We interviewed Denise Henry Maffeis, in the framework of the Newtopia Summit, For Me Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), one of the startups that make up our portfolio, with whom we talked about 3 key points:
- What it means to be part of the Newtopia Community.
- Entrepreneurship as a female founder.
- The experience at the Newtopia Summit.
Denise has a solid background in business and a long career in the corporate world, but it was in 2018, when she decided to found For Me, along with Consuelo Chasseing and Romina Mahboub, the first beauty care social commerce in Latin America, with presence in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Peru.
For Me aims to transform genuine recommendations into increased digital conversion, and facilitates and manages the creation of relevant content along with the content creators of its Latin American community of Beauty Lovers. For Me now has more than 500,000 members, and works with brands such as L’Oréal Paris, Maybelline, Vichy and Nivea.
Below, the full interview with Denise Henry Maffeis.
– Tell me a little about the community you live in as an entrepreneur. Well, tell me in your own words.
Well, I think the best definition for Newtopia is community. Community of entrepreneurs, where values are shared above all, the value of work, of generating value, of creating an asset that transforms reality from the places that each of us imagines it.
So, in Newtopia I find that there are people like me, who think, live life as I live it and who take perhaps the responsibility of taking charge of the place and the world they want to see.
And for me that is being part of the Newtopia Community.
– To be a woman. And well, in a context where the majority are men. How are you doing? How do you carry that flag? And also if you feel that this is being promoted in the community.
Yes, look, I think that being a woman and venturing in a world that is very much intended for women, because we are in beauty, the gender perspective for the world of entrepreneurship does not exist. Today women have the opportunity to venture, to find partners, like Newtopia, that the truth is what they look at is the project, the executive capacity to carry out that project.
And we as human beings see that we somehow have all the skills that are needed to carry it out. So when I think of my entrepreneurial version, I feel that the universe has become a flatter sector where we can all have opportunities, possibilities and that it also has to do with this individual capacity that is human and that is not gendered, to seek , to search, not getting tired, and continuing to knock on doors.
So it happened to me many times, also in corporate life, to feel that when you get to a place you do have a responsibility to raise awareness that it is not an impossible path, right? then to become aware that being consistent, helping other women is natural to us. But also helping men, to understand that there is complementarity, that there is a place for everyone, that it has to do with in some way, that nothing limits the dream that you have with yourself to fulfill, regardless of the gender you have, the role in the company you occupy or any life situation you are going through.
So I like to think that this social evolution that we human beings have allows us to talk about women and men. We understand that we are different, that we have different experiences and that we can find a common place to complement each other and learn. That’s how I live it too.
And I also see it in everything that has to do with the federal issue. I’m not only a woman, I’m from the interior, I’m from Córdoba. So, when we come from a conglomerate that is perhaps a little more closed, understanding that you can, regardless of whether you are not in the capital of your country and whether you are at the spot of where things happen, it seems to me that making it known is going to generate that many more women are encouraged, because if the woman is something, she is a great facilitator, a great creator.
Then say come, join and be a part because it’s worth it.
– And speaking of that complementarity, what can you tell me about the Summit, how you have experienced it, how you have seen this union of entrepreneurs, athletes, LPs and advisors from all over the world. How have you lived it
I think that what we experienced today at the Summit, which was incredible, was the word “ecosystem”. Today all the participants that are part of Newtopia, in the creation of its value, the LPs, the entrepreneurs, the entire support team that helps us every day in Newtopia to try to make our projects come true. The truth is that these meetings allow us to share experiences that unite us even more as a Community.
You take with you the anecdote, “ah, who can help me with this”, you take with you like a toolbox, but also people who are very willing to help you.
So above all I stay with that, that the value of being part, of coming, of spending this wonderful day has to do with continuing to grow, continuing to improve as a person and as a professional, and that allows the FOR ME project to continue growing as well.
At Newtopia we highlight our community as a value in itself and a fundamental basis for a fund created by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. In addition, we are committed to correcting the gender gap and we want to support more female founded startups in the early stages with tech DNA that seek to transform Latin America.
So.. are you an entrepreneur and you want to get in touch with us to analyze what you are building? That’s great! We really appreciate that interest.
If after reading our Manifest, you consider that you check all of the boxes, do not hesitate applying to Newtopia Latam VC!
