Woman, mother, daughter, leader, entrepreneur, and boss. There is a wide variety of roles and functions that a woman can play throughout her life. During this month, with the symbolism of International Women's Day, celebrated every March 8th, reflections on the role of women intensify, especially in a context where the challenges and transformations related to gender equity are increasingly evident. In this context, the SiiLA REsource team interviewed inspiring women in leadership positions in the real estate industry to understand their contexts and share their ideas with other professionals aspiring to go far.

In this first installment, you will find an exclusive interview with Claudia Woods, CEO of WeWork LATAM. The executive, who studied Economics at Bowdoin College in the United States and holds a master's in Marketing and Strategy from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a certification from Harvard Business School, has extensive professional experience, mainly focused on developing emerging companies.

Before assuming her position at WeWork, Claudia was General Manager of Uber in Brazil, leading a successful project to increase female presence in the company. To this day, one of her career goals is to promote equitable participation of women on executive boards. For this and more, it is unsurprising that Forbes named Claudia one of the most powerful women in Brazil in 2020 and appeared in Bloomberg's ranking of the 500 most influential people in Latin America for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022).

Below, we share the full interview with Claudia Woods.

REsource: What was it like to accept the challenge of leading WeWork in Latin America?

Claudia Woods (CW): Like many companies in my history, WeWork was born to change the status quo and truly change how things are done. So, when the invitation to join WeWork came, despite the challenging times—we were emerging from the pandemic lockdown, and society was reflecting on the pros and cons of what we had experienced—I saw a tremendous opportunity to lead what is now a cliché, the future of work. This expression didn't exist three years ago, just like hybrid work or Anywhere Office. And WeWork was at the core of this discussion.

By definition, our model already advocated for hybrid work long before it became fashionable. Why should only large companies have very nice offices in the best locations? Why should small business owners or entrepreneurs have a lonely life and not a collaborative environment? So, all of this was already at the company's core, and from 2020-2021, we had the great opportunity to turn it into the new future model. Additionally, all my professional decisions go through an initial filter to evaluate the impact I can have on the organization. I talk about the impact this company can have on the world and society, as well as a personal issue, the impact I can generate. In the case of WeWork, these two things came together perfectly, uniting the impact the company could have on society in terms of advocating and building this new work model with what I could contribute at that moment, with all my experience in disruptive companies, in building new business models, in companies that were startups at some point. When I combined these two impacts, I saw it was the perfect time to accept this challenge.

REsource: So far, what have been the main challenges you have faced in your career?

CW: People often look at the resume, the brands, the shorter stays in some companies, and there is always that judgment: "Wow! You worked in so many segments, but you only stayed two years here." I laugh and say, "I stayed two years because the mission was to set up and sell the company. And we sold it!" It is a very traditional way of looking at careers; that conventional way of being in the office, sitting at the desk at nine in the morning, getting up 18 hours later, and having a boss who does rounds to see who was the first to arrive and the first to leave. In my career, what was very consistent and remains so is the issue of impact driven by innovation. How do we look at markets that have always operated in a certain way and see different possibilities? How do we challenge the problems of society, cities, and people's lives and try to bring about a turning point? Regardless of the segments I have worked in, these have become like coadjutants in my central mission, which is disruption, impact, and technology.

REsource: The real estate market still has a strong male predominance. How is WeWork working to achieve more significant gender equity in the industry? What are the main initiatives?

CW: Throughout my career, I have gone through various cultures, including the financial market, a much more traditional market, where being a rising woman is much more difficult. I also went through companies that were leaders in the diversity process. I like to believe that, in general, in organizational environments, perhaps some more immature than others, we have structures that are more prepared to meet this demand. For some years, I had the perception that I had been fortunate to go through environments that were not very hostile or were super inclusive. And the truth is that we didn't have that so present; we weren't so trained to identify it. And it was at WeWork that I had the opportunity to shape this. Here in LATAM, we have a 62% female workforce, and at the management and leadership levels, this percentage exceeds 50%. So, we have the two most coveted metrics, encompassing the entire employee body and rarely reflected in senior management. It is a source of great pride. Female talents surround us. Additionally, we have a compliance and reporting process to monitor and maintain our inclusive, respectful, and diverse environments for employees as we embrace the mission of keeping our communities this way. Today, the company's complaint compliance process operates within a building, and we have another company where an autonomous mechanism was created, with a system prepared to support anonymity related to this issue and professionalism in case investigation.

REsource: How do you ensure gender equity?

CW: Diversity has to be complete. In general, I like to think about this issue from two perspectives: One is the strength of leadership in believing in this, setting goals for this, being very vocal and transparent, and not being ashamed to take up this banner. The problem is when this approach depends on a specific leadership, which does it by force. The day the cry is less strong, or that leadership leaves, the processes and biases return. Companies naturally migrate to the easiest path. And the most straightforward path is not the most diverse. So, I like to work on two sides: The belief side and the processes side. This means looking at the recruitment process and ensuring parity of candidates who are finalists for a position so that you do not reach a final phase only with white heterosexual men to choose from. That is, how do we insert an equal opportunity for everyone to compete for that position in that final phase? Another very important moment is in the promotion and internal evaluation process. Are those people being chosen really the best, with the best performance ratings, the highest level of delivery, and the best cultural fit? It cannot be a choice based on what a leader indicates. I believe a lot in goals for this issue. It depends a lot on the company and its maturity. It is useless to set the goal without changing the process. When did we imagine that we would have more than 62% women? I see it as a result of my female leadership and my view of the company's talents, identifying a series of high-performance women who knew the company's history and had everything to take on higher positions but were left behind due to an unconscious bias.

REsource: What advice would you give to women starting their careers and aspiring to leadership positions?

CW: I think this advice is valid for both men and women. The first thing is to have clarity about your purpose versus that of the company. When that purpose is clear, choices are much easier. Be true to your purpose. We women receive many more judgments in general. There is so much bias associated with our choices as women, mothers, daughters, and bosses. And here comes the main advice, which is to turn off the noise of the judgments of previous generations. Understand what your purpose is, and do not be ashamed of it. Do not be ashamed to say that you want a more flexible job to work from home as much as possible. Another important piece of advice is to make a pact with family members, the community, your boss, or, in other words, your allies, important people, so this purpose can happen. The truth is that in the life of a working woman, especially if there is a choice of motherhood, the only certainty you can have is that you cannot do anything alone. You need to have an ecosystem that supports you.

In the coming weeks, REsource will publish unique content for Women's Month. If you want to learn more about this and other commercial real estate market topics, explore SiiLA or contact us at contacto@siila.com.mx.