Paula González Salas: It’s Okay To Ask for Help!

On any given day, she decided to become a hacker of the accounts of the lives of women who, for the purposes of parenting, learning, culture, or all these reasons together, understood that their destiny was to put on the heroine uniform, work, train, be mothers, and attend their home and their partners and to always be beautiful. That is, to be superwomen and, in addition, to be proud of being one even if the challenge implies satisfaction tinged with anguish, problems, stress, shocks, and stumbles.

In 2012, Paula González Salas decided to change her professional practice. Her own change decree led her to the Mas People company where she contributes to the culture of productivity in organizations: "We do it through the establishment of habits and efficient use of technology."

On any given day, Mas People began to develop the idea that women do not need to be "Super Women." It was more sensible for Paula to start sowing the concept of "Smart Woman" or a productive woman who enjoys life without minimizing her well-being.

In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic in the world gave space for her to devise and found Mujeres del Futuro, a company that aims to share strategies for female evolution: "We teach them to incorporate productivity and well-being habits into their daily lives, which allows them to live in balance, through the use of technology."

Paula González questions the old paradigms of companies because, for her, "the concept of the worker who makes a card is obsolete. Today it has been proven that we can work for objectives and organize our lives accordingly." In Mujeres del Futuro, the tools are available so that each woman knows how to assume different roles without feeling overwhelmed.

Superwomen are the ones who carry the permanent concern of what others think and are convinced that things have only one way to solve themselves: "That is why it is better to be a Smart Woman than a superwoman. We have to be flexible with ourselves," explains the Chilean Paula Gonzáles. It is about breaking schemes, breaking those images that women carry on their shoulders, and that leads them to want to be like their mothers and grandmothers who seemed to be able to do everything at the same time: "The main struggle is with the images that we carry within ourselves. We do not leave the old paradigms that adhere to a duty to be."

Owners of Their Own Destiny

The daily becoming that involves many commitments for women who work, and who could be mothers and wives as well, seems to exert force so that they do not raise their heads and do not have time to wonder what is happening to them. According to González, this routine is not sustainable over time: "Something will happen for these women to wake up, perhaps a separation, a dismissal, an illness. Their bodies simply can't handle the unbalanced rhythm of their unbridled and committed life." This is an ideal setting for a woman to wonder where she wants to be and what she really wants to do and it can be the bell that announces that it is possible for her to take charge of her own destiny.

Technology plays a leading role in this purpose because, as Paula González says, "it extends our capacities, adapts the path, but to take advantage of it, women must have productive habits, know how to be efficient. For this, it is also necessary to count on the change of mentality of the companies and their collaborators."

Also read: ARIENE JAMILE QUEIROZ, CONQUEROR OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Shaping Architect

Paula González was a superwoman for much of her life. She is an architect by profession but "when I was a mother I realized that I worked excessively, from Monday to Sunday. I asked for the weekends off and they told me no, that's when I asked myself why, being a productive professional, they wouldn't accept me claiming time for myself." She became an entrepreneur and learned how important work breaks associated with productivity are. Those were her first steps before joining Mas People and founding Mujeres del Futuro. Her creativity as an architect was applied in shaping these ideas to apply them to women, adolescents, and girls.

Why adolescents and girls? "Because I realized that a woman who learns to balance well-being and productivity is capable of transmitting this way of doing things to her young daughters and adolescents who learn more by example than by speeches. This is how the superwoman of the world will end."

Declare What You Want

There is no magic secret to changing the mentality of women: "To generate a moment of awakening towards the balance between well-being and being productive, we must ask ourselves if what we do is what we want." The answer could be the trigger to decree changes.

Paula Gonzáles was sincere with herself and for a decade she has exercised her role as mother and professional giving priority to her well-being: "I take my son to school every day, I do neighborhood activities, I play tennis on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I like to dance, I have lunch at home, I do housework, I adopted a dog and I cook what I like. I read a lot about ontology because I believe that human beings can evolve towards what we want to be."

 Her advice to women (especially those in leadership positions): "It is essential to humanize and assimilate that nothing happens if we ask for help."