JUNE INTERVIEW - BOARD MEMBER
I have enjoyed getting to know Rosa while working together with her on the CCDK Advisory Board. She spoke so passionately about the important role our community plays in our careers during a meeting in March, especially her own husband and family. I knew Rosa would be the perfect person to speak more about CCDK’s June theme of “Community and Support” and how it relates to her career and life in Denmark. I was also delighted to learn more about her interesting hobbies, which range from woodworking, to kickboxing, to baking. I hope you enjoy learning about Rosa as much as I did. She is so interesting! –Nichole
Background
Can you tell us about where you are from, your childhood, and how it influenced your career path?
I’m Rosa, I’m from the lovely sunny city of Lisbon in Portugal. I spent most of my childhood in a household with mostly women. I have a brother, sister, and a mother – it was a co-family at the time, as I unfortunately lost my father at a young age. Maybe all of this factoring, being together in the house with women, influenced my path throughout my life. I would say the strongest memories I have from my childhood are of how my mother raised the three of us equally. It is common in some cultures that girls have different chores from boys, but that wasn’t the case, so equality was always there from a young age.
My mother was also keen on delivering this message to her children: even though we can be surrounded by people, we must always assure our independence somehow. Never wait for others to support – be able to do it yourselves. For that reason, one of the things I'm often known for is taking ownership of things. For me, it comes naturally because that’s the positive way I was raised. I take responsibility for my own life, my own wishes.
Journey to Denmark and Career Building
When and how did you come to Denmark?
I started my education in Portugal, and when I was at the end of it, I realized that living abroad was something I wanted to experience. I ended up spending some time in the UK (where my mother now lives) and went to study there for some months. Afterwards, I went back to Portugal for some time. In the back of my mind I still held the idea of living abroad some day.
By chance, some years later, I met someone who had the same desire to live abroad, my boyfriend at the time. I did a SWOT analysis of myself, looking to see what my strengths and weaknesses could be to the outside world, and then looked at the trends and opportunities to identify a market for myself. I looked at three countries at that time: Australia, UK, and Denmark. I had never been to Denmark before the day I actually moved here! After ten years, I am still here – and my boyfriend at the time, who came to Denmark with me, is now my husband.
Please share your professional experience & career highlights prior to coming to Denmark.
I moved to Denmark with a background in product management – studied more in the fields of marketing management, business, multimedia design and communication. I went back to the classroom after being a professional for many years in Portugal, and it was part of my move-to-Denmark strategy. Going into the academic environment helped me integrate faster into Copenhagen.
The international degree itself didn’t bring me close to Danish culture itself, but it was helpful to rapidly expand our network (for both me and my husband). One day, I was at a career fair at my university and I saw a logo of a brand that I knew from my time working in Portugal. I went directly up to them, and started to talk…and I got a job from that first interaction. It was my first job related to my professional background in Denmark.
From there, I worked as a global IT category manager, and I’m working in IT procurement as a Senior category manager for a life science company at the moment.
How did I start my network? My university colleagues expanded my network rapidly, and many of them were international and from all around the world. We still visit each other, even after they have moved away from Denmark.
I do believe that community – the sense of being part of the same study group – brought us together and made it easier for me in the first two years in Denmark.
What are some of the challenges as a professional in Denmark, and how do you stay motivated to face them?
Challenges that one may find first involve cultural differences. It’s not necessarily about nationality – there may be someone studying here originally from the UK but they lived in China for ten years! It’s a global community here. I am part of a lot of negotiations and with various stakeholders around the globe as a part of my work. Copenhagen, as an international city, challenges us to acknowledge that “We know nothing” and “Humans are complex”. Whatever we brought in our luggage to Denmark (perhaps thinking we know it all?), we should be reminded to learn things from scratch, especially in dealing with people in a new city. I feel like I work with the world here in Denmark.
Career and Upskilling
Can you share about your current & future career aspirations in Denmark
That’s an interesting question – and quite common in job interviews. My answer is not conventional, but it’s what makes sense for me.
My aspiration for tomorrow or in five years is that I have the right balance for my life. As long as I feel the right balance between my work, my family, and myself as a unique person, then I will be happy. I want to keep a balance between the professional and the personal aspects of my life at all times.
For instance: I am spoiled because I have two Mother’s Days. One in Portugal (the first Sunday in May) and one in Denmark (the second Sunday in May). I told my husband and son that I am entitled to two Mother’s Days! Why not? For Danish mother’s day, I was traveling in Lisbon. I had the best Mother’s Day ever being surrounded by my family and a large portion of my very good friends who I have been close to for decades. We were all together in the same place celebrating life. These friends also have kids now, forming one big extended family. I go there to recharge and will always continue to do so wherever I will live.
Some of my friendships are from 20 years ago. I have a close friend who I have talked to almost every day for the last 30 years as our friendship started when we were still little kids. Some others are from the different universities or good friends that life gave me along the way.
It is also our responsibility to feed these friendships throughout the year, not just when we see each other here and there. We might expect our community to support us, but we must also invest in order to get back.
What advice/strategy do you have for seeking career growth and advancement in your choice of career?
Growth and advancements in the career go hand in hand with personal development. I am responsible for my own wellbeing and for what makes me feel happy and fulfilled. I practice kickboxing, which I love. I lose myself trying to break the codes of sourdough bread baking and growing various sourdough yeasts. I sing and have the most amazing vocal coach. I play a tiny bit of piano and guitar for fun and I have a small woodworking workshop where I explore processes and techniques as a self-taught woodworker. Someone asked me once: ‘When do you relax?’ My answer: ‘That is me relaxing!’ It is also healing, growing, advancing, and having fun. This can only have a positive impact on my job.
Other times, I travel for quality family time. For me, family is a priority. As a mother, I can’t avoid being a role model to my son. Sometimes we collect donations among friends and colleagues and deliver them to children in need and our connections with local communities expand in a magical and heartfelt way. This is something we all can do when traveling. Many feel inspired by my family and motivated to help others.
Social Life and Communication
Who is part of your community in Denmark?
My decision to first study, then look for work, paid off, in the sense that very quickly I had a group of friends that helped each other. From there, for the first two years, I was a bit unsure why I didn’t have many Danish friends. After that, I stopped trying to understand the Danes because maybe it is equally hard for them to understand us (internationals). It’s fair. I was expecting to arrive and be accepted but it can also be challenging to let others into your home country and friendship group. I came to good terms with that.
My network here is ex-colleagues from university, and friends from parent groups, from being part of a book club, and other fellowships. Some are Portuguese, some are not. There was this spontaneous group that came together at a Christmas gathering, and eight years later, we are still friends with these two couples, all with kids the same age.
It’s about being open and ready to connect. We do not need to join a random club and pretend to like it if we don’t. Instead, allow yourself to be open to the world, and the community will come to us if we just let it happen.
How has a platform like CareerClub Denmark helped you here?
I watched Nischa over the last three years, admiring how she expanded and grew Career Club. The reason why I wanted to join is because I believe it’s important to help when we don’t need anything (such as with work) – we can simply give back. I gain community from the people within Career Club DK, and my interest at this point is to give back and share my experiences. If I can create value, it’s only fair – we are not just here in this world to take – we are also here to give back. If someone can use part of what I share, I will be glad to have contributed.
I enjoy being part of Career Club DK. It’s so inspiring to see so many amazing, strong women. Often, women tend to fight with each other – in any country – instead of teaming up, like men do so often. For me, there is no reason for fighting. Working with a woman or a man professionally and respectfully is exactly the same. It’s a shame that women get competitive for no reason, and Career Club DK is the opposite of this. It’s a place where we help each other grow, and to acknowledge that we all have value. Many of us are mothers with children, and I wouldn’t be able to do it if I didn't have a team member, my husband, with me today.
Being without your family support system, if they are back in your home country, can be hard. Most people moving to Denmark don’t have a village. We can create that village - our own support community.
I have a story about how I started to bike in Denmark. The last time I rode a bike before moving to Denmark, I was a small child. My husband is into mountain biking and quite comfortable on a bike. The second day we were here, we had purchased bikes, and I got one instruction: follow me. Did he pretend to not hear me panic-screaming in the back trying to catch up? It’s still unknown. Some things we have to let just happen!
Thinking about biking brought me back to the initial childhood questions:
There was a moment in my childhood, I was maybe 3-4 years old, and I could only ride a bike with support wheels. My older sister helped me, she said “I got you, I’m holding the bike.” I was maybe 50 meters away, saying “Are you there?” and she said, “Yes” but was actually very far away. How many times do we think we need support to do something? If we let go, and are given the opportunity to try, we are able to do so much more than we imagine. This is a feeling I get in Career Club DK – it removes so many fears and opens doors for members. It helps us defeat the voices and fears that we are taught so often as women.
Final Thoughts
Any final thoughts, life mantras or strategies you would like to share with the CareerClub DK family?
It’s important to build our own community around us in Denmark. It will also give us good insights into jobs – naturally people are more open when you are closer to them, talking honestly about their own work and experiences. Sometimes we may be trying too hard to do it in a certain way, but you can relax a bit more with people in your network, and understand them more.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. In some cultures, it may be considered rude to do so. In Denmark, that is not the case – it’s seen as curiosity and showing interest in the work. In my first interview, I didn’t do that at all– I sat waiting to be asked, and focused on giving the right answers (That came from my background from Portugal). Over time, I realized, it’s fine to ask questions and show our curiosity for a topic. It’s fine to ask questions to understand others better. We are strangers sitting in a room for the first time, looking for someone to work with. It is an exercise in creating empathy and connection.
And my final pieces of advice:
Own it. There is only one person responsible for making me happy - me, says my mind. There is only one place where I’ll have to live forever, my body.
Your community. Seed it, water it, cherish it. Grow together with your tribe.
Rosa Pires
Career Club DK Advisory Board Member
Senior Category Manager in Life sciences
Connect with Rosa:
Article By
Nichole Allem
