Professional growth tailored to each member is one of the pillars of the Pyxian culture and a value that we seek to promote every day. The objective: to avoid pre-defined and massive career plans so that each person can outline his or her own development path according to his or her motivation, interests and needs.

We went out to look for stories and one of the first to appear on the list is that of Valentina Ramos.

She was one of the first Pyxians. She joined in the first semester of 2010 when she was still an engineering student. She founded the Business Intelligence team, went through the Java development teams and migrated to the Hybris development platform for e-commerce solutions. Together with Gerardo Valeri and Ricardo Sanguinetti (her current partner, whom she met at Pyxis), in 2016 she left Uruguay to settle in Medellin and open the doors of the first Pyxis headquarters abroad.

As a new mother of Agustina (who was born on October 29, 2019), Vale is, since September, Head of Operations of Pyxis Medellín, a project that she defines as «an injection of new energy», which gives her new challenges and a great desire to take them on.

She was one of the first Pyxians. She joined in the first semester of 2010 when she was still an engineering student. She founded the Business Intelligence team, went through the Java development teams and migrated to the Hybris development platform for e-commerce solutions. Together with Gerardo Valeri and Ricardo Sanguinetti (her current partner, whom she met at Pyxis), in 2016 she left Uruguay to settle in Medellin and open the doors of the first Pyxis headquarters abroad.

As a new mother of Agustina (who was born on October 29, 2019), Vale is, since September, Head of Operations of Pyxis Medellín, a project that she defines as «an injection of new energy», which gives her new challenges and a great desire to take them on.

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It is 11 a.m. in Montevideo (9 a.m. in Medellín) and we call Vale. From Agustina’s room, her future daughter, and with a nostalgic feeling for the almost 10 years she has been with Pyxis, she tells us about her Pyxian journey. A place where he experimented roles and developed very different technologies, thanks to his restless spirit and his ability to reinvent himself.

-How did you get to Pyxis? What were you doing before?

-I worked at the School of Engineering as my first work experience. There I met Adriana, wife of Diego Sastre (Founding Partner at Pyxis), who asked me if I was interested in having an interview for a company that her husband had opened with some friends. She told me that they were looking for a database profile and I was just working on that. At that time I was in the middle of my engineering degree.

The first interview was in June 2010 at Joaquín Nuñez, Pyxis’ first newly rented store. It was not customized «Pyxis style» as we are used to and still had furniture from the previous owner, says Valentina. «They told me about the idea and I liked it. I started developing for Business Intelligence in a project with QUANAM as my first client».

-How can you summarize your career and role in the early years?

-The dedication in BI was decreasing and I moved to the JAVA world, where I had no experience. I learned from scratch with references like Quique [Enrique Rodríguez], Ale Mateo and Elena Rendo in SUCIVE, HG. It was there where I had the greatest professional growth and I remained as an implementation reference.

After a while Valentina realized that she wanted to try other things. She approached her managers, they asked her what she wanted to do and the possibility of venturing into the e-commerce area arose in 2014. That was the beginning of a new stage for this Pyxiana.

-How did the proposal to move to Medellín come about? What expectations and fears did you have when you decided to move?

-In 2015 I was already in a relationship with Ricky [Sanguinetti], a Pyxian whom I met in 2012 at a new asado (a tradition that has been strictly observed at Pyxis since 2009). We were about to finish the lease on our apartment and we were eager to have an experience abroad. That year, at the Open Space in June, the directors announced that Gejo (Gerardo Valeri, Founding Partner at Pyxis) would open a branch in Medellín.

That’s when the light bulb went on and we said «well, what if we leave? We talked to Gejo and Diego, we asked if we could join the project and they said yes.

-Did you have a reference of Colombia as a destination to go to live?

-Not at all (laughs). We trusted what they told us. Basically «that it was a great city». In December we came to Medellin and in January 2016 we moved. As the first ambassadors, the main role we had from the beginning was to spread culture. In addition, I continued working for several years in the e-commerce area.

-How did you become Operational Manager in Medellin?

I was asked to do things in the role before I was told. I was tricked (laughs). I had been telling Gejo for some time that I felt I wasn’t contributing much to the project and I wasn’t contributing much to Pyxis Medellín, beyond the day-to-day.

I could see my departure from the project coming. They started to involve me in the interviews of new colleagues, etcetera. In March I finished working on that assignment and Gejo started to approach me to implement something we were not doing, which was to have someone in Medellín to help in the projects that were being done remotely with Uruguay. With what objective? To create links, especially for people who were alone, to tell them about our way of working, and so on. Finally the official proposal arrived, and they told me that the idea was really that I should start to be Operational Manager.

-How did you take the change?

-I didn’t expect it, but at the same time I loved the idea. He asked me what I thought and I didn’t hesitate, I accepted right away. It was like an injection of new energy. I liked the role much more than I imagined. It involves being much closer to the team and helping with the synergy of the remote teams. Sometimes I wake up in the wee hours of the morning thinking «how can we make this better?». It’s something that motivates me and I really enjoy doing.

Valentina is very involved in her new role and is eager to share that professional growth at Pyxis is possible and carries a strong sense of self-initiative. «You can always negotiate with the team you are working with and with whoever is in charge,» she advises her colleagues. He says that «you can raise everything and find a way around it. They will always listen to you in the best possible way».

Valentina’s role in RSP

In addition to her history of professional growth, Valentina was, from the very beginning, a referent of the Pyxis Social Responsibility team. She was one of its founders in 2013 and since then she is one of the pillars of the RSP team, fundamental referent of the first editions of the Pyxis Happy Day, among other actions. Since she left for Medellín, she has been driving the social responsibility process in Colombia. In this context, the Medellín team collaborates with the Iruka project and develops its own campaigns, such as the Christmas campaigns.