Meet Jennyfer Salvo, a journalist who has interviewed leaders such as Mijaíl Gorbachev, Mario Vargas Llosa, Shimon Peres among others, an expert in innovation and international business. Currently she leads a company, Softpower Connections Consulting, which helps governments and companies to promote innovation and carry out their business on an international scale, a citizen of the world, interested in gender equality.

I am a curious, passionate and open human being, who try to help make a better world for everyone. I am the mother of two incredible children, who are my team and my partners. I feel like a citizen of the world, very interested in global issues and gender equality. I love reading and traveling, and have done it quite a bit. I have thousands of books that have traveled with me on all my moves. Now it’s easier with digital books! And I have been very lucky to visit more than 55 countries and live in 4.

I studied journalism and worked in the main television network and newspaper in Chile, as well as in other media in Latin America and Europe. I had the opportunity to interview world leaders such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Shimon Peres, among many others. I was lucky to be so young and have the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers from world leaders. I have been involved in public policy for more than 20 years, focused on public diplomacy, country branding and international promotion of exports, tourism and investment, developing promotional activities in more than 35 countries.

Tell us more about your family, what were you like as a child?

My grandparents, where I survived World War II, grew up under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. I think both situations had a great influence on the definition of who I am. I studied journalism because I wanted to give people a voice, reveal injustice and abuse, create a more diverse society. I was a very good student and I think my grandmother defined my commitment. She used to tell me: study, study, what you learn is what you have. He was also a musician, he played guitar in the school band. We recorded an LP and performed on television. He was shy but very good at pretending not to be.

You have a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Information and Communications from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, why did you decide to study that?

When I was 16, my pediatrician told me: Smart teens have to study powerful professions. She was trying to tell me that I had a responsibility to use my education to improve my community. She seemed to be interested in biology, so she invited me to share a normal day in the life of a doctor. I was with her in her private office, in the hospital visiting patients… we spent 12 hours together. There I realized that I was not interested in the physical pain of his patients. All day I was trying to find out what their lives were like, their conditions, their struggles… I discovered that I wanted to know and share their stories. And as a journalist I did it for many years. I am proud to be part of the team that immediately after Pinochet’s political defeat, began to tell hidden stories of human rights violations. I founded the research area of ​​the Press Department at TVN (Chilean National Television), the Public Television Station. We open unexpected spaces. It was dangerous and painful, risky for our lives, but I felt exactly where I dreamed of being.

Telling other stories is a life-spanning mission. Currently, in addition to my company, I lead a magazine where we tell relevant stories for decision-makers in more than 45 countries and I am a panelist on the main Chilean TV nightly newscast. I still feel the warmth in my heart when I act like the journalist that I am.