The Italian Group of the AVIXA Women’s Council continues its project to give visibility to professional women in the AV field in Italy: to learn about their professional stories and perhaps be inspired by them. We met with Carla Conca, Senior VP Business Manager at Epson, to ask her to tell us about her experience. Here is the transcript of the interview, edited by Chiara Benedettini of Connessioni and Valeria Rapa of AVIXA.
– Tell us about your work career: what kind of training did you undergo and how did you come to work at Epson?
Carla Conca – My path was a bit unique: in high school I studied languages, then I enrolled in information science and started working as a programmer. I worked for six years in software until I became a systems analyst. Then a friend told me that in Epson they were looking for a person to take care of technical support for products-I got a little tired of software because it led me to be isolated for a long time and I needed contact. I interviewed and have been working here for 33 years now. I started as a product manager up to Senior Business Manager of the projector division.
– What does your work consist of?
CC – The role of the Business Manager in Epson Italy is to be a trait d’union, the point of contact between the periphery and the center. I am in charge of “translating” the requests from headquarters to our Italian office, reporting the requests from Epson Italy and, in the reverse direction, making sure that our headquarters listens to them and possibly satisfies them. A lot of analysis, design and communication work goes into all of this. I also work very closely with marketing, and recently, perhaps also aided by the Covid period, the data analysis part has increased a lot in my work. My programming and analytics background has come in very handy in this regard.
– Has being a woman ever made a difference in your work, in a positive sense or possibly even in a negative sense?
CC – When I started working in the late 1980s, my role was a bit unusual because women in technical roles were still quite rare. They struggled more to build an appropriate level of credibility-it happened that I answered the phone and was taken for the secretary-but beyond that I had no particular difficulties. On the contrary, my male colleagues often treated me with the proper attention, for example in relation to working with machines as heavy as 70-80 kg.
It is certainly more difficult to gain recognition for your role, both internally and externally, but you still manage to build a good reputation and credibility. I’ve seen changes for the better over the years, including from headquarters in Japan, a country where women have historically been relegated to inferior roles. Lately things have been changing, and our company has been very attentive to gender balance.
I have also been fortunate enough to have several people by my side who have been fundamental to me in my path of growth in the company: I am grateful for all that they have passed on to me, not only from a technical point of view, but also for a whole series of little tricks and contrivances that are not found in books and are learned only through experience in the field.
– During your career has there been a particularly satisfying moment that you remember with pleasure, not necessarily a great recognition, but something important to you?
CC –
It happened several years ago: at the end of a press conference for the launch of new products, a journalist, a man, well known in the environment, quite mature, came to congratulate me, telling me that I had been very clear and that I conveyed a great enthusiasm toward the product. This pleased me very much because technology fascinates me, I happen to get really excited about the most innovative products, and I was pleased to have been able to convey this passion of mine.
More recently I experienced a moment of personal satisfaction when I decided to do something different and graduated with a degree in communication science, right in the middle of the Covid period.
– Were there also moments of difficulty, which perhaps led to a moment of reflection and restart?
CC – Not too many years ago we experienced a major internal change in divisions and some company-wide roles, including my own, and initially this destabilized me. But then I thought about it and realized that it could have been a time of growth and enrichment. And that’s exactly what it was: what had been a moment of crisis and questioning turned out to be an important opportunity for growth, for contact with other people and with different experiences and new markets, from which a great team fellowship was also born. After all, our industry is always changing, but that doesn’t scare me, on the contrary! It makes the work more interesting, it scares me more to stop and stay fixed in the same place than to learn new things and put myself out there.
– What would you tell about your work and your industry to a girl who wants to start working in this field now?
CC – It is true that this is still a very male-dominated field, but in my experience I have always dealt with men who are direct, open and cooperative, as well as very respectful. The characteristics and winning qualities of a product manager? Problem-solving, curiosity, a flair for data analysis, and good English proficiency.
