You Can't Have it All - with Maria Fernanda Suarez, the Minister of Energy of Colombia - a podcast by Womens Energy Council by Oil & Gas Council

Maria Fernanda Suarez is a Minister of Energy of Colombia (from July 7th she no longer holds the post) but also held a CFO position at Ecopetrol (a National oil and gas company of Colombia) and a CIO of Porvenir, a Colombian pension fund. The 3 things I’ve learnt from our conversation:

1. Sometimes you can’t “have it all” and that’s ok, but you can take a break and come back even stronger which is what Maria proved with her decisions

2. Diversity requires an organised approach and a clear path. Maria’s goal is to have 50% in senior public sector filled by women in 10 years from the current 10% - an ambitious plan she discusses

3. We all have gender biases but we need to overcome them first as parents to achieve equality. Empowering girls is key to allow them join STEM jobs, become CEOs and entrepreneurs of the future

We also talked about an important leadership trait like being open-minded, an ability to listen respectfully and accept other people’s views, which is what helped Maria excel at her career. I hope you enjoy this episode...

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