Ángela Bermúdez made a 180º turn in her career as a translator to make the leap into the retail world as a buyer for a small decoration store in Talavera de la Reina. But languages have been one of the great competitive advantages of her curriculum, as she speaks Spanish, English, Italian, German and Chinese.

In 2015 he studied the FBA, after finishing he moved to Amsterdam and since 2017 he has been working at PVH, the group of iconic brands such as Tommy Hilfiger or Calvin Klein. There she manages the Data Governance of the brand and on her shoulders falls the organizational structure to manage the company's data and deliver value from it.

Let's start at the beginning: What made you decide to pursue the FBA?

After finishing my degree in Translation and Interpreting, I spent a few years living in different countries around the world while working as a translator. I ended up in Beijing, China, where I founded a small company together with one of my dear friends and later FBA classmate, Carmen Castillejo. This company was focused on image consulting for the Chinese market. At a certain point in our adventure we wanted to establish the company in Spain to be able to provide these services to the Chinese tourist, but we both realized that we lacked a deeper knowledge of the company and the fashion business. After weighing alternatives, we both agreed that the FBA was our best option, mainly because of the teaching staff and because it is the only master's degree specialized in fashion, with the endorsement of the University of Navarra, which is synonymous with excellence.

What did the master's degree mean for your career?

First of all, structure. I had not studied business administration, like many of my colleagues, nor had I worked in large multinationals, nor did I know how the corporate world worked. Although I had a lot of international experience, I needed to establish these fundamental concepts. Obviously, the FBA was what allowed me to break out of that translator profile that I had quite marked and, together with my international personality, gave me the opportunity to enter the corporate world.

Now that some years have passed, of what you learned during your time at ISEM, what do you find most valuable?

I could say the concepts learned, but with hindsight, I would be lying to you. The most valuable thing I remember from the FBA was my work team; that experience prepares you for real working life. When you are studying for your degree, at no time do you have the chance to get a taste of what it will be like to work for real. However, the work team prepares you to collaborate with people, manage frustrations, work under pressure for deliveries,... it is also true that I had a work team of 10, in which we all got along perfectly and suffered little drama. (I take this opportunity to send a big hug to all of them: Ana, Sara, Roberto, Ainara, Marga and Pilar).

Was it clear to you that you wanted to make the international leap or was it a coincidence?

My international journey started when I was 11 years old, when I asked my parents to send me to study in Ireland for a summer; so it was pretty clear that I had a lot of chances to end up living abroad. I was always very curious to learn about other ways of living and doing things, so when the opportunity to move to Amsterdam came up after finishing my master's degree, I didn't think twice about it. It is also true that I never thought that it would be almost eight years since that decision...

In the FBA, a good number of candidates come from other sectors, what advice would you give them for change?

Change is always positive and even more so when it comes to education and professional development. Right now, all businesses feed off of other business models and there is no clear pigeonholing as in the past, where a doctor or a lawyer was pigeonholed for life. Also, I think the motto "reinvent yourself or die" is more alive than ever.

In your professional career, what have been the most important experiences?

For me, everything that has to do with being able to manage on my own abroad without sponsors, simply with my personality and knowledge. The Netherlands is the fifth country I've lived in, and in all five I've had to prove to myself that I was capable of building a future for myself from scratch. I am very proud that I have been able to make it on my own. Many people have an idealized view of what it's like to live abroad, but it's a very hard but at the same time very rewarding experience.

To what extent would you say that languages have been a lever to grow professionally?

Thanks to languages, I ended up at an international trade fair in Cologne speaking Chinese, German, English, Spanish and Italian with different people and left with a contract to move to the Netherlands. In that sense, I can only say that languages have been vital. Being able to communicate with much of the world in their native language has allowed me to establish relationships with professionals that I would not have been able to reach if I could only communicate with them in English.

From your experience in different companies, what would you say are the essential soft skills to work and enjoy working in the fashion industry?

Without a doubt, to work in the fashion world you have to be a flexible person, able to adapt quickly to change. It is a world that evolves at the speed of light. What is good today is rejected tomorrow. I always say that in the fashion world you have to know how to navigate chaos because if you don't, it takes you by surprise. That also makes it a very dynamic job in which no two days are the same.

PROFESSIONAL RECONVERSION TO THE WORLD OF DATA:

How does a translation student end up working in a Data Governance department?

It's a good question, I get asked it quite often. In the times we live in, we are surrounded by data, we generate it every minute. In the corporate world, especially in large corporations, data is the language through which different departments, regions, etc. communicate. This language needs "grammatical rules" that must be reflected in the systems in order to facilitate decision making and create relevant business strategies. This makes me feel like a bit of a translator, since in my role I have to translate the business needs to the IT department, in addition to ensuring that these grammatical rules are properly applied by the business side.

Good data management is the future - and the present - for a company's strategy. In the case of a fashion company, are there any specificities in this sector that are not present in others, or vice versa?

As I said, data are the languages spoken by companies and each one has its own grammatical rules, but I believe that the basic concepts are intrinsic to all sectors and industries. From what we are seeing, sustainability is becoming increasingly important and consumers are demanding transparency in terms of the certifications that prove that a product meets certain standards. In this respect, there is still a lot of work to be done on the Governance side.