Women's Day Special Feature: Noelia Duarte, HR Senior - Tecnotree Corporation

Noelia Duarte

HR Senior - Tecnotree Corporation


Tell us one of your superwoman moments.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a profound shock to our societies, especially in the day-to-day life of women. We had to quickly adapt to our life and respond to new demands at work and home.

One of my superwoman moments was last year when I started working from home while taking care of my son and taking care of home. It was a challenge to do so many things at the same time!, keeping the productivity and efficiency at work. My son started 1st grade, and I had to attend virtual classes with him, while having meetings at work, while cooking. I had to be a super mom, a teacher, a therapist, and of course an HR reference for all my collaborators in Latam.

What/who motivates you in life?
My family and the people I work with motivate me to become better every day. I have the honor of working with excellent professionals from different fields across the globe.

Working in HR can be immensely rewarding. Every day, I get an opportunity to create meaningful and lasting relationships, learn new things, live my passions and do the best to support the company’s biggest asset: its people. I love the job of making the workplace a better experience and making people’s working lives better, even in some small ways.

What's your me-time?
I like studying and reading. In my free time, I take English classes and I study Astrology as a hobby. I take GYM classes and I like painting as well. Along with this, I love traveling and exploring different cultures and places.

How do you balance work and home while working from home?
Being an HR woman implies that I have to lead by example. At Tecnotree, we promote work–life balance and we encourage people not to work in non - working hours.

However, working from home and in a global company involves working flexible hours, so managing work-life balance becomes crucial.

After a few months working over the table in my dining room, I decided to create a comfortable and different space for work, like a little office at home. I begin with a morning routine and I make a remote work schedule that has a start and end time. I also make sure to take a lunch break and a coffee break. During the quarantine at Tecnotree, we organized virtual Gym & dance lessons, and a space called “Coffee with HR”, inviting people from different countries to have breakfast or a coffee online, sharing personal experiences, and talking about any topic. These little interactions go a long way to maintain a work-life balance when working from home.

A motivational message for other women out there.
I would say to all women: Always take on new challenges, even if you are not sure you are completely ready. If you wait around for the exact right opportunity, you might find yourself waiting around while your skills and experience go to waste. The superhuman stereotype sets up a lot of women for failure in the workplace. When they can’t or choose to not “have it all” they assume that they aren’t successful. Failures and disappointments are going to happen occasionally, no matter who you are and what industry you’re working in. Sometimes these will be your fault, and sometimes they won’t. The one thing that all failure scenarios have in common is that you can move on from them. No matter how embarrassing it may feel, or how dire, all you can do is accept that things happened the way they did, understand why things happened what they did, and learn what you can do next time to help avoid the same kind of catastrophe.

And remember, whatever choices you make (job, relationships, skill-building) should be ones that fit with who you are, not necessarily who you think you should be.

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