World news story

Leader for a Day 2022, promoting women leadership

British Embassy in Montevideo joins Hace la Fuerza to promote young women professionals.

The Embassy celebrated International Women’s Day with a double activity.

At an event at the Residence on 7 March, we launched ‘Leader for a Day’, second edition, a competition that matched nine young women with outstanding professionals who shared their activities on 8 March, with the objective of promoting gender equality in leadership positions. These are the ladies that participated:

  • Valentina Stancov accompanying Beatriz Argimón, Vice President of the Republic
  • Florencia Acerenza accompanying Carolina Cosse, Mayor of Montevideo
  • Priscila Castillos accompanying Mariana Chilibroste, Co-founder of Sellin
  • Shirley Yanina Barité accompanying Silvia Emaldi, Engineer, President of UTE
  • Alejandra Gonzalez accompanying Pilar Moreno, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Sciences, UdelaR and researcher at the Institut Pasteur de Montevideo
  • María Noelia Reboledo accompanying Faye O’Connor, British Ambassador
  • Mikaela Rodriguez accompanying Blanca Rodríguez, Journalist
  • Johana Leivas accompanying Alejandra Silveira, International Logistics Manager of Astrazeneca, Hub Uruguay
  • Xiomara Pannella accompanying Isabelle Valois, Ambassador of Canada.

The young women who took part in the 2021 edition were also present and shared their experiencies.

On International Women’s Day, each of the young women was able to see first-hand their leader daily work, accompanying her in her scheduled activities.

Ambassador Faye O’Connor and her companion, María Noel Reboledo, travelled to Paysandú along with two other leaders and their shadowers. They visited rural women’s businesses, met with Mayor Nicolás Olivera and participated in a leadership conference.

Hace La Fuerza

At the event at the Residence, a mentoring programme was also launched. Martina Lejtreger, President of “Hace La Fuerza” presented this regional project, seeking to connect first-generation university students with women leaders in different areas to contribute to the creation of professional networks and increase participants’ self-confidence to build their careers. “Hace La Fuerza” is run by women who graduated from British universities and is funded by the Chevening Alumni Project Fund.

Published 30 March 2022