I arrived in Brazil from Albania at ten years old, not speaking a word of Portuguese. I learned to read the room long before I learned to read the board. I learned to tell who was angry, who was helping me and who was testing me, all of it before I could form a sentence.

Years later I joined the corporate world and found out it was the same thing. There is a code nobody spells out and everybody demands: the right way to write an email, the right moment to speak in a meeting, what you say and what you don't.

I had no one in my family who knew that world. No older sister to explain the power games and what actually moves a career. I learned the hard way. And that is exactly what made me want to be that person for whoever comes after me.

Today I am a Client Experience manager at a Big Four, I lead a tech team and I talk to women at the start or the middle of their careers. I talk about real behavior, strategic communication and the backstage of consistent growth. And I also talk about the life that happens around it: the routine, the outfits, the hair, the self-care, the home, the cats. One sustains the other.