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Like others who belong to renowned families, Luisa Orlando is preceded by her last name.

She is a member of the most famous

tomato clan

in Spain, with whose sauce the dishes of entire generations of diners have been seasoned.

His grandfather,

Salvatore Orlando

, was an Italian immigrant who landed in our country with his brothers and developed an anchovy salting industry in the north.

His father and some of his uncles turned the business around looking for a less seasonal product and found the answer in fried tomatoes.

Years later, the Heinz company took over the brand, which does not prevent many members of his family from having a tomato plant tattooed on their body.

She doesn't (yet), he confesses.

Although she is closely linked to her origins,

Luisa Orlando

(San Sebastián, 55 years old) has developed a resounding personal and professional career outside the family business.

Now he is in charge of Leclab, in the mythical Casa Gallardo building, in Madrid, a select space of elegant decadence dedicated to culture, entertainment and gastronomy through different proposals, such as conferences and a sophisticated

burlesque

show at the hands of by the artist Lady Vita.

Throughout her career, this businesswoman from San Sebastian, trained in Marketing, Commercial Management and International Marketing, has always opted for

female talent.

At PwC she did so through the position of Director of Human Capital;

She became the only female manager at the SM publishing house, where she managed to increase the workforce to 30% of women in senior positions (which earned her the ABC-Hudson Madrid Excelente award for the best HR director);

she has run the Club Allard restaurant for nearly a decade...

How have you promoted female talent in the companies where you have worked?

Is it a question of quotas? I have never done it as a personal mission or objective.

It only enhanced that talent that was there.

Perhaps because I am a woman and hold a leadership position in companies, I have done so naturally, not forced.

In a company it is very difficult to promote by quotas, you have to promote talent.

For example, when I landed in SM, I entered the Management Committee as the only woman, it was 2004. It was a very vertical company and the third level was full of women.

I flattened the company to respond to certain needs of the organization and that third level went to the first.

The paradigm was changed.

Did it cost you effort to do it? In each place I have tried to leave a mark, generate changes.

This is what you are looking for when you are a senior manager and it requires an effort.

I did not find resistance, but they are changes that you have to 'sell'.

You have three older children (25, 23 and 19 years old), were you able to conciliate? More than conciliation, I proposed flexibility.

Depending on which managerial positions you cannot have rigid schedules.

I had to start telecommuting.

That was more than ten years ago.

Now it is very easy, with a WhatsApp group it can be done, but before it was more complicated.

In SM I had an international position and three very young children.

Trips to Latin America were made 10 days a month and my male colleagues had it incorporated.

They, who also had families, would suffer, but they didn't say so.

I traveled with specific objectives, and if I could do it in a week, the better.

For other more routine things,

We set up telematic meetings.

Did he penalize her in any way? No.

After generating these changes, in fact, they gave me the International General Management of the company.

The results were positive and it was highly valued, they gave us prizes... How then do you conceive conciliation? To begin with, it is a question of the company and the worker.

It is not a pulse, but a joint action.

For me, flexibility was better, because sometimes I worked long hours, thanks to having support behind me, and then I took more vacations, for example.

From the other side, as a manager, I have always told professionals that perfection in senior management does not exist.

You have to balance and not dramatize: neither when you are not in the company will it sink, nor if you are not at home your children will be traumatized.

People who do not dramatize go further than those who go with a flag.

And at certain times it's simply saying 'I'm not going this afternoon', and nothing happens.

How have your children handled the intensity of your work? Today all three live outside of Spain.

I have asked them if they have felt absent and they have all told me no.

When I traveled to Latin America they do recognize that they missed me, but they stayed with my ex-husband and I never felt that they were left alone.

We organize ourselves well.

but they stayed with my ex-husband and I never felt that they were left alone.

We organize ourselves well.

but they stayed with my ex-husband and I never felt that they were left alone.

We organize ourselves well.

Xavier Barbancho

Do you feel from Madrid or San Sebastián? Although I am more from Madrid and I lived in San Sebastián until I was 14, I feel 100% from San Sebastián.

My family is very large, I have thirty-odd cousins, friends... I have many excuses to return.

In Madrid there is everything, but there in a single day, you can do many things: buy, have an aperitif, eat at home, play sports or go to the beach, take a nap, go after pinchos...At his house you eat Orlando tomato, I guess. Of course.

And my kids have eaten it a lot.

Also, most of my nephews have a tomato plant tattoo.

Not me, yet.

When I was little I hated the 'Cuate, here's a tomato!' campaign, because I saw handsome boys, athletes in other advertisements... And we had the cartoon Mexican, so childish... I told my father to change it!

This campaign had a lot of impact. You are 55 years old, how are you coping with the passage of time? I take great care of myself with food and sports.

Luckily I enjoy it a lot and I like everything: playing paddle tennis, diving, skiing, dancing... If I don't do anything, in fact, I feel bad.

I feel young and I have good genetics, so I look good with my years and with my physique.

Do you follow the aesthetic standards that dictate what a mature woman can or cannot wear? Not at all.

I hate any imposition and I am a rebel because I believe that rebellion is part of people's happiness.

Anyone who can and wants can wear any garment, tattoos, colored hair, show the navel... What matters is that you feel good.

Otherwise, it's something very old, very Victorian.

What if a 60-year-old lady wants to provoke?

Why isn't she going to do it herself?

Whoever thinks not, he has the problem, not her.

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