Understanding consumers, Bernadette's mission statement
“I always tell people that I’m not French – I’m Sicilian, Catania born and bred. My mother just wanted the double ‘B’ in my first and last name,” Bernadette Bevacqua openly admits. She is the CEO of Sperlari, the iconic confectionery company famous for its candy and torroni (nougat).
Bevacqua continues, “When I was just 18 years old, I moved to Milan to study business administration at Bocconi University. My parents had a travel agency and my idea was to graduate and return to Sicily.” But life had other plans. Bevacqua graduated with top marks and fell in love with the diverse, international environment she found at the university. “I had come from years of public schools and was prejudiced about Bocconi, convinced it would be just another exclusive, elitist environment. Instead, it was a school of diversity; there were people from very different backgrounds. What counted was merit, and I liked being able to get out of my bubble.”
After graduating, Bevacqua considered consulting, but after a series of interviews with the Big Five, she realized that that wasn’t what she wanted. Her ambition was to engage directly with the product, to explore its entire life cycle, to go beyond mere consulting. So, she opted for a marketing internship at Henkel Italy, and it was here that she climbed the career ladder to become General Manager of the Beauty Care Retail Division. “It’s the company where I grew up; I had so many experiences there. I loved the mix between the strategic side based on the data, and the more creative part, which tied into understanding consumers,” she adds.
After being appointed Marketing Manager in 2007, she was based at the German multinational’s headquarters in Düsseldorf. “A shock for me as a Sicilian, used to warm working relationships, but also one of the most powerful experiences of my life: I saw how business is born and I experienced an international environment.” She also witnessed firsthand the cultural differences between Italians and Germans. “Relationships were very formal. I remember that we wouldn’t go out for lunch all together; instead you had to ask your colleagues or your boss for an appointment ahead of time.”
Bevacqua also came up against a management style that was very different from her own: top-down, very hierarchical. “It was unthinkable for me to simply take orders. Because I was petite, they told me I had to shout in meetings to be heard and to earn respect. That’s when I asked myself if I should change. But that would have meant being someone I wasn’t. I had words with my boss at the time and said I wouldn’t do it.”
Her straightforwardness and stubbornness paid off, because when she returned to Italy in 2009, it was as Director of Marketing. “Then, in 2013, I got pregnant with my first daughter, but I hadn’t told the company. I was two months pregnant and up for a promotion.” The role? Managing Director of the Beauty Division for Italy. When my boss said he wanted to speak to me, I suggested a video call because he was in Germany. He told me I had been picked for the job, and I replied in English: ‘Yes, but I’m pregnant.’ I still remember his reaction: he stood up, took off his jacket and calmly replied: ‘Not yes, but... yes, and you’re pregnant.’”
Bevacqua got the promotion, became a mother, first to Viola and then to Stella, and continued her work as an executive until the big change: she left Henkel and took the role of CEO
at Sperlari, where she arrived with her authentic leadership style, all about listening and nothing hierarchical, it goes without saying.
