"Barcelona has a great entrepreneurial community, it has nothing to envy Silicon Valley"

In 2004, Rosaura Alastruey traveled to Silicon Valley on a business mission organized by the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and La Salle. As the cradle of entrepreneurship that Silicon was said to be, she didn't want to miss it. And she learned that what she had already started doing in that corner of California had a name: networking.

Now she dedicates herself fully to it. She organized the first networking event at 30,000 feet, on a Vueling flight from Milan to Barcelona. During the trip, a hundred participants ---half Italian, half Spanish--- had to prepare a project starting from some coordinates. Last spring, she took about twenty executive women on the first business and networking cruise, departing from and arriving in Barcelona, with stops in Marseille and Savona. It was a success of work on the high seas, which already has a date for a second edition, next March. She is also preparing for this coming autumn, the first networking train for women entrepreneurs, from Barcelona to Marseille, to participate in women's entrepreneurship conferences in the city.

--- Networking, the work network based on contacts, what weight does it have in the success of a company?

--- A very high percentage. At the client level, let's not even talk about it, because it is known that more than 80% of business is done through contacts. Companies are made by people. Ideas, services, and products can be very good, a good campaign can put you in a prominent place in the market, but ultimately, the people who make the gears work are the people, both those who work in the company, from the first to the last, the suppliers, and also the clients. A student once told me, "I love personally delivering the Christmas basket to the people on my team, seeing their expression fills me a lot." I think this says it all. People are the ones who hold in their hands small details that achieve great sensations.

--- Why did you choose to study Advertising and Public Relations?

--- As a child, I was mesmerized watching TV commercials. I even had a newspaper library recording commercials on VHS tapes. And in college, taking public relations subjects, I became very interested in social relations and event organization.

--- In Silicon Valley, what do you remember expecting to find?

--- I set out to absorb all I could. At the time, I was responsible for the internet department at a publishing house; I had what one might call a good job. And that was a very intense and enriching trip, and among other things, I discovered the LinkedIn platform, which had practically just been born. I created a profile when almost no one here knew about it. And I came back convinced that connecting people made a lot of sense, and had a name. We are social beings by nature; I just help to focus and channel professional affinities and synergies through relationships.

--- What changed after you returned?

--- I saw the path more clearly towards a different, independent dedication. I started planning, for the moment without leaving my job at the publishing house, but after leaving each day, I prepared my plans. I wanted to create initiatives with the tool of networking that would facilitate progress in companies. I worked on professional relationships for the revitalization of business and management communities.

"I returned from Silicon Valley convinced that connecting people made a lot of sense. We are social beings by nature; I just help to focus and channel professional affinities through relationships"

--- First, not yet leaving the job I had, which was my base. Maintaining it, I started giving a talk here, another there, and organizing some first group dynamics sessions. I increasingly had more things to do and at the end of 2007 I left my permanent job and fully committed to my project. We were already entering the economic crisis and many told me that people already practice relationships naturally. They only saw that I was leaving a stable job to try "I don't know what."

--- What were the first steps?

--- First of all, start building a client portfolio, explaining a topic they didn't know and couldn't compare what I offered with anything that already existed. I gave myself a year to carry out what I had in mind, which is what I say now when I teach entrepreneurship courses, a year to observe results and investment made in all senses. Surrounding yourself with people with concerns to be able to share experiences also helps a lot.

--- Did you start working on professional contacts before the proliferation of social networks?

--- Yes. Social networks are a fantastic reinforcement and complement. But we must not forget, and I think we do too often, that behind a LinkedIn invitation or an Instagram comment, there is a person. The most difficult part of networking is not making contacts; digital networks make this easy for us. The most difficult part is keeping the relationship alive, being interested in what the other person might need. We cannot see everyone in person every day, but when we do with someone discovered through networks, their gaze, their smile, being able to share a good meal, having a coffee while conversing, all this takes real meaning in person. I always say that a network of contacts is like a plant, and an indoor one, which are even more delicate. The seed must be planted for the pleasure of having a good garden, and not out of obligation. And then if you water it, if you cultivate it, if you pamper it, if you care for it, the return, in all senses, is spectacular.

--- How do you work with people?

--- Taking advantage of my travels to provide training to companies, to executives, I organize meetings around a table, lunches, meals, dinners or snacks with people we have met through LinkedIn. We were lucky to have networks like this during COVID. And, as traveling is a source of relationships to discover how people work and live in other areas, to bring closer, in short, new models, to advance trends that may reach us, and all this enriches, I prepare trips.

"Social networks are a fantastic reinforcement and complement. But we must not forget, and I think we do too often, that behind a LinkedIn invitation or an Instagram comment, there is a person"

--- It is a context that offers all possibilities for training, like any type of room, but with the added value of making the most of the time dedicated, because it allows going further and coexisting with the speakers and the group during the days. It is not an attend and leave, but rather we go and continue, with the added bonus of advancing at the same time on a sea voyage that takes us to different destinations where the experience continues. On our cruise, international business connections have been strengthened with a strategically thought-out and designed work plan, because at the two stops the ship made, in Marseille and Savona, we had prepared meetings, among many other surprises that our executive passengers experienced, about twenty strategically selected from different business sectors. The next edition already has a date: it will be from Thursday, March 21 to Sunday, March 24 of next year.

--- In 2014, the meeting was on a plane trip.

--- That was the first networking meeting at 30,000 feet. On the Barcelona-Milan-Barcelona flight, we brought together a hundred entrepreneurs, half from here, half Italian. They had to create a project around challenges and needs raised during the journey, and the results were spectacular. It was a challenge with an incentive.

--- And now on the cruise, what was the program on board?

--- It was four intense days, from Thursday to Sunday, first of total disconnection to fully live the experience. On board, we had five high-level training sessions on female leadership, learning how to better work with the tools we have and, above all, creating among all, thinking more about the future, a decalogue of action with improvement proposals and also possible changes and new directions. Likewise, taking advantage of the travel stops in the cities of Marseille and Savona, we established visits with local executives, thus strengthening international connections that can be beneficial for the participating executives.

--- Why the idea of inviting only women?

--- I had wanted to do it this way for a long time. As a woman, I have seen and experienced the situation of gender inequality daily, and I believe that we must create a base of powerful women in different sectors, in the private and public spheres, who are already executives, and who can do a lot for the future. A strategic network is more than fundamental for this necessary change and evolution to consolidate role models in leadership positions held by women, for other women and for future generations. Girls, and of course boys, must have models to reflect themselves in, which is why it is necessary, first, to make visible the women who are role models.

"As a woman, I have seen and experienced the situation of gender inequality daily, and I believe that we must create a base of powerful women in different sectors, in the private and public spheres, who are already executives, and who can do a lot for the future"

--- First, it is convenient for women to strengthen ourselves and create a leadership role for ourselves, but I do not rule out any mixed experience. The world belongs to women and men, and I firmly believe that the leadership of both genders is necessary to address a better future and, therefore, advance towards definitive equality of opportunities.

--- What does the female collective still need to achieve in the business, labor, and financial world?

--- They must become more aware of the importance, in the current professional and business model, of having a powerful personal brand, of having presence and visibility in all necessary areas, whether in relevant events, interviews, directories and rankings of each sector, when making strategic publications, etc. And this, of course, does not come alone, time must be dedicated to it, and this is where networking and the creation and establishment of networks must always be understood as an investment and very useful possible shortcuts.

--- From today's Barcelona, how do you see that Silicon Valley that fascinated you?

--- Today, I think Barcelona has nothing to envy Silicon Valley. Here we have a great entrepreneurial community, and many support entities. A large number of events and networking meetings are held to share ideas, inspire and collaborate. Barcelona welcomes all nationalities and its climate is an important attraction.