2023-06-02 00:45:09
For the new CEO of Laboratory, Gabriela Rocha, changes have been her constant since childhood. That’s where she comes from -she says- her great optimism regarding the transition the organization is going through and before the technological challenges and economic, because -despite the challenging panorama- will open operations in five new Latin American countries this 2023.
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Today you live in Mexico, was constant travel part of your life plan?
I was born in Brazil but because of my parents’ work we traveled a lot. At the age of six, I had already been to five schools where I learned regarding new contexts and cultures that gave me a very valuable perspective. I finished university in the United States. Living on campus during the Iraq war and volunteering informed me a lot regarding how to channel that genuine interest in wanting to work on projects that would have a positive impact. I wanted to explore the world from the perspective of public policy.
And you were in Mexico when Laboratoria emerged
I was working for a year as a public policy consultant for the Mexican government when Mariana Costa (former CEO of Laboratoria for 9 years) began piloting the project in Peruit seemed like an incredible promise of value and I launched the crazy idea of what would happen if I did the same thing here.
Many entrepreneurs are afraid of disassociating themselves from their fixed income until they have something safe. How was it in your case?
It was a huge bet, we didn’t know if it was going to work because few talked regarding the bootcamp (2014) and women in technology. We did not know if we were going to have women interested in the courses or if the companies would support us with financing. There was so much uncertainty, but the project had generated a unique emotion in me, it was a powerful value proposition, was it serious that in six months we were going to give women, whom nobody wanted to hire or see talent, the skills to grow and have a competitive salary? I left a job with a clear career path because I was faced with this opportunity, I jumped in and said to myself ‘I’ll see how I do’.
Y In those beginnings, did you already know what JavaScript was or creating a programming code?
(Laughter) No, I didn’t know anything. I studied psychology (later a master’s degree in Public Administration). But we learned from our partner and also from our first volunteer teachers. Today I still don’t know how to program, but happily for our students I’m not the one who teaches the courses, we have a super top team.
Do you consider yourself a technological woman?
I don’t know if I feel identified as such. I am a woman who encourages women to be there. Our students and graduates are the ones who, unlike me, are light years away. This is how I feel.
In these nine years as CEO, did you think you would become the CEO?
No. I never had that ambition or that plan. Mariana was always leading and I with her, but in a different role. Mariana has been a great leader, but today the three partners are convinced in this transition step. Some years ago, but more strongly in recent months, we began to ask ourselves: what do we have to do so that the organization can succeed and move on without us?That’s why we thought it was important to take this step. Now Mariana and Rudolfo are in this new initiative of Laboratories+like a startup like nine years ago, and I have to lead the transition to scale and strengthen Laboratories so that one day she will fly alone.
And how are you spending your free time now?
I like, perhaps because I traveled so much when I was single, dedicating time to my relationships with my friends, today also with my daughter who gives me a lot of perspective in my life, I have managed to have a better balance in terms of time and dedication. (Rocha mentioned that at one point she was on the verge of burnout due to constant travel for work.)
Is being a leader really being an optimist?
Definitely. If you’re going to lead an organization through difficult times, if you don’t see the light or genuinely believe it, it’s hard to motivate people to keep going. In Laboratoria it is not the first time that we have gone through difficult times. Now there are new trends in the markets, we will have to reinvent ourselves and it is not easy. You must have a mix of vision and judgment that do not always go hand in hand. However, knowing that we went through a black hole and that we not only overcome it, but that we came out stronger, gives me the assurance that all this effort is worth it, I have already felt it on my skin.
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The next challenges
For the short term, Rocha already has two clear objectives for the organization. Laboratoria will not only announce “very soon” its entry into five new countries in the region in the second half of 2023 (today it operates in Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru or Mexico), it will also add two new courses, in addition to web development or user experience design that it already offers to its students.
“Our dream is that any woman who is part of Laboratoria’s target audience can apply regardless of where they are.” This year, they will have at least 700 graduates.
Given the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, driven by ChatGPT, the organization has also begun to include it in its curriculum. Although Rocha notes that they will be judicious enough until they understand the possible transformations in the labor market and other aspects. This might lead edTech to rethink the duration of the bootcamps to less than six months, although the decision has not yet been made.
At the level of their mission, meanwhile, they will remain active “in their responsibility” so that the entry of more women into the world of technology does not go backwards following the massive layoffs in the United States. “We feel the enormous responsibility of working hand in hand with companies to continue betting on junior talent despite the economic challenges”, she concluded.
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