Ana Jiménez, Co-Managing Director de Equativ
Ana Jimenez, co-managing director of Equativ Mexico, launched her career back in 2016 with this company where she has held a series of different positions, which in turn has enabled her to learn in detail its day-to-day operations. “I’ve had the very good fortune to develop along with the company and the market – this is really valuable since it has provided me with the information and tools to better understand the sector. One of the big challenges that faced me professionally was the restructuring of the company in 2018, when the shared management of the Mexican office was created. I was picked to take on the work of co-managing director together with Alexandre Tordjiman. This new stage implied a process of adaptation for all, because the functions of each one of us had to be clearly defined. Clearly informing clients, partners and co-workers about the new structure without upsetting them was also a must. Day by day the company’s strategy has been very beneficial, since it has allowed us to employ different approaches, abilities, experiences and strengths focused on the same goal,” Jimenez said.As for how she sees the industry in relation to feminine leadership, she said that while some important progress has been made, some great challenges need to be overcome, such as by promoting initiatives that stimulate women’s professional growth in all areas and at all levels.In that regard, she recalled that women at a world level represent 43 percent of the labor force and just 36 percent of the management or directorship jobs in the private and public sectors, according to the Global Gender Gap Report of 2020. And in advertising, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in it’s Alliance for Inclusive Multicultural Marketing II, shows that 47 percent of the chief marketing jobs are in the hands of women. “After seeing these figures, I consider that strategies of inclusion lay the foundation for reducing the gender gap day after day. Mixed work teams have tremendous advantages, since they combine different outlooks and abilities towards achieving the same goal. For example, the restructuring of the Mexico office was a chance to show by example that the gender gap is a concern for companies worldwide. In Mexico women represent some 56 percent in Equativ and the leadership is shared by Lara Krumholz, executive VP of Equativ Latin America, and by me,” she said. Jimenez said that LinkedIn figures show that the positions that have the greatest gender gaps among Mexican companies are Chief Technology Officer (27%), as well as other key positions associated with innovation like Chief Information Officer (17%) and Chief Operations Officer (30%). Faced with this scenario, she believes that industry ought to promote the placing of female talent in executive jobs, while also developing internal programs of inclusion and diversity along with a company culture oriented toward these aspects.“We must constantly promote the professional development of women at all levels and in all areas. We must drive the equality of pay and opportunities and create spaces free of prejudice and so improve the success of women,” she said. Her key words for this year are evolution and diversity. “Both refer to gradual processes of adjustments to improve women in their different aspects, to promote theiir equality of opportunities and even to combat prejudice. For example, including pregnant women in the workforce and continuing to promote personnel who are out of work due to their maternity. These concepts for me also refer to their ability to develop themselves, adapt to new situations, structures, focuses and to an opportunity to create a new look at life. All this occurs because in the last few years we faced an extraordinary situation, namely the Covid-19 pandemic. Now we’re getting back to normal, though in fact everything has changed and we had to evolve to adapt ourselves,” Jimenez said. She also noted that she likes these terms because in Equativ they are also in a constant state of transformation and make progress in order to offer useful technology to their clients for the insertion of advertising that answers the needs of both users and publishers. Finally, about the advice offered women seeking promotion to the industry’s leadership posts, Jimenez said it’s always necessary to knock down barriers like the impostor syndrome. “We women have great capabilities and our contribution is valuable for any organization or sector. From my perspective, one is always daring to take on new challenges. In other words, the opportunities will always be there and it’s really important that we take advantage of them. What’s more, women in charge of handling a creative or managerial position create motivation and inspiration for others. My team saw me grow that way. They now know they can aspire to better opportunities because they are in a company where there’s the place and the chance to develop,” she said.
