My name is Livis Jáquez, and I am the chief compliance and ethics officer for WBA in Latin America, based out of Monterrey, Mexico. I have the privilege of leading the compliance program for both Farmacias Benavides in Mexico and Farmacias Ahumada in Chile, alongside my extraordinary team.
My team and I work on fostering a #DoTheRightThing culture through our compliance training and communication program, which includes taking part in WBA Compliance Week, managing the compliance and ethics hotline, and implementing a framework that allows us to detect, prevent and proactively correct compliance issues.
I also oversee the Pharma Regulatory and the Health and Safety teams in Mexico, which has been a great learning experience for me. Having our pharmacies in full compliance with all regulatory requirements and safeguarding our patients and team members is essential in building and maintaining our reputation as one of the leading healthcare providers in the retail pharmacy industry.
In addition to being a lawyer, I am a full-time mom and wife and now a retired Ironman triathlete, although I still enjoy training.
I am of Hispanic origin and am proud to have dual nationality: Mexican and American. I am very happy to be part of the WBA family. I have been warmly welcomed since my arrival three years ago and have had the great opportunity to interact with leaders from across the globe.
I truly believe that a mix of cultures and ideas and embracing those differences is the perfect formula in bringing creativity, innovation, and the best results to a team and to the company.
A typical day in my life, as I would assume for almost everyone, has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, although I have tried to follow the same pattern I did before.
A normal day for me usually starts at around 6 a.m., or a bit earlier, depending on my daily training session and my office workload.
When I first open my eyes, I do what some might say is a bad habit: check my mobile phone for email. After that, I glance at newspaper headlines and read any articles of interest. About 15 minutes later, I am out of bed. Right after, I exercise (biking outdoors, but only during the summer because with age, I have now become lazy to go out and ride in the cold!). I also swim, run and have recently integrated weight training. I am always dashing to get as many things done as possible, so from Monday to Friday that means sprinting to get ready for work right after my exercise routine.
Prior to the pandemic, before going off to work, I would say hi to my kids and send them off with my wonderful husband, who is usually the one who took them to school. Now, I still say hello to them but then everyone goes to a different room to start their daily activities at school and work.
Around 2:30 p.m. (pre- and during the pandemic), my kids, husband and I sit down to have lunch together and enjoy a good conversation about how our day has gone so far. After that, I confess, I do take a 10- to 15-minute nap (“siesta”) to re-charge my batteries and continue with work. Prior to the pandemic, I would go back to the office and stay there until about 6:30 or 7 p.m., and then pick up my kids from their swim/soccer/French classes, depending on the day of the week. However, since I am now working from home, it is basically just going right back to work at my desk, and I wind up closing my laptop around 7 p.m. One thing I am so thankful for during the pandemic is that I don’t have to spend time driving and being stuck in traffic. I save almost two hours of daily commute to and from the office, which I believe has made me much more productive … and happier, as I really don’t like to drive!
With the pandemic, during work hours, I spend a lot of time in video calls with my team sorting out day-to-day issues and projects we want to undertake, which has kept me quite busy during lockdown. Time goes by so fast.
I am a very energetic and sociable person, with not much patience, so I honestly thought the lockdown would hit my mental well-being quite a bit. But thankfully, and to my enormous surprise, even on gloomy days when I wish things were back to normal, I’ve been quite happy and enjoy time with my kids and husband. There is an advantage to not having to live such a fast-paced life.
Being stuck at home on the weekends, we have had “pool days” that my little boy loves. My husband loves to cook, so we have had quite a few barbecues, and since I love eating, it has been a perfect combination. I have learned to exercise my patience while working on puzzles with my daughter, who loves them. I love to sit on the deck enjoying the sunset with my husband drinking a glass of wine and just enjoying my home, the company and the view. And we even have a new addition to our family, a Shitzu named Lila, our first family dog whom everybody loves.
Overall, I am looking forward to getting back to the “old normal” we were used to, but not letting go of all the good things the pandemic has left me, primarily taking time to spend time with those I love, and hopefully getting to enjoy a nice holiday vacation soon.
