Inspirational women: Rachel Maia

She shared a chicken with 10 other people at Sunday lunch, but today she is the CEO of the jeweler Pandora in Brazil. We are talking about Rachel Maia, a 47-year-old from São Paulo who is now part of the 0.4% of black women who hold presidency positions in large companies in the country.

With a path marked by courage and empowerment, Rachel is a great inspiration for other women who want to show their ability in environments still dominated by men.

Rachel’s Journey

Raised in Cidade Dutra, in the south of São Paulo, Rachel Maia was the youngest of seven children. With her father, mother, brothers and two cousins, she was used to sharing a chicken for weekend lunches. And there was still a rule: in a month, one ate the thigh of the bird; next month, she would eat the breast. After all, according to his mother, it was necessary to “go through the hardest part first”. It was from this that Rachel took a lesson: “There is always something good to look forward to”.

This, however, does not mean that Rachel simply waited for her fate to fall from the sky: in fact, she showed a good dose of courage from the beginning of her professional trajectory.

In 1991, after graduating in Accounting Sciences, Rachel worked at the 7-Eleven convenience chain, which ended its activities in Brazil and ended the employment relationship with the accountant. At the time, Rachel made a rather bold decision and communicated to her father that, instead of allocating the entire termination to the family bills, which she helped pay from an early age, a part of this money would be invested in herself.

Between Brazil and abroad

From that decision that went against what was expected of her, Rachel paid for two years of English and business classes in Vancouver, Canada. Having studied all her life in public school, she says that her knowledge of the English language was limited to the verb “to be” – and, because of that, she spent weeks saying only “oh, it’s so beautiful!”.

When she returned to Brazil, Rachel got the position of financial manager at the Novartis pharmaceutical industry, where she stayed for four years – one of them working in the United States.

In addition to her interest in the pharmaceutical and automobile industries, Rachel was passionate about art, particularly Pablo Picasso. So in 2000, when she was working in New York and learned that Paloma Picasso, the Spanish painter’s daughter, would be in Brazil, she immediately returned to the country.

In the right place and in the right time

Paloma Picasso was in Brazilian lands to launch a jewelry collection with the very luxurious Tiffany & Co., and on that occasion Rachel was approached by a headhunter from the company. The jewelry store was looking for a new CFO, whose requirements were to speak English and, of course, have solid accounting skills.

As required by RH Global, at least one woman should participate in the selection process – although there were few women who met the requirements of the position at that time. Even without interest in the jewelry market, Rachel decided to apply for the position.

The result was that she held the position of CFO (“chief financial officer”) of Tiffany & Co. in Brazil for eight years, until she was approached by the Danish Pandora, who wanted to settle in the country. This time, the proposal was even more tempting: occupy the position of CEO (“chief executive officer”), which is equivalent to the presidency of the company.

At the time, Pandora had only two points of sale in the country. Under Rachel Maia’s command, this number has risen to 98 stores today.

Women’s leadership and empowerment

Often times, Rachel Maia is the only woman in a meeting – and it goes without saying that she is the only black woman. “There is a lack of women at the decision-making tables, there is a lack of diversity. It’s a culture change, but someone has to start doing it,” she declared.

Precisely for this reason, Rachel is part of a WhatsApp group with top executives who seek to pave the way for more and more women to occupy leadership positions in the country. In addition, she works at UN Women, participates in HeForShe (campaign launched in 2014 with a speech by actress Emma Watson) and is developing a project focused on training young women from the periphery to work in retail.

What you can learn from Rachel Maia

The example of a black woman from a humble background who rose to the presidency of a company that had revenues of US$ 800 million in 2016 is already a great lesson about female capacity, but we can still learn much more from Rachel Maia:

1. Pioneering is not always glamorous

Making way doesn’t mean you will be applauded and rewarded. “You know those people at the front? I am part of this group, which fights to break down barriers. And whoever is at the front is the one who gets dustier, it’s not that glamorous”, Maia told Donna Magazine. In other words, recognition does not come for free.

2. It’s worth investing in you

Rachel Maia had the courage to use her termination money to study abroad and, even though she is a top executive, she never fails to invest in her education. That way, every year she sets aside at least one month to take specialization courses in leadership and business.

3. There is no perfect balance between motherhood and career – and that’s okay

In addition to her plans to expand Pandora’s business, Rachel has plans to increase her family: the executive has an 8-year-old daughter and is in line to adopt a boy. When asked how she manages to balance being a mom and being an executive, she says that, in fact, she can’t. What we can do, however, is dedicate ourselves as much as possible to the role we are playing at that moment.

“There is no balance for those who decide to be an executive, but there are rewards. Whatever you decide to be, be fully. When I am a mother, I am fully and when I am the president, it is also like that”, she said.

4. Empower yourself to inspire the women around you

For Rachel, being empowered is a way to inspire other women to realize what we’re capable of. The executive says that, by being the protagonist of her own story, she becomes her heroine and that of other people as well.

Rachel is fully aware that she occupies a place where very few people with the same conditions tend to be. Precisely because she knows that she represents diversity, she says that she seeks to be well to continue inspiring other women to dream and act to reach the top.

Well, so be it: let’s look at Rachel Maia as a woman who had the audacity to put herself first at certain times and the courage to explore environments that might not seem so welcoming, either because she has humble origins, is black or simply a woman.