WHN Miami 2025: Talent Growth and Finding Your Career Path

Speakers

• Patricia Prospero, VP of HR, Latin America and Caribbean, DIAGEO
• Renata Vasconcellos, Head of Latin America Government Affairs, RELX
• Alina Hernández, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs, Kellanova Latin America
• Horace Porrás, Global Principal, The RBL Group (moderator)

“Career paths are not the result of one person who is a genius and achieves everything. They are really the result of collective efforts,” said Alina Hernández of Kellanova Latin America during the 10th Annual AS/COA Women's Hemispheric Network Conference: Miami. She spoke about the importance of “having sponsors that speak for you when you’re not there, having colleagues that share the knowledge and amplify your voice, having mentors that hold a mirror to yourself and say 'This is what you’re doing right and this is what you’re doing wrong." She called mentorship a “hack to the system” because “women are not still represented equally in decision making tables, so if you have a mentor that sits there, it’s a way of you having a voice there.”

Beyond seeking mentorship opportunities, women should also look to companies to support them as they advance into leadership roles, agreed panelists. “When you’re talking about human development and when you want to see more women in leadership positions, all the senior leadership team needs to be very committed and intentional about the programs put in place,” said Patricia Prospero of DIAGEO. She shared some of the practices that have helped DIAGEO have equal gender representation at most of levels, such as creating programs to prepare women managers for director roles and making sure these programs do not become an isolated event but a consistent effort that follows each woman through her career.

Horace Porrás of the RBL Group echoed this sentiment earlier in the panel. “It was not just about having female engineers. It was also about the company providing the support and tools to make them successful,” he shared.

The panelists also shared advice for women looking to switch career paths. “You need to analyze the situation: What are the risks? What are the opportunities? When you move, you have to be committed to learning new things, dealing with new people, taking more risks. And I was committed to that,” said Renata Vasconcellos of RELX, sharing how she has transitioned across different industries. After a career in law, then a decade at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, she started working at RELX last year. “You gain a lot when you change courses."