Find your tribe! Being surrounded by people that continue to inspire me, and also believe in my vision — makes all the difference in the world when building a team for impact. I am so grateful to be surrounded by incredible female role models, have an amazing leadership team supporting my businesses, and being around like-minded friends and family that share my excitement for the future of work.
As a part of my series about strong female leaders, I had the pleasure of interviewing Silvina Moschini. Silvina is an award-winning technology entrepreneur, international speaker, and CEO & Founder of SheWorks! Widely known by technology media as @Miss_Internet, Silvina is a guest expert for several networks including CNN Español, CNBC, France24 and CCTV. Her focus is changing how the world works which has led her to create an ecosystem of innovative companies that leverage the power of technology to connect the dots between talent, opportunities, and transparency in the digital age.
Thank you so much for joining us Silvina! Please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path.
I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, holding senior corporate executive roles at Visa International and Compaq Computer Corporation. I was also part of the leadership team of the early internet start-up Patagon that excited in 2000 for $785 million. I used these experiences towards my professional evolution which allowed me to bring together my passion for technology and my commitment to creating opportunities for women. SheWorks! resulted from seeing the frustration of many women, the tremendous loss of talent for the industry, and the opportunity to deliver a solution using technology, transparency and the principles of on demand economy, to address the issue of gender unemployment and help women and companies work remotely, as we should in today’s digital age.
Can you share an interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
Establishing strong relationships and partnerships is key to running any successful business. In our case, SheWorks!, has had significant momentum and support from leading companies such as EY, Danone, Pepsico, Google, and HBO because we firmly believe that doing good is the key to doing well, and are joined by companies who believe in the same concept.
In line with these partnerships, we have set significant goals to address gender unemployment and equality. Our partnership with EY, aims to leverage our technology to create 100,000 job opportunities for women by 2020. SheWorks! was also featured on the W20, the women arm of the G20 as the case study of an initiative to bridge the unemployment gap at global scale as you can see in this video.
We have seen a global trend and are excited to make a difference to empower women, so we have aligned our strengths: technology for transparency to create opportunities for women via remote, and flexible work.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
My story is less of a mistake, but some funny insight to where my inspiration to build an empire came from! My motivation to launch a talent marketplace came from my partner and husband Alex, after we met on match.com. Finding love and finding the right person for a specific job opportunity are essentially the same — it’s all a numbers game.
What do you think makes your company stand out?
Our technology and the social and economic impact is what makes us stand out from the crowd. SheWorks! is the first online platform that leverages TransparentBusiness cloud technology, data science, AI + matching algorithms and remote workforce management tools to connect professional women with flexible remote jobs to eliminate the barriers between talent and opportunities. Most importantly our technology ensures we are creating a transparency — which today is more important than ever to drive trust, engagement, and accountability.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We have some very exciting initiatives on-the-go for 2019, and we continue to add to our extraordinary leadership team as SheWorks! and TransparentBusiness to reach global markets.
We have joined efforts with some amazing companies, nurturing existing partnerships and creating new ones with companies such as Facebook, Google, SAP, Cisco, ADP, Microsoft, and Inter-American Development Bank.
TransparentBusiness is also making huge strides in making transparency the “norm” in government contracts. Our Transparency Bill has been introduced in 32 states and unanimously passed full Assembly and two senate committees in New Jersey.
Making transparent verification of billable hours and work the norm will not only prevent waste, fraud, and abuse but also drive inclusion and accountability, creating more opportunities remote and flexible jobs.
What advice would you give to other female leaders to help their team to thrive?
Find your tribe! Being surrounded by people that continue to inspire me, and also believe in my vision — makes all the difference in the world when building a team for impact. I am so grateful to be surrounded by incredible female role models, have an amazing leadership team supporting my businesses, and being around like-minded friends and family that share my excitement for the future of work.
What advice would you give to other female leaders about the best way to manage a large team?
Our focus as a team is to redefine how work is done so location is a very relative for us. Key members of our team are operating out of Miami, San Francisco, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Venezuela, you name it! With the power of technology, it doesn’t matter where your team is based, or what time zone you’re in — collaboration and transparency are key. With the SheWorks! platform we’re able to share documents, messages, and tasks with talent all over the world ensuring everyone is always up to speed and working cohesively as a team.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Alex, my business partner, and person for life. I am beyond grateful for the motivation he instills in me, for pushing me as an entrepreneur to always aim higher, and his support creating businesses for high impact. My team, my investors and course, extraordinary people who are part of my Board like Ambassador James Costos and Laura Chinchilla, fmr President of Costa Rica who helped me open doors and share our story as well.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
Seeing real life impact for women will always be the most rewarding part of our story:
- Natalia Duarte, based in a small town in Argentina, made a decision to leave work to be close to her family to help take care of her daughter. Today she is working with top brands and putting her family first.
- As a millennial, Natalia Vargas values work-life-balance and was important to her when looking for a new exciting role. Since working on the SheWorks! platform she has engaged with different companies that allow her the flexibility to work with a schedule she has created herself.
What are your “5 Leadership Lessons I Learned from My Experience” and why.
- My Mom will always be my greatest hero and provided me with one of the best leadership lessons that will stay with me always. She taught me that true empowerment, always starts with financial independence which is also one of the main reasons I became an entrepreneur.
- Be impeccable with your word and walk your talk. We are what we DO, not what we say we will do — and reliability is key for business success.
- The road to success isn’t easy — it takes grit, determination, perseverance, and also support. Business is a contact sport and as such, one of the keys to building a successful business model is to establish long-term and mutually beneficial relationships.
- Find your passion and purpose because being successful should also mean being happy. I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to put my heart and soul into an initiative and have found my voice to change the status-quo. I want to leave this world knowing I had the ability to inspire little, and not so little women to be their own person, stand up for themselves, speak out, and never give up — that’s what makes me happy.
- Build a big company. Only big companies make BIG impact.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I’m passionate about having an impact and leaving this world a better place than I found it. My love for technology and communications plays an essential role in my drive to change the perception of the way work is done around the world. All of our efforts with SheWorks! And TransparentBusiness is making #TransparencyTheNewBlack. Meaning, we are leveraging the power of technology to connect the dots between talent and opportunities making remote workforce management simple, transparent, and most importantly inclusive — this movement is empowering millions of people globally.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
When I was a young girl, I always wanted to be a princess. My father told me, “you can be a princess, but you have to build your own castle” … this has always stuck with me and is something I want to impress upon women and girls around the world.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
I would be honored to have breakfast with Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO of Thrive Global. Her entrepreneurial spirit and kindness towards others is infectious, and I love her view of third metric of success. She is an incredible role model for so many women around the world.