How long have you been with Telefónica and what is your assessment of your time here?
It has been 5 years now. I joined this family in January 2018, making a 180-degree turn in my professional life, and I am delighted. I have grown professionally and I learn every day with the challenges I face. I am part of a great team that is very involved in everything we do. Feeling part of something big is important to me. My work is meaningful and challenging. This drives me every day.
Is there a project at Telefónica that you feel particularly satisfied with or proud of?
No doubt about it! I am very proud of the ProFuturo Programme promoted by Fundación Telefónica and Fundación La Caixa. It is an incredible programme and I am sorry that it is not known by each and every one of the people who are part of this great family. I am fortunate to be able to work in this education programme focused on improving the future possibilities of students from vulnerable backgrounds and I have been able to see first-hand what something like this means in schools. This programme changes lives, I am convinced of that.
What do you think Telefónica has contributed to society from birth?
“Connection” in capital letters.
I remember my grandparents arguing about the telephone bill when I was a child. My grandfather didn’t understand how you could talk so much on the phone, but my grandmother’s argument was irrefutable: it was her way of keeping in touch with her children, her grandchildren and the rest of her family, and thus bridging the physical distance that separated us all. The telephone kept us connected.
When the mobile phone arrived, the arguments stopped because the solution was simple: the mobile phone bill arrives on my grandmother’s account… and “out of sight, out of mind” as the Spanish saying goes. With the arrival of the flat rate option and the possibility of having a landline and mobile phone for a fixed price per month, there was no longer any need to hide how much she paid per month for her mobile and she could talk for hours with all of us without any regrets.
When she turned 80, we gave her a tablet and she discovered that she could also be connected to the world; Facebook, email, Google… everything was just a click away!
Could you talk about how much Telefónica has done for society and its progress, modernisation and development? Yes, I could. But for me it is the company that has helped our family stay connected, wherever we were.
On Telefónica’s centenary my grandmother would have turned 99 and I am convinced that she would have written herself a very moving letter thanking Telefónica for having allowed her to stay connected to everything and everyone. So on her behalf: thank you.
Where do you see Telefónica in the future?
I imagine that it will continue to be a leading company in the telecommunications sector. Everything is going so fast that in the next 100 years it is possible that Telefónica will also be the number one company in the teleportation sector and we will be able to travel from one place to another in seconds. Flat rate for teleportation… hahaha… it would be brutal!!! Can we get on with it now?
Could you live without a mobile phone?
I could, but I would certainly be disconnected from family, friends and the world. It’s a great tool for staying connected.
Help us solve one of humanity’s great enigmas: the potato omelette… With onion or without onion?
Without a doubt with onion. Of course, we still have some dissidents in the family who insist that it doesn’t have to have onion. The alternative? With garlic… But yes or yes… I’m all about omelette with onion.
Nominate another colleague to appear in this section
I’m going to nominate Jose Manuel Carrillo Extremera, a great colleague who I was lucky enough to meet when I first came to this house and with whom I’ve worked very well ever since.
