En Point All the Way To Seattle
"I told the board of my final graduation exam that I wanted to become a ballet dancer after high school. Unfortunately, an autoimmune disease interrupted this dream and, at the age of 18, I had to reprogram my future." This is what Valeria Pascucci remembers from the end of her teenage years in Civitanova Marche. Her professional path led her down the road that brought her to Seattle, where today she holds the role of WW Same Day Director at Amazon. "I enrolled in the engineering program almost by accident, guided by my analytical aptitude. After graduating, I went on to earn a PhD in structural and infrastructure engineering which opened the doors for an opportunity to work at a company headquartered in London, Arup. Here I worked on geotechnical projects, and many of the clients were oil and gas companies, so I also began to get to know the world of investment banking and became passionate about project financing."
At this point, she began her MBA experience at SDA Bocconi – initially in Milan, then at the Chicago Booth School of Business. It was around here, in 2023, when she arrived at Amazon. "The company was already a multinational, but there was a startup atmosphere that won me over right away and that I still recognize today; in the sense of being able to 'raise the bar' in every aspect and detail of the business, especially when it comes to customer experience."
Today Valeria manages Same Day business globally, coordinating a team of software development engineers, product and business managers, and data engineers and analysts. "Working at Amazon is analytical and rigorous, but it requires creativity and imagination at the same time. It is this combination that makes it interesting every day. I am passionate about working toward the continuous improvement of the customer experience: it is an ambitious and challenging goal of great professional and personal inspiration."
The concept of managing complex situations also applies to Valeria's personal life, who is married and has a young son whom occasionally follows her on business trips. "I never thought about giving up my job to become a mother. Working really energizes me and stimulates my innate curiosity; all this is reflected in family life and vice versa. I have had confirmation of this even in complex situations, such as during the 2020 lockdown. My son was a few months old and I, back from maternity leave, had the opportunity to work on a task force whose purpose was to understand how the virus spread, how to map out testing protocols for our employees, and how to protect ourselves effectively. It was a hugely impactful experience, not only because I worked with people from very different backgrounds – from science experts who simulated the flow of virus propagation, to laboratory technicians and engineers and even those responsible for safely transporting tests – and I learned a lot from each of them, but also because this experience made me understand the social value that my work could have."
"At Amazon, the fact that I am a woman has never made a difference. However, that was not always the case. When I was an engineer, a few episodes happened which led me to reflect. I remember the first time I went to a building in London as a young project manager. I was greeted by an executive who, in front of everyone, asked me if I was there to bring the coffee. “I actually should be the one responsible for checking your work," I replied with a smile. Thankfully, I have a sense of humor and am hardly offended. After that rebuttal, we all worked very well and in harmony on that project, even if I often wondered if the dynamics of that first meeting on site would have unfolded differently if I had been a male engineer."
