Sandra Quintero Abello: “Women’s Voices Must Be Heard”

Sandra Quintero has lived in Miami for five years but she never forgets the Caribbean roots that her family bequeathed to her and Barranquilla, the capital city of the department of Atlántico in Colombia where the fresh waters of the Magdalena River and the salty and tropical airs of the sea converge, the Caribbean.

During her meeting with The Woman Post, various of her conditions as a Colombian woman burst out, as if it were Pandora's Box, that makes her warm, friendly, smiling, happy with what life has given her. With a humble and kind phrase, she greets and appreciates the meeting with the online magazine: "Thank you for this interview that allows me to continue supporting and motivating more women to whom I want to tell them that they can make everything they propose come true."

Being an industrial engineering student at the Javeriana University of Bogotá, she saw in the development of websites the possibility of undertaking with her husband and created the company Pages.net: “It was 1998 and I was aware that this was an issue that not everyone understood.” But that did not matter to her and it is that in addition to being a young entrepreneur, Sandra was a young wife and a young mother. It seems that her slogan is “I can with everything” and this is how she has shown it in practice: “When I got pregnant without being married I was afraid of what society would say and that the university would take away my scholarship. I thought the world was ending but today I understand that I was with the right man and my family by my side. I learned that the universe is perfect and everything happens when it has to be.”

All in One Book

The life story and anecdotes of "Sanqui" are consigned in the pages of her book "Dream Big and Consequently Acts" (Sueña en Grande & Actúa Consecuentemente) that can be acquired in physical and digital versions on Amazon, where it reached the category of a bestseller.

"In my book, I tell my readers that it is not enough to dream, you have to take action to achieve what you want. Everything we do daily contributes to our own sowing: What do you give to your body? What do you drink, what do you eat? How much do you sleep? Do you meditate? What do you do for yourself? Who do you relate to and where is your attention? Are you in tune with all the good that can happen to you or do you focus on the daily conflict? What you sow will have its fruits.”

Sandra Quintero explains the lives of people through a beautiful analogy that recalls the image of a long-lived tree with firm roots that, despite its strength, has the humility to surrender to the influences of the sun, rain, and wind and gives space to other trees to grow.

Also read: A WOMAN WHO BUILDS SMART, SUSTAINABLE, AND HUMANE CITIES

Ahead of Time

She is a woman ahead of time who early assumed the digital issue as her own: “I had an email when few people knew about this communication resource. I worked on issues of inclusion, teamwork, and leadership at the end of the 20th century”.

The universe would continue to write positive notes in Sandra Quintero's notebook when she was invited to take on the challenge of creating the digital business strategy of the Colombian Newspaper El Tiempo.com: “This opportunity changed my life, it was a wonderful job that, for 6 years, allowed me to grow as a woman and a professional and earn the respect of managers from many media outlets.”

The next professional leap for "Sanqui" was towards Havas Media Group where she displays her knowledge in digital and commercial issues for the Andean region made up of Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, and Colombia: "I wanted that international exposure in my professional career and then I started to manage purchases and relationship with radio, television, and press. I was there for 3 years.”

Sandra Quintero's phone number received a call from Facebook, a company that proposed to open the operation of the network in Colombia: “It was another incredible experience, this position allowed me to know a new aspect of myself, my entrepreneurial spirit was alive and I understood that companies must hire people who guide their professional work towards entrepreneurship, who are intra-entrepreneurs.”

Through her own business Altiro Agency Digital, "Sanqui" designs strategies for her clients in scenarios of recognition of target audiences, specific targets to obtain the best results through social networks.

Sandra does not recognize professional differences between men and women: “I respect the genders and the essence of each one, but through Sheryl Sandberg and her book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead" I generated awareness of machismo in business and I wanted women to raise their voices in these areas so that their ideas are heard.”

We Have What We Ask For

Today "Sanqui" works at home and among her routines is to love herself, listen to the verses of Wayne Dyer and the meditations of Abraham Hicks in Mindvalley. She is grateful for what happens to her, she exercises outdoors, she allows herself to cry if necessary, she expresses her feelings, she looks in the mirror and feels beautiful, wears the clothes and accessories that she likes, perfumes herself, takes care of her skin, hair and personal appearance and cooks delicious dishes: “Every day I confirm that I am in control of my reality and that I can change what I don't like. God is in each one of us and he gives us what we ask for, what good or bad we fix our attention on. Change depends on each one of us.”