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Leader for a Day 2025: British Embassy Montevideo

The British Embassy in Montevideo celebrated the fifth edition of its International Women's Day activity.

The aim of ‘Leader for a Day’ is to promote the participation of women in leadership roles by linking young women with leaders within Uruguayan society.

Sixteen leaders, including Vice President Carolina Cosse, Minister for Defence Sandra Lazo, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Valeria Csukasi, and British Ambassador Mal Green, participated in this activity in which they shared a day of work with a young potential leader during the month of March.

At the opening of the launch event held on 7 March at the British residence, Ambassador Green said:

We have to eliminate the barriers that prevent women from achieving leadership positions by acting together with society. Just to mention one example, that is relevant to me personally: caregiving tasks still fall on women, and this hinders their career development.

Defence Minister Sandra Lazo said:

When we talk about gender inequality, we are talking about rights that are violated for a very large part of society. The fact that all these young women are here today and that there are men concerned about a fairer world and society can only make us happy.

The Director of UN Women in Uruguay, Magdalena Furtado, pointed out how valuable these activities are for young women who are starting their professional careers, and how comforting it is for more experienced professionals to hear later on how they were able to support or encourage them by sharing their knowledge.

Representatives from British multinationals Unilever and Pearson, who supported this activity, offered inspiring messages. This year’s winners will be able to take leadership and languages online courses, and take home Dove products.

The event was also attended by winners from previous editions, who shared their experiences with the participants this year. The aim is for all of them to keep in touch and take part in future embassy activities to further strengthen their personal and professional networks.

Winners of 20025 Leader for a Day

Winners of this edition and the leaders they have been connected with:  

  • Rocío Guerra – Carolina Cosse, Vice-President  

  • Carolina Scoz – Mal Green, British Ambassador to Uruguay 

  • Romina Cáceres – Sandra Lazo, Minister of Defence 

  • Maite Pezzatti – Carmen Sorger, Canadian Ambassador to Uruguay 

  • Juliana Pacheco – Blanca Rodríguez, Senator for the Frente Amplio

  • María Emilia Coirolo – Valeria Csukasi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

  • Luana Rodríguez – Magdalena Furtado, Director of Programmes, UN Women Uruguay

  • Sofía Maynard – Francisco Benavides, UNICEF Representative in Uruguay 

  • Evangelina Lapitz – Silvia Emaldi, President of UTE (acting)

  • Florencia Cavallaro –Jeny Caraballo, FAU Officer in the rank of Major 

  • Rosario Goñi – Pablo Ruiz Hiebra, Coordinator UN Uruguay 

  • Manuela Satragno - Erna Frins, President of the Uruguayan Scientific Committee 

  • Mercedes Giménez – Mariana Chilibroste, Co-founder of Sellin 

  • Camila Pérez – Gregorio Iraola, Executive Director of Kinzbio 

  • Lucía Lamela – Virginia Marotta, General Director of Hogarth 

  • Lucía Wallusche – Lucila Pizzarulli, Head of Office, IOM Uruguay

Updates to this page

Published 11 March 2025