MY CAREER IN SIX SPOTLIGHT

  ANDREA PARRA

Vice President Merchant Acquisition and Partner Management

 American Express

Sharing her career journey by answering the six questions below.

Who or what has been your biggest source of inspiration throughout your career?

I have been fortunate to belong to a family made up of strong and pioneering women. My grandmother was an inspiration at the time, who, with determination and character, earned a place that allowed her to generate projects that transcended, such as the inauguration of the Olympic Games in Mexico 1968. My mother, adopting her steps, is also a woman I admire for achieving the balance of life and being a mom, raising five children while alsofulfilling herself professionally and building the family life she dreamed of having.

Would you say your success is primarily due to luck or hard work?

Without a doubt, success is a consequence of working hard. However, you must work hard but well focused on strategic priorities, especially those that have to do with a profound purpose and a long-term vision.

What is the driving force behind your career aspirations?

Love is the word that better describes the force that drives my aspirations. A huge determination to elevate the experience in any of the responsibilities I take and the strong conviction that everything can be improved. That force called love is fueled every day by loving and respecting myself and by the love and inspiration that I feel and receive from my husband and my sons.

If given the chance to do one thing differently in your career, what would it be and why?

Nothing. Of course I do not have the perfect life, but every step in my career and every decision I’ve made has helped me forge the person and professional I am. Without those experiences, good and bad, surely my path would have been different and today I am grateful by what I have done and achieved.

What was your most favourite job/role and why?

Being able to influence decisions that positively impact an experience is what I am enthusiastic about doing. Having a deep and genuine purpose inspires and motivates me to be creative and look for ways to solve barriers and design differentiated experience.

Do you have a favourite motto or quote that guides your professional life?

Yes, from Dr. Wyan Dyer: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. This has always put things in perspective.