
So the pressure to get it done and to get it done
18:57
out there was incredible.
18:59
However, something that I want to take the opportunity to emphasize
19:02
is that safety was never ever,
19:06
ever compromised, putting forward a vaccine that is absolutely safe for
19:13
everybody. It was an extreme important aspect of how we went
19:17
about developing this vaccine.
19:19
I wanna talk a little bit about that time.
19:21
It's almost like COVID in my mind is like a black.
19:25
I don't wanna go ever back to that in my memory because
19:29
I remember distinctively that time and when it came out that there
19:34
was a vaccine and that it was gonna be possible and that
19:37
it was you, I can only imagine how was the process
19:41
and the pressure and what you just said all of a sudden
19:47
maybe it is because you were a Latina that you were able
19:51
to put your collaborative mind,
19:53
your leadership as a family style that inspired everybody to go
19:59
that you were able to multitask doing sequential things.
20:02
I never thought about it.
20:04
But why don't we celebrate more of that?
20:07
Why don't we just put you,
20:09
you know, like as a poster child so that we can
20:11
start having more presidents of companies of countries and organizations because we
20:16
are able to do that.
20:16
Do you think it is you Latini that intervened not only in
20:20
your excellence but also in the miracle that you performed?
20:24
You know, now that you put it that way,
20:26
maybe subconsciously consciously,
20:29
I have to, you know,
20:30
be honest, I did not think about that,
20:32
but subconsciously probably because famil iso is something that has been core
20:40
to the way that I work with my team,
20:44
the vaccine team was a vaccine family.
20:50
and for me, how do I achieve that commitment and that
20:54
engagement from my, my team comes along the lines of
20:59
really being authentic, transparent,
21:02
genuine and getting to know the people in my team to
21:07
deeper levels understanding their needs,
21:11
their aspirations and helping them in their career journey to get to
21:15
that, to their aspiration that turn into very quick trust and
21:21
a combination of trust with a clear purpose,
21:25
which for us was to have a profound impact on global public
21:30
health and a clear vision,
21:32
which for us was to bring breakthroughs that will change people's life
21:38
When you put those three elements together,
21:40
you have teams that move mountains that really nothing can get in
21:47
the way of making things happen.
21:49
I feel like I don't know if you have tried to use
21:51
my journey, which is like the for images and it's so
21:57
biased. Like if you,
21:58
if you write, please draw a senator,
22:03
it's always going to draw a white man,
22:06
right? And I assure you that if you say please draw
22:10
the leader of the team that is developing a medicine that it's
22:13
like you have to do it in a short period of time
22:16
under stress, under resource,
22:18
whatever it's going probably to draw a white man that is with
22:23
do it fast. We have to get it done and like
22:25
we fear. And I imagine that if it had been a
22:29
person that was living with fear.
22:30
It wouldn't have been successful,
22:32
it wouldn't have been safe.
22:34
As you said, many other teams were trying.
22:36
But what I am getting fascinated about is that their universities,
22:41
an incredible institutions that are getting and preparing Latinos on biology or
22:47
on business and so on.
22:48
We are not prepared enough.
22:50
We don't have the schools to understand and be aware of our
22:54
cultural nuances and how that bring the leadership that we have if
22:57
we would have known that because we are collective because we are
23:01
fam because we are building trust,
23:04
we therefore can lead those type of things.
23:06
If we would be aware,
23:07
not only in the excellence on the,
23:09
on the issue, but also in what our culture brings us
23:11
as a superpower, then you can start trusting and raising your
23:15
hand more and applying for different,
23:17
isn't it? Absolutely.
23:19
And, and I think that you mentioned this at the beginning
23:21
right? It's hard to relate to something that you cannot
23:26
see and having more role models that give you the confidence,
23:30
say, oh, this person was able to achieve it.
23:33
So can I and it was not easy,
23:37
to achieve what we leaders Latin leaders have achieved yet
23:45
with perseverance, with resilience.
23:47
it can definitely be done but I want more than
23:51
that because that we have,
23:52
we have the perseverance,
23:53
we have the resilience.
23:54
We have the resourceful and we have the families,
23:56
we have all of that.
23:57
What we don't have is the awareness of it.
23:58
We don't have the Aztec moment to say like holy cow.
24:01
And I want Latinas to realize it earlier.
24:03
Short cut to your success is to realize your power because you're
24:07
a Latina, as you said,
24:08
being not only authentically yourself but being aware of the superpowers that
24:12
you bring absolutely could not have said it better.
24:15
OK. So we spoke about the fact that probably a lot
24:17
of companies were trying to come up with a vaccine and having
24:21
myself worked in big and small companies,
24:23
I usually associate speed with small companies.
24:27
So I was very surprised to hear that the company that was
24:30
able to do it fast was so big.
24:33
Why do you think that despite its size,
24:35
Pfizer was able to do it in record time?
24:38
Basically, resources, expertise,
24:43
experience. I do believe that Pfizer does bring some of the
24:49
best brains together, the best brains in research and development,
24:53
the best brains in regulatory,
24:56
the best brains in manufacturing,
24:57
medical commercial and for smaller companies that is harder.
25:02
So I think that those are some of the reasons or some
25:05
of the factors that contributed for Pfizer to be.
25:07
But resources is a huge one and they must have been willing
25:11
to break their own rules for how just like you said,
25:15
instead of doing like a like one step after the other doing
25:18
things in parallel. Absolutely.
25:21
When COVID happened, I remember I started looking at how my
25:27
foundation can react. And we were about to launch our brand
25:30
Hispanic star and we said like no launching any brand like Hispanic
25:33
star in action. So we mobilized 20 companies to donate products
25:37
for the Latino community.
25:38
We established emergency relief groups all across the country.
25:43
And because I was doing all that donation and mobilization of emergency
25:47
giving to the Latino community because you need to know we're
25:52
prepared as a country to to address Latinos.
25:55
We're the warehouses of the traditional givers are in New Orleans or
26:00
in Alabama and it's not where we are.
26:02
We're in Chicago in Miami in Texas.
26:05
And we just had to build our last mine ourselves.
26:08
And because of that,
26:10
I was an emergency worker,
26:11
I was one of the first people that got your vaccine and
26:13
I had to fly to Odessa,
26:17
I think that in the first week in which they were released
26:21
I want to know what was the story of developing the
26:24
vaccine? How was it?
26:26
Well, I alluded to the fact that we did take all
26:30
the steps that before were seq sequential,
26:33
we did it in parallel,
26:36
many, many steps that needed to take place from the discovery
26:41
to the commercialization. For example,
26:44
the big steps that I mentioned before that goes along the lines
26:48
of signing a clinical trial,
26:50
identifying the sites where the trials are going to be done.
26:53
All this in parallel investing at risk on raw material for the
26:59
manufacturing, on the different manufacturing pieces that we were designing,
27:06
thinking that that's what's going to be needed to manufacture this vaccine
27:10
Again, we have not manufactured any vaccine on the messenger
27:15
and a platform. So that was completely new because the virus
27:18
was acting very differently and attacking in a very aggressive way and
27:22
it was developing mutations.
27:23
Correct? Yes. But it was a different messenger N A
27:26
is a completely different platform than any other platform that has been
27:30
used with any other vaccine before.
27:33
So nobody in the world had ever manufactured a messenger RN A
27:38
vaccine. So we were starting from zero with a blank sheet
27:42
of paper. But that's in the manufacturing side.
27:45
Then comes the distribution to your point.
27:49
How are we going to get millions and millions of doses all
27:53
over the world equitably?
27:54
And that became a huge challenge,
27:57
right? Every country wanted to have the vaccine first.
28:02
And and how do you manage that?
28:04
We were extremely excited that by November of 2020 we had unification
28:11
and vaccine. But then comes the question of how many doses
28:14
and where did they go?
28:15
And we only had 20 million doses.
28:18
How do we distribute those 20 million who decides who are worth
28:23
I remember that the debate I was in the middle of
28:25
it very, very difficult because of course,
28:30
you want everybody to have the same opportunity,
28:34
but not everybody was able to have the same opportunity.
28:37
And as time went by,
28:39
I'm sure that you've already seen that unfortunately,
28:44
developing countries were the ones that were not able to
28:48
receive the vaccine as fast as the developed countries.
28:53
And the reality was the reason was that unfortunately,
28:57
those countries did not have the infrastructure to distribute the vaccine to
29:04
their populations. And what did we do?
29:07
Well, then we partner with those governments to help them develop
29:11
the, the infrastructure to teach them how to do mass vaccination
29:17
that in the United States was done very well.
29:21
But in many other countries,
29:23
that was, that was not the case.
29:25
Yeah. Incredible gigantic Hercules herculean job or whatever you call it
29:31
It's credible. Let's talk about you as as and
29:34
and the identity how your Latini dad throughout your incredible
29:40
career has helped or being an obstacle had to had
29:45
did you have to dial down or,
29:48
you know, where was a superpower?
29:50
Yes. Well, I have to say that of
29:54
course, at the beginning of my career,
29:58
I, I felt pressured to conform to a corporate mold and
30:05
I found myself downplaying parts,
30:08
important parts of, of myself.
30:10
Fortunately, I got rid of my insecurities,
30:14
matured and grew personally and professionally,
30:19
which then allow me to learn that being my authentic self.
30:27
really gave me an edge because nobody else could come to
30:33
the table with my knowledge,
30:36
with my diversity. And again,
30:41
nobody else could come to the table with my experiences.
30:46
Basically, nobody else could be me.
30:49
So you said fortunately you grew out of it.
30:52
Does it mean it was like years like it was just you
30:56
were a more mature person or did anything happen that because in
31:00
my case, I feel like it's just being older that I
31:03
feel more secure in myself.
31:05
Is that what happened?
31:06
Well, you see Cynthia,
31:07
what happens is that 20 years ago,
31:11
we did not have this type of,
31:14
We did not have this type of opportunities that that raise
31:19
awareness, that gives the reassurance to younger women in corporate
31:24
America to believe that they can be anything that they want and
31:28
they can go as far as they want with time.
31:32
We have been able to do more of that.
31:35
Nevertheless, there's still a big space to be filled with,
31:39
with more of these opportunities to,
31:41
to your point to raise awareness on the stem area,
31:44
to raise awareness on for each and every one of us Latina
31:48
women to be unapologetically ourselves.
31:52
And my accent is one of the things that I am very
31:58
Because it makes me different,
32:00
it makes me special.
32:02
Yeah, it makes me worldly.
32:05
And again, I do believe that us being self assured
32:12
about who we are and what we can achieve really takes us
32:16
very far and we just cannot let anything or anybody hold us
32:21
back. But did you experience any funny reaction?
32:25
Any down looking because of your accent or your background?
32:29
Was there any time in which you felt stereotyped?
32:35
you know, we all receive feedback and I think that a
32:37
feedback that Latin women receive a lot is communication skills or presence
32:47
that feedback of like you need to have more corporate,
32:53
to be more polished,
32:56
Exactly. Exactly. And at the beginning,
33:00
welcome the feedback and and agree and learn from it.
33:05
But then later in my career when I was told,
33:08
oh, we're gonna give you a communication code.
33:12
I said, why Joe Blow does not have a communication
33:18
coach or David does not have a communication coach.
33:24
I mean, there were many times that I was the
33:25
only woman and Latina.
33:31
so I do use my hands to communicate and that's OK.
33:36
As long as it's not too excessive,
33:38
that is destructive. That's the feedback that I've received.
33:41
And again, I do speak slowly because I do have
33:44
an accent and I will make sure that people do understand me
33:48
but the content of what of my communication is there.
33:53
And I think that that's extremely important that we do again as
33:59
a Latino women prepare when it comes to presentations,
34:04
when it comes to going to meetings,
34:08
whether it is with a cross functional team or with upper management
34:13
that we think ahead,
34:14
what are the questions that we might be and,
34:17
and prepare those questions,
34:19
anticipate those questions and prepare for those questions because we want to
34:24
be concise and we want to come across that we command on
34:30
our expertise and on our knowledge.
34:33
Did you take the training?
34:36
At the beginning? I did.
34:37
Then later I told the child,
34:41
the coach to Joe Blow and to David.
34:45
because I feel that I'm already where I need to be
34:48
when it comes to communication,
34:50
we have to learn how to take hurtful feedback.
34:55
we need to learn how to stop it and say like I'm
34:57
good and that's and that's an incredibly great point just
35:02
on the, on the being Latino and in the Pharma industry
35:07
maybe there's a fear for Latinos to get into it
35:12
and they don't apply as much.
35:13
We don't get, get into clinical trials as much because we
35:17
feel that we're not gonna be understood.
35:19
Being a woman is already like lesser of a representation than men
35:22
How could we encourage more Latinos to get into the industry
35:26
I think we have already talked about it a little bit
35:29
right? And in providing the role models of
35:33
of people that are in the industry that are Latina and
35:37
that are women. And at the same time providing training that
35:41
help people develop self confidence.
35:44
Because sometimes it's,
35:46
it's a lot along self confidence,
35:49
but also many times is along the lines of,
35:51
am I gonna be able to have Children?
35:53
Am I gonna be able to have a career and be
35:57
a mother? As you know,
35:58
for Latinas, it is important for us,
36:00
for many of us to have family.
36:02
And I've talked to two young women,
36:05
asking me that question.
36:06
Well, my mother asked me,
36:09
if I take this high intense job in,
36:14
in science or even in Wall Street,
36:16
another area that, that is pretty intense.
36:19
How am I gonna be able to cook for my family or
36:22
how am I gonna be able to,
36:23
to take care of my husband?
36:25
Well, you, you find time to do both and if
36:28
you have a good job,
36:29
you can also pay for,
36:31
for people to help you do that.
36:32
I mean, I'm definitely not doing everything that I've done alone
36:37
I have a supportive husband.
36:39
I have help with the Children when they were small
36:45
I'm sorry, just to interrupt what I meant is there's,
36:48
we're almost 20% of the population,
36:50
but only 2% lawyers,
36:52
1% economist and 1% in Pharma.
36:55
And I wonder whether is because we just don't feel that we're
36:58
gonna be included and being able to be ourselves.
37:00
Maybe it is a combination of that.
37:03
But I think it's also,
37:04
what I hear a lot when I talk to,
37:06
to people that I'm trying to,
37:08
encouraged to convince them is that,
37:11
fear if they're gonna be able to be successful in
37:16
and again, I think that,
37:18
that fear comes from lack of knowledge or lack of examples or
37:27
I think at some point we should put on our social media
37:30
like the, the there's a graph that says what careers
37:35
are gonna be more prone for,
37:38
no prone for people to succeed.
37:39
You know, like right now if you study stem,
37:42
you're probably gonna have a more,
37:44
more solid career, you're always gonna be able to have a
37:46
job, like, let's tell the next generation what to study
37:49
what type of careers.
37:51
Exactly. Exactly. And I think like Latinos are great entrepreneurs
37:56
and maybe we choose careers that historically have been easier for us
38:00
to get into because those are the role models that we have
38:03
But the future is like,
38:05
there's a lot of careers that we don't see Latinos and I
38:08
feel like that's where the growth is.
38:11
So I wanna see engineers,
38:12
data scientists, like product managers,
38:15
artificial intelligence experts, like that's what we need Latinos to study
38:19
now. Latinas. Absolutely.
38:20
And really having women in leadership.
38:24
in the tech space still there is a very small percentage of
38:29
women and an even more smaller percentage of Latino women.
38:34
We need more women Latinas in leadership roles.
38:39
And how do we achieve that?
38:40
I want to make sure that all pharma companies hear your story
38:44
and how because you were a Latina,
38:46
you injected so much leadership into the success of a breakthrough,
38:50
global breakthrough, like creating the vaccine so that they can start
38:54
trying to hire more Latinas,
38:56
invest in Ma Latinas and so on.
38:58
Because I think that is both ways is not only us,
39:00
is is the industry has to lean in big time.
39:03
Exactly. We need to continue doing a lot more of what
39:06
we're doing now. And and of course,
39:08
we also need to vote,
39:11
Lati Latin people need to vote because the leaders in the government
39:17
also have a huge impact.
39:18
I mean, all these changes in in laws that now
39:22
before universities, exactly,
39:24
universities were pro or or having larger opportunities for minorities.
39:30
And now that is being stepped back if we don't have students
39:34
in colleges that that are Latins,
39:38
how we don't have a pool for corporate America to,
39:42
to bring them into into leadership roles.
39:45
And I have good news according to the Hispanic Sentiment study
39:49
and this is the first time I,
39:50
I share this that we received yesterday.
39:54
The unity of the Latino community has increased from 15% that
40:00
felt united in 2018 to 50% by 2023.
40:05
So we're acting more as a block where Mexicans Colombia and Venezuela
40:08
we're opening the door for each other,
40:10
we're supporting each other.
40:12
So our vote when you feel that you're with a bigger group
40:15
that you're more united,
40:16
that you want to be like,
40:17
the likelihood is we're gonna start raising our hand more.
40:21
We're gonna start like pushing each other more.
40:24
So the great news is that not only we're a superpower economically
40:28
but to get we're getting stronger together.
40:30
So more unity and more pride means most more votes,
40:33
more pushing each other,
40:36
so less elbowing each other and more supporting each other.
40:39
Which is fascinating. So we love the term flip the script
40:44
flip the script understood as flipping the script from stereotypes to
40:49
values from fears to truth.
40:52
And we are very much stereotyped.
40:55
There's a number of stereotypes and,
40:57
and and unconscious biases that are associated to Latinos either from the
41:01
corporate side or from ourselves.
41:02
What do you think are some of the things that we could
41:06
flip the script? I'm very proud to be a woman.
41:09
I'm very proud to be Latin and my heritage plays an important
41:14
part on my daily activities on my energy.
41:19
Not only because I want to demonstrate the positive impact and the
41:25
great contributions that Latins are already having in our society,
41:30
but also to help overcome the inequalities that unfortunately are still there
41:39
OK. So we wanna talk about the playbook.
41:42
When we started this podcast,
41:43
we actually started with a list of things that based on conventional
41:46
wisdom, the things that somebody has to do to climb the
41:49
ladder. I shared with you the list and now I'm asking
41:53
you to either debunk or confirm any of them.
41:56
What do you want to talk about?
41:57
I want to confirm the importance of speaking up,
42:02
the importance of being a strong communicator even if we have
42:07
an accent, don't be shy,
42:12
you need to prepare,
42:13
prepare, prepare and stay updated in your expertise area.
42:21
Make sure that you know,
42:25
more than everybody in the room in your area.
42:28
You don't have to know everything.
42:30
Of course, nobody knows everything but make sure that you do
42:34
know everything that you need to know,
42:36
to know about your expertise,
42:39
about your area of responsibility.
42:43
And basically because again,
42:46
knowledge is power, there's a I,
42:50
I learned once that there's this tendency when you become a leader
42:56
I don't know. So some people just get to a leadership
42:59
position and think that they have to answer with authority.
43:04
It doesn't matter if like it's like you're asking me how to
43:07
raise Children, but I'm actually like your boss,
43:10
like I shouldn't be commenting on that and people talk about how
43:13
much trust you lose and how much credibility you lose as a
43:16
leader when you try to answer on areas that you don't know
43:20
So I love that you're saying,
43:21
speak up but also know what you don't know.
43:23
I feel comfortable saying,
43:25
you know what, I'm gonna let the experts talk about
43:27
this. Absolutely. And,
43:29
and again, you don't need to know the answers to everything
43:32
when you are, you know,
43:34
in a presentation or in a,
43:36
in a meeting, whether it is with upper management or whether
43:38
it is in a cross functional team.
43:42
you know, I don't have the details to that question right
43:46
now, but I'm going to get them back to you
43:49
before the end of the day and do get back to that
43:54
response before the end of the day because then that reflects that
43:58
you are in command with your knowledge,
44:00
but also trust and confidence.
44:03
It helps you create trust and confidence on yourself.
44:07
Great love it. So now we would love for you to
44:11
go back in memory lane and talk to your 30 year old
44:16
self and give her a piece of advice that you wish somebody
44:19
had given you to be unapologetically yourself,
44:26
to not be afraid to speak up,
44:30
aim high and fix whatever you can fix.
44:38
Yet there are gonna be things that are beyond your control and
44:43
that you cannot fix.
44:44
Don't let those pull you down and last,
44:49
but definitely not least,
44:51
don't let anything or anybody hold you back.
44:55
I love that. You know,
44:57
this podcast was going to be called a La Latina.
45:02
the playbook to be your unapologetic self.
45:05
But it's a little bit hard to pronounce.
45:07
So we changed it to your authentic self,
45:10
but we really mean unapologetic.
45:13
So those four points are the nt playbook,
45:17
isn't it? Absolutely.
45:19
Especially again, even though it's hard to pronounce,
45:23
I like to say it many,
45:24
many times because it's so true.
45:26
Unapologetic. Be unapologetic because being your authentic self,
45:31
yes. But being unapologetic about who you are exactly goes even
45:38
further and I cannot be more grateful for your time,
45:42
your wisdom for your incredible work in saving so many lives in
45:47
the work that you did in,
45:49
in the vaccine and throughout your life.
45:51
You're an inspiration. Well,
45:54
Thank you Cynthia. It is my honor to be here with
45:57
you guys. And again,
45:58
my objective is to pay forward to the Latin younger generation that
46:04
is coming right in front of us and with your wisdom
46:08
and your support, we're gonna get Latinas to succeed and lead
Series