In this new chapter of Purposeful Careers, we meet Monica Fernandez, a Full-Time MBA student whose international career has taken her across Europe, Africa and Latin America, leading people and talent initiatives in complex and highly diverse environments.

Her experience highlights a powerful belief: meaningful impact starts with people. From supporting global mobility and talent development to fostering trust across cultures and communities, her journey demonstrates how empathy, inclusion and genuine human connection can become powerful drivers of organisational success.

Throughout her career, Monica has embraced opportunities to step outside her comfort zone, build bridges across cultures and communities, and help others reach their full potential. A direction that the Full-Time MBA has helped strengthen, providing new strategic tools, strengthening her leadership capabilities and reinforcing her commitment to creating lasting value through people.

 

Purpose is often discovered at the intersection of challenges and personal values. Looking at your international journey, how have your experiences across cultures shaped your understanding of what truly matters to you — and how did that clarity influence the direction of your career?

With more than 12 years of professional experience leading HR within the energy sector across three continents, my career has taken me from my home country of Venezuela to Italy and Nigeria. Immersing myself in such diverse cultures and realities has taught me that empathy and deep appreciation for different perspectives are essential for fostering true collaboration, achieving objectives, and delivering transformational outcomes.

During my four-year assignment in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, I had the opportunity to step into an HR managerial role within a predominantly male, highly complex operational environment. Being the first woman assigned to that position made me realize that I could open paths for other women to take on leadership roles, proving that it is entirely possible to succeed even within highly operational and restricted base environments. In doing so, I welcomed the opportunity to challenge the status quo, arriving inspired and excited for my first chapter in Africa, a completely new culture that absolutely fascinated me. Although I started my assignment during an incredibly challenging period, with the country in complete lockdown due to the COVID-19 emergency, my determination drove me to quickly dive into the culture. Viewing our differences as a profound source of value, I focused on identifying our shared core principles of respect, inclusion, transparency, and trust, which allowed me to truly engage with local teams despite our distinct backgrounds.

I listened to their needs and worked side by side with them, learning about the distinct ethnolinguistic groups and even picking up some Nigerian Pidgin English. I began greeting colleagues with a warm 'How far?' and on other occasions saying 'Bawo ni' in Yoruba. As I immersed myself in their culture by participating in local traditions and events, I was equally proud to share my own. Through this, a true connection with the local people was achieved. In all cultures, there are always commonalities that connect us all, and this connection is what drives both individual growth and organizational success. Ultimately, it remained the absolute key to my work throughout my entire time in Nigeria.

As an HR Business Partner, I was able to work closely with those on the ground, ensuring individuals reached their full potential while simultaneously prioritizing their development and well-being across every location, including challenging onshore and offshore field environments. In addition, I successfully managed the full scope of our international mobility, ensuring that global staff arrived seamlessly at their destinations and establishing myself as the ultimate point of accountability for their success throughout their entire assignment. This is where my personal story profoundly met my professional one. Navigating life far from home myself, I truly understood what these expatriates were going through, which drove me to be 100% there for them. I realized that while business results always matter, ensuring employees feel deeply heard and understood when separated from their families is what truly unlocks their potential to deliver even greater outcomes. This human-centric anchor proved to be of paramount importance for managing operational tensions, maintaining a healthy organizational climate, and keeping the entire system smooth and fully operative. Working alongside employees, local communities, authorities, and unions, I focused on fostering harmonious, trust-based relationships between the organization and its workforce directly delivering meaningful contributions to the company’s operations.

These experiences reinforced what truly matters to me: opening paths for others and supporting diverse talent in places where they can generate the greatest value. This purpose is the very reason I am pursuing my MBA at POLIMI Graduate School of Management, as I continue to build a career dedicated to making a tangible, positive legacy through people on a global scale.

 

One of the most valuable aspects of international careers is the opportunity to work with people who bring different perspectives, experiences, and ways of thinking. Throughout your international career, what have been the biggest challenges in managing and empowering people with very different cultural backgrounds and perspectives? And how has your experience at POLIMI GSoM contributed to your professional growth?

Having managed and worked in teams with people from more than 60 different countries, spanning cross-border operations, complex workforce restructurings, and directing global mobilizations for over 300 personnel from corporate headquarters across regions including the Americas, Europe, and Africa, I have learned that true empowerment comes from unlocking what deeply motivates diverse talent. The core of this journey lies in accurately identifying the distinct codes of conduct intrinsic to each culture and serving as a trusted bridge between individuals of varied backgrounds. For instance, I recognized that many African cultures place a profound emphasis on relationship-building and relational depth before establishing professional trust. By tuning into these subtle nuances, I learned to identify what truly anchors each culture. Working in Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, made me realize that community and ancestral villages sit at the very core of an employee's identity. Understanding these deep-seated connections, along with the specific challenges that these communities face, is, in my view, the absolute key to building the strong, trust-based relationships required to help people grow while simultaneously driving the organization toward its strategic objectives.

Starting my own expatriate career at a young age in Milan (Italy) back in 2018 gave me a unique opportunity to learn firsthand how to manage this structural complexity. Stepping out of my home country taught me how to entirely immerse myself in a new culture that I came to appreciate deeply and embrace. It was a deliberate process of listening and adapting that became the foundation of my global mindset.

This personal immersion, combined with serving as a Global Mobilization Lead across distinct regional units, forced me to quickly master corporate governance while fully integrating into local operational realities. Through this experience, I learned that managing diversity isn't about homogenizing perspectives, but about creating a structured, inclusive environment where varied viewpoints actively optimize company operations and generate value. This journey ultimately shaped the strategic, multicultural approach that I bring to every operational challenge I face.

My experience at POLIMI Graduate School of Management has given me the essential, top-tier skills and strategic tools needed to face complex business challenges head-on. By analyzing real-life, best-in-class cases guided by high-caliber professors, I have drastically improved my professional capabilities and built the concrete frameworks necessary to work efficiently across different cultures. Beyond the technical foundation, the program has been instrumental in helping me identify my core strengths and learn how to strategically leverage them. Through targeted development in essential soft skills, I have sharpened the adaptive tools necessary to navigate highly challenging workplace scenarios. Crucially, this journey has immersed me in a powerful networking process, allowing me to connect with a diverse group of peers and professionals from varied industries; this rich ecosystem is essential for the next steps of my career. This holistic approach has driven profound personal and professional growth, empowering me to evolve into a strategic leader who leads with a deeper sense of purpose and a steadfast commitment to delivering lasting societal value.

 

Building a meaningful career today goes beyond performance — it’s about impact. In your experience, how can young professionals learn to balance business objectives with a genuine commitment to people, inclusion, and long-term value creation?

For me, beyond any performance metric or objective achieved, what truly matters is leaving a positive footprint on the cultures, communities, and people I have the privilege to encounter. In this sense, it is vital to have a clear purpose, an inner force that pushes you and those around you forward, even during difficult times, relying not on external rewards but on a genuine desire to make a difference and create an impact.

Throughout my career, I have formed long-lasting relationships and worked with people from all over the world across different business units. What I have learned is that business objectives can be achieved, and even exceeded, when people feel truly engaged.

This level of engagement requires young professionals to constantly ask themselves, 'What can I learn from this?' and to identify what really matters to people. By consciously dropping our judgments and biases, we can build genuine bridges and connect on a human level. Ultimately, when you bring people with you rather than just managing tasks, you can achieve any organizational objective because you have secured what is truly essential, which is their support and trust, all while leaving a lasting, positive impact on their lives.

Thanks to these meaningful connections and the teams who have supported me throughout my career, I have been able to achieve my most important organizational objectives in the energy sector. These range from guiding complex organizational transformations and strategic workforce restructurings to implementing impactful talent development plans, driving significant operational efficiencies, and successfully mobilizing diverse personnel for critical operational campaigns across continents.

Ultimately, I believe the key for new generations lies in having the courage to embrace risks and step completely out of their comfort zone when opportunities arise, keeping their purpose firmly at the center, as this is what truly generates profound impact. My own journey of moving across entirely different roles, business units, and countries was my way of taking those exact risks, constantly stepping into the unfamiliar to cultivate a truly multicultural vision that is essential for leading the workforce of tomorrow.