International Women's Day - Interviews

TRIGO and Women

Since its creation, TRIGO has been committed to ethical principles: integrity, respect, fairness and the fight against harassment. These principles are the strength and pride of TRIGO.  In honour of International Women’s Day and in an effort to increase employees  awareness of this day, we will be partaking in activities that will last throughout the month of March and we hope that you will join us

For the International Women’s Day, we want to talk about women at TRIGO. Their roles as well as their experiences in what is typically a male dominated industry. Eight TRIGO female employees volunteered to answer our questions and highlight their role and position within TRIGO. Check out the first interview below. A new interview will be published per week. 

Derya Ateş, Deputy Site Manager

Can you please introduce yourself? 

Hello, I am Derya Ateş. I am 42 years old. I have an Associate Degree from Trakya University. I am married and I have two sons. I have been working for TRIGO since 2009. I currently work as the Deputy Site Manager in TRIGO Turkey.

Can you please tell us a bit of your professional story, mentioning one challenge that you have overcome? 

I started working as an Operator in 2009. I have been promoted as a Team Leader in 2011. Then, I have been promoted as a Deputy Site Manager thanks to my performance. While I was working as a Team Leader, it was difficult for me to work with male employees. In the beginning, making them listen and ensuring that they would work in line with the rules were a challenge. As a result of my regular efforts, I earned their respect thanks to my determination and discipline. 

Have you encountered specific challenges in your professional path due to working in a male dominated industry?

No, I have not encountered specific challenges, except the one mentionned above, which was an isolated case. I believe that men in our industry are acting in a more respectful and conciliator way considering that I am a woman. I can say that I have mostly experienced advantages of this situation. 

Can you please mention one (or more) woman you admire and briefly explain us why? 

I can say that Dr. Türkan Saylan is one of the women that I admire the most. She is a very strong woman who is dedicated to her job, she is idealistic and she follows her dreams. She is fearlessly and brave. Back in 1976, she has proven that leprosy could be cured and controlled, although no one would believe her in Turkey back then. 

If you had to choose a song that represents you, which song would that be? Can you please explain us why?

If I had to choose a song that represents me, I would choose the song “Of Course” from Candan Erçetin. Sometimes I feel tired and exhausted, but then I get myself up. I like working and being active. 
 

Margarita Diaz, Resident Engineer

Can you please introduce yourself? 

My name is Margarita Diaz. I’m 39 years old. I have Spanish parents, but I was born and raised in Germany. I came to Spain at the age of 19 thanks to a job offer. 
I have two children, two boys at the age of 9 and 15. 
I am a very family oriented and cheerful person. 

Can you please tell us a bit of your professional story, mentioning one challenge that you have overcome? 

My first job was in a German storehouse based in Spain. At first, the offer was a Summer job as Secretary Translator, that finally became full-time job. I had a very diverse function, which represented a good opportunity for me to learn about the most different areas of a company. 
I received then a job offer from an airport here in Spain to take care of their invoices. It was quite a complicated job at first, as it was the very first time I was working with invoices. It was a great opportunity for me to learn to deal with high amounts of money. 
My third professional challenge was as a Quality Supervisor. I stayed there for three years, when I received an offer from TRIGO, where I have been working for four years already. 
Today, I work as Resident Engineer. I deal with many people in the customer’ sites. I like this job, it is an opportunity to learn a lot about different countries and cultures. It is part of my role to manage customer’s parts – if they have problems with their pieces, I contact them to find the best solution to their issue as quickly as possible. 

Have you encountered specific challenges in your professional path due to working in a male dominated industry?
In the airport, I was the only woman. At first, it was a bit difficult – people there were not too open to work with a young woman. Specially in the invoicing team, so important for the company, but an area that used to be dominated by older man. 

It was a bit difficult, but I managed to overcome the situation thanks to my professional capabilities. 

Today, at TRIGO, I’m the only woman in my team. I have four colleagues, all men. We are always helping each other. I have been very lucky with my TRIGO colleagues. They don’t undervalue me, and I don’t think I have had more difficulties than them in our work. They have embraced me into the team, and today we work well together. 

Can you please mention one (or more) woman you admire and briefly explain us why? 

I admire a lot of people – men and women. But those who I admire the most are the women who fought for justice, like Maria Montessori or Clara Campoamor. This last was a Spanish woman who fought for equality between men and women. It happened in a time where we, women, had even more disadvantages than today. 

If you had to choose a song that represents you, which song would that be? Can you please explain us why? 

I don’t really have a song that defines me. But one song that I really like is “Where’s the love”, from Black Eyes Peas. It is about respecting the others. I like it a lot mainly thanks to my kids – they listen to it every day, all the time. 
I understand the message of the song being that what we see in the media are mainly bad things. However, there are good things happening out there - and we need to speak about them.