Originally from Boston, I’ve been living and working in Spain for more than 15 years. In August 2006 I decided to leave behind my life in Boston and take a chance over in sunny Spain with nothing more than determination, a sense of adventure and two big suitcases.

15+ years later I like to think I’m pretty established: I have a Spanish husband, full time job that’s 50/50 Spanish/English, two Spanglish kids, apartment (1 rented, 1 owned), and I apparently talk in Spanish sometimes in my sleep which is as good of a sign as any of cultural immersion.

For the last 7 years I’ve been working as a Program Director in Executive Education at IESE Business School (where I also did my MBA back in 2010). Prior to that I’ve had experience in FMCG Brand Marketing and Customer/User Experience Research and Design.

These days I keep quite busy as a full-time working mother to two young boys. Although I don’t have as much free time as before, I still enjoying meeting new people and sharing experiences and enjoy reflecting upon the differences between life in the US and Spain. Customer Experience as well remains an interest of mine and shows up in a number of my posts.
Hope you enjoy my blog!

Instagram: shellinspain, Facebook @spanishized

In my first blog entry I elaborated a bit about why I’m writing a blog. Here’s a recap:

1. I love to talk and write. One of the things I most like to do is meet new people, talk to people, and share stories. What better place to share my experiences over here that could be interesting or useful to others than in an inoffensive blog?

2. Customer experience. I’m passionate about customer experience and believe it is fundamental for any business to succeed. Unfortunately over here in Spain that concept is probably close to #15 on companies’ top 10 lists of important items. Customers do not deserve to be treated poorly! Aside from that companies need to realize that the future is not just getting customer experience right, but exceeding, surprising, personalizing… making unique experiences that make loyal customers and generate future revenue. Unfortunately, after being here for so long I’ve started to get used to the customer service….but this shouldn’t happen. I think it’s important to share these stories so companies realize the impact of the direct contact they have with customers. More valuable than any marketing plan investment is what the person next to you has to say. On the other hand, it’s important to share the positive experiences as well and to promote these actions that actually leave customers happy! I’ve had quite a few of these as well, although the bad ones tend to stand out more.

3. Helpful info I remember when I was thinking about moving over here that I was looking everywhere I could for any sort of information that might be helpful to me. I’ve gone through a lot in almost 9 years and can definitely share some of those experiences and insights.

4. Interesting stories. Spain is definitely different than the US, in more ways than one. Sometimes when I’m talking to my family and say something that seems totally normal to me, I realize that it’s not at all normal to them. Of course it makes sense that in the local parade for Three Kings Day on January 6th, the black king is usually a Spanish person with black paint on his face.

Enjoy! And please feel free to contact me with any feedback, topics of interest, suggestions, etc.