Chio Diez is our branding and UI/UX mentor at La Lonja de la Innovación. Today we have interviewed her to get to know her better and ask her about her opinion about entrepreneurship in Huelva.
If you want to enjoy her mentoring and of the other advantages of La Lonja de la Innovación, now is your chance because we have opened a new call of our acceleration program.
Chio steps
Our mentor studied in Costa Rica, where she worked in different advertising agencies. After that stage, she moved to Madrid, a place where she started to work in the design of interfaces for mobile applications and games. Then, she came back to her homeland, Huelva, where she began her career as a freelancer. Now, and for the last few years, she has been CMO for Nexterra and its subsidiaries in more than 8 countries.
All the experiences she has lived through have created a backpack of valuable learning for her. With this long trajectory, there are no doubts that there are many moments of which she has felt proud, but when we asked about the most important milestone for her, she tells us that it has been “to have completely changed the professional sector in which she had worked” her entire life. Chio went from working in a completely technological sector to one that was not only analog, but also agricultural. A change that she admits scared her a lot but that “was worth it” and made her stronger.
Having worked from “the agency’s seat and from the client’s seat”, Chio has a wide perspective on what is truly important for a company. That’s why, as a mentor, she strives to “define well the keys that must be pressed so that the startups can obtain the greatest benefits from the program”.
Tips for entrepreneurs
For Chio, entrepreneurship from the province is possible, and she asserts that "projects like La Lonja will bear fruit and are the kind of initiatives that Huelva needs." She adds that it would be interesting to "incentivize younger groups even from high school with competitions and awards" to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.
In her experience as a mentor, entrepreneurship has been very close to her for several years, and she has discovered what, for her, are the most important values in an entrepreneur, highlighting courage. "Without courage, you cannot walk in the dark. If you're not walking in the dark, I don't know what you're doing, but entrepreneurship isn't it," she asserts.
She also wanted to take the opportunity to give advice to entrepreneurs, and for that, she recalls a phrase she once heard Begoña Sauci say in a conference: "If you don't stop, you get there." An assertion that sounded simple and basic to her at that moment but made her think. For Chio, "Begoña was absolutely right; an entrepreneur always finds a way to make things possible if they don't give up."
If you want to meet the rest of the mentors on our team, don't miss the interviews on our blog. Also, don't forget that now you too can enjoy La Lonja de la Innovación, as we have opened a new call for our acceleration program that will remain open throughout the year. Join us and take your startup to the top!