 Hi, I'm Lidia Peraza, a principal in hydric and struggles Mexico office with more than 20 years of experience in the consumer markets, life sciences and healthcare sectors. I am excited to speak with Margaret Enriquez, the CEO of Bacara, a French luxury brand internationally recognized as the leader for high end exclusive crystal products. Maggie has over 30 years of experience, including over 13 years heading up LVMash Champagne House crew. Maggie has also worked for several multinational including Seagram, Nabisco, Moet, Hennessey, States and Wine. Notably, she was awarded Chevalier de la Legendreurneau on France 2021. She also has served on Bacara Board of Directors. Maggie, thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you very much for inviting me. It's my pleasure. Thank you, Maggie. What leadership skills and experiences have you found to be essential as you have navigated being CEO in the luxury goods industry? When you talk about luxury, one characteristic that is very different from the mass market is that a leader in the luxury world has to really go deep in the roots of the house and go very, very far and fly very, very high. Why? Because a luxury house, to be luxury, you have to be first unique and different. And it was first unique and different when it was founded, so you have to go to look for the reason of being and then project the house into the future, getting again and again this number one for this kind of position that brings the light that enlightens the path for others. So the first characteristic you have to have is you must have is to understand that you have to go into the roots of the house to nourish your strategy to then define your vision to go much, much further and to be able to fly very high. That is an essential characteristic of a leader in the luxury world. On the other side, because you are really bringing from the past to build the future, you have to communicate very well in order to bring everyone with you in the project. So the communication is absolutely essential. And then of course, normally a strong house is a house that is based on the reason of being that doesn't change and values. And so normally, to make sure that values are well taken care of and they are lived in every action, you have to be a very strong, determined and very valued person. Of course, any advice you would give your younger self looking back on your career journey money. Yes, of course, one of the characteristics that we talk and it's related to luxury is time. Because it's about the emotion you create between the brand and the consumer. This takes time because there is no, nothing or no, no link that is created between a brand and a person that doesn't need time to be built. My recommendation to younger generations is that they have grown up learning that everything is instantaneous because in the telephone, everything happens immediately. But the truth is that my recommendation is to understand that time is essential to build great things in life. And time is essential to understand that you have to build with work and patient. Our most recent route to the top annual global report, which tracks and analyzes the profile of CEOs at the largest company in 25 markets, found low but steady progress on gender balance in 2022. 13% of new CEO appointments were women compared to 11% in 2021 and 9% in 2020. And of course, the share of women on executive leadership teams also remain slow. What needs to be done to advance the ENI efforts within organizations and how do you personally advance the ENI efforts as CEO? Well, I think it's diversity and inclusion is absolutely critical if you want to win in the long term. An organization needs to have diversity because diversity represents the consumer and the world we have in front of us. So there is no way a company will succeed if it is not serious in diversity and inclusion. Because the responsibility, the social responsibility of a company is absolutely critical and it's something that is going to be seen by the young generation, the talent who is coming in the company. So I don't see how you can get off this without harming the future development of the company. So this is the first side. The second is what can we do to really continue to improve these strengths. And I want to say, you know, and I know sometimes I am criticized because of this, but I don't care, is that the time women have been in the world of business is quite short. And so this was a universe that was completely managed by men. It was their universe for years and years. And so women have been there for what 80 years from, you know, it's very little considering the time that the people live in the way we know and history has given us the information. And I think we have to be very proud of what we have done so far. And what is critical is those people who are convinced that this is something to be done because there is no way to succeed without it. We have to make sure that we implement it. We have to make sure that in any decision in the company, if there is a talent that is a woman or a man, and they are both the same, give some privilege or some priority to the woman, because this is going to help not just going to. You don't give a priority if she's not better than him. But if they are even give a priority to diversity and inclusion. So bringing this consciousness gradually, I think there's no company that can succeed if they don't go into this trend because, as I said before, young generations, they really ask companies to be committed to the planet and to be committed to diversity and inclusion. But to be committed to people. So I think we have to, those of us who believe in this, we have to apply it. We have to try to push hard. And those who are not so much convinced will be convinced if they want to protect their companies for the longer. As a female executive and board member, how have you navigated your career? What advice would you share with women who aspire to be in leadership positions too? Well, I have to say that I have always managed my career, always thinking, well, I never thought that it was a problem to be a woman. Probably this was the first thing. And it happened to me when I arrived in Mexico, I was called by a university, invited me to give a conference. I said at the beginning what I, what is what I'm going to say. But then I said, no, no, yes, you're right. I have the responsibility of sharing my experience. Give me six months and I will prepare something which I did, and I did this conference for many, many years. And I always very proud to share my own experience and how I have built my career. There's no formulas, but there's something that is critical and it is about how you believe in you, how you believe in your projects, how you take time to work, to be curious, to learn, to understand that you work in a world of men. So you don't, you cannot come with your way of being and thinking that everybody is going to take care of you. No, you have to understand that men are different. They are simpler. They just focus. Let's try to learn. Let's question ourselves until we can really get to be ourselves. Very strong value driven, I mean, never negotiate values, but understanding that we have to adapt to a universe that is not the universe that is being managed by women. And one recommendation that I think is extremely important because it is very connected to our essence as women is when we work, we are there to be respected, not to be loved. So every decision we make has to be thinking that the decision corresponds to what we have to do to be respected, not to be loved. This can change many, many behaviors and it can be very useful. What were some of the most impactful ways you were mentored and sponsored through your career, Maggie? Yeah, I was very much sponsored, I have to say. And the first was when I was quite young and the president of SIGRAM International, SIGRAM was a very, very big player in the world of wine and spirit. Today is almost equivalent to Pernorica and my boss, I was very young, I was 32 years old, and my boss thought that I was capable to manage a position of a president. You really find three companies together. And the trust of this man, the confidence and the opportunity he gave me was absolutely critical for the career that I have been. And then, years after, Christophe Navarre was the president of Muay Thai International, when he invited me to join Argentina as a president of all the properties of Muay Thai in Argentina was already something fantastic, but well, he didn't know me. But the most interesting and really amazing sporsery he did was what he invited me to run the house of proof, the house of champagne. So it was the first time in Latin America ever man or women run a house of champagne. And this was thanks to Christophe who believed in me and gave me the opportunity and I'm very grateful to him. We are increasingly focused on how critical it is for organizations to have a culture of allyship, one in which employees help to advocate for one another. From your perspective, Maggie, what are some ways that leaders can embrace and drive this culture. Yeah, allyship is networking and networking is essential for creativity. So I believe that today, because of the connectivity, it is very different to probably 30 years ago, that you have to really impulse and provoke this kind of connection. Today, what is critical is to let the connections happen to understand that organizations are not anymore pyramidal and hierarchical, they are molecular. And so provoke this kind of connection and networking will not only help to to strengthen the kind of allies between people and between organization or divisions of the organization, but it will absolutely help to develop creativity, which is something fundamental for the growth and the development of the company. Maggie, thank you for making the time to speak with us today. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much. It's been my pleasure. Thank you.