This picture means and explains who I am, what I love doing the most, what I have been working on for years, my passion, my resilience, my little success, my work, my profession, where I am, and where I want to stay: in the field, talking to people and looking for stories in an international, diverse and complex world, giving voice and focusing on the population, the beneficiaries.

 

I am a Spanish journalist raised in Montpellier, London and Madrid. I had the opportunity to work, mainly as an intern, in some of the most important media in Spain, radio, TV and press. However, I found myself in 2017 jobless with little chance to come back to the media outlets. Thus, I started working at Zara to stay financially independent. But on an emotional and professional level, I hit rock bottom. I went from being a journalist to a shop assistant folding and selling t-shirts and being well over 30 years old, that is, the age at which you are supposed to have a job related to your studies. But I never gave up despite the rejections in the media sector, and later in the international arena as I was too old to apply to internships/JPOs at the EU/NATO/ONU, etc.

 

Since I had lost everything professionally, I decided to start over and bet on what I had been dreaming of for a decade and had never dared to do: communications linked to international relations. I studied a master's degree at the Diplomatic School of Spain about International Relations and kept applying for jobs. Finally, in June 2021, I was selected within the UNV programme as a communications specialist in Mali.

 

It has been 4 hard years without any hope of developing myself professionally and being rejected everywhere. But finally, thanks to perseverance, discipline, and stubbornness, I have achieved it. I am in Bamako doing what I am most passionate about in the world: communicating for the achievement of peace and sustainable development of the peoples under the principles and values of the United Nations.

 

I feel privileged and I have finally found my place: being in the field, talking to people and looking for stories in an international, diverse and complex world, giving voice and focusing on the population, the beneficiaries.

My mission at the Civil Society Unit of the Secretariat is to strengthen partnership between the UN and civil society (NGOs, academia and private sector).

In November 2021, I was leading preparation for PGA's flagship Townhall for civil society. Under unpredictable COVID-19 circumstances, it was unprecedented challenge to plan a large hybrid/in-person event inviting hundreds of CSOs in the General Assembly hall for the first time since February 2020.

As a result of rigorous preparation together with wonderful colleagues, the historic event was extremely successful with active participation and interaction among PGA, hundreds of NGO and corporate representatives.