Boss ladies in the workplace: our interview with Ingrid Parramon

Ingrid was born in la Costa Brava, North Barcelona. After studying chemical engineering in Barcelona, she moved to Toulouse, France, to do an Erasmus exchange program. She then studied in Texas and Paris. She joined BP in 2004 and was a gasoil trader for 13 years. She now heads up the global Low Carbon trading team in BP.
Ingrid is a mum of 3 and has been with her husband Yann for almost 19 years.
She enjoys travelling and learning new languages, loves food and her Peloton bike!

Have you felt or experienced gender-based inequality in your profession?
I have not had direct/hard evidence of being discriminated against due to my gender. I think it is tough to find someone telling you: I am not giving you a pay rise or promotion because you are a woman, but I have definitely felt biases (conscious or unconscious) while doing my job. Most of the time I was the only woman in my team, and I did have men assuming things on my behalf, such as not wanting to travel often because I had a small child, or assuming I don’t want to go back to work after my first child was born (I have 3 children now, so no more assumptions like this at the moment).

Has the competitiveness of your industry ever made you feel embarrassed about your success?
No, never. On the contrary, I am really proud of myself for succeeding in an industry where there are not a lot of women. Most importantly, I hope to be a role model for other young women who can see that it can be done. I had the chance to have a role model in another team who was a very successful trader and a mum, so as I saw it was possible with her, I never doubted it was possible for me.

What challenges do you feel still face women within the workplace?
Lots of challenges. The main one, and I think this is in our society in general, is lack of confidence. There is a time in early puberty where a lot of girls lose their confidence, which then gets reflected in the workplace. Not feeling you have the right to ask for a pay rise/promotion. Feeling that by doing a good job you will get the reward, so not speaking up on how good you are doing your job. This lack of confidence creates a negative impact on women who think they have no say/no right to think differently, so they don’t speak up.

Have you seen a change in your industry for women since you started your career?
Not really, and this worries me. I see less women getting into my industry, and I think it is a combination of being a less attractive industry in general, but also that women don’t see themselves in a place like commodities trading.

What advice would you give to women to help them feel empowered in the workplace?
Be yourself, don’t copy anyone. Make sure you speak up when you think something is not right and work really hard, even when the job is not that interesting. If you are able to thrive in a job you don’t like or feel is boring, imagine what you can do when you are 100% motivated.