SILVIA DAVILA: THE MASTERMIND BEHIND SELLING EVERYTHING

by: Luisana Rodríguez

SILVIA DAVILA is a dedicated Latina corporate woman who is naturally curious and seeks out challenging situations to learn. Marketing is her professional home and place to flourish. She’s the current regional president of Latin America of Danone, which operates in 120 countries where its products are available and has more than 100,000 employees around the globe.

Davila cherishes her origins as a Mexican woman, although her life has not been sugar- coated. “I was born and raised in Mexico City. My mother had to work full-time because she was the main source of income for me and my two siblings after my father passed away when I was seven years old. Therefore, she was not only my provider but also my source of pride and purpose”, she reminisces.

Silvia has always enjoyed selling, which is why she was baking cookies in her hometown and marketing them as a young girl. Davila grew her income during the summer by working in her mother’s friend’s store in San Antonio, TX, and was able to purchase her first car. “I started to work while attending university for a BS in Marketing. I graduated with honors thanks to carefully planning my schedule.”

When she was young, Silvia also worked at McDonald’s, where she started making burgers. She swiftly grew and took care of customers, arranged events, and assisted in the operational side of Marketing. She contributed to the launch of four new stores while completing her major. Silvia deeply cherishes this opportunity, “I always mention McDonald’s as my first job because it gave me a lot of leadership opportunities at a very young age.”

“EVERYTHING ISUPTO CONVERSATION! DIVERSITY, SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY ARE FEATURES THAT BOTH MARKETS AND COMPANIES SHOULD HAVE.”

After getting her BS, she traveled around Europe for a few months before coming back to Mexico to join P&G, her “dream workplace,” as she calls it. She was there for almost 12 years. Even though she was eager and curious about the world, P&G had specific characteristics that made her stay there. “I was promoted as a Marketing Director at age 28. I was growing and appreciating everything that P&G was giving me. That was my marketing school for brand building and strategy”, says Silvia.

When at P&G, she got assigned to reside in Caracas, Venezuela, during a time where political difficulties highly affected how people lived. She left the country — as a pregnant woman— after a two-month-long national strike. She had two options: stay in Venezuela and have her child there, or go to Mexico and leave the job. She chose the latest. “If it were for me, I would’ve been there [at P&G] forever!”

She faced a new complex scenario where the following work-related steps were not as straightforward as planned. However, life gave her a year to spend as a Strategic Marketing Planning professor at the ITESM’s MBA program, where she could share her knowledge. Silvia discovered how much she enjoyed operations during this brief period, so she accepted a position as a Marketing Director at Mars - where her main strength, brand strategy, could enrich. Eventually, she got a General Manager position in Belgium, where she faced challenges not seen before. She had to surround herself with people with different abilities and learn from them. Despite the unknown, Silvia thrived.

She still felt compelled to keep up with her professional development. A chance presented itself at Danone, her current employer, where she is the LATAM region’s chief of strategy and execution. When asked about how it feels to be a Latina corporate woman, the interviewee emphasizes the value of belonging to a group. As a result, Davila is a Young Presidents Organization (YPO) member. Her peers help her find a sense of self-validation and give her continuous updates on current business trends.

As for her thoughts on today’s marketing challenges, Silvia says: “everything is up to conversation! Diversity, social responsibility, and sustainability are features that both markets and companies should have.”

Silvia represents a real-life example of turning adversities into opportunities for improvement while transcending gender and cultural barriers with optimism.