June 20: the story of Jackeline Villalba, a professional in fine arts and tourism.

Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine… In 2023, more than 100 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes. Despite nearly half of the refugees in Europe holding a higher education degree (Eurostat, 2020), it takes them about 10 years, a full decade, to regain their original socio-professional status.

Jackeline Villalba is an Ecuadorian immigrant, a woman and a mother who has reinvented herself multiple times. She started as a professional in Fine Arts and Hospitality Management, worked as a childcare provider in Barcelona, and then underwent professional retraining to become a chef in Spain. Currently, she runs her own catering project and is an active member of our community at SINGA Barcelona.

Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your professional background before arriving in Europe?

My name is Jackeline Villalba, I was born in Ecuador, in a small village called San Antonio, in a province called Imbabura located in the Ecuadorian Andes. I grew up in this village filled with artists working with wood, painting, and sculpture. My father, in fact, is a wood craftsman.

I studied Fine Arts at an institute in my village, specializing in ceramics. At 18, I emigrated for the first time to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, to study at the University of Fine Arts. Since I relied on my own financial means, I quickly realized that it wasn’t economically viable, that I couldn’t afford to live and continue my studies, so I had to stop. I started working.

The following year, I began studies in tourism and hotel management, something that had always interested me but I hadn’t considered until that moment. I studied in the evenings for two years while working at an advertising agency, in the painting and illustration department. I was promoted to become the head of the department.

I worked there for many years. Then an economic crisis hit, and the company closed. I worked in a consulate as a cook. This was my first professional contact with cooking. Until then, I only knew my mother’s, grandmother’s, and aunts’ cooking. After some time, I returned to advertising as the agency had recovered, but after another crisis in 1999 in Ecuador, my professional life in that country ended.

What were your biggest professional successes in your home country?

For me, the first success was being able to study for a higher degree in tourism and hotel management without any prior administrative background. Eventually, I succeeded. Additionally, I funded it myself and learned to be independent. Being a woman from a family where women weren’t professionals, only mothers and wives, overcoming this challenge was an achievement. Another success was being able to excel in the painting department of the advertising agency, doing it perfectly and leading a team. Moreover, I managed to work with a large international company where we were paid in dollars… For me, this represented growth. I learned that I could support myself and that I could evolve in different professional areas, that I had the ability to adapt.

How long have you been living in Europe?

Since 1999. Due to the crisis, all my money was locked in the bank, we couldn’t withdraw it. I had to leave my apartment, return to my parents’ house with all my belongings. That’s when I decided to emigrate to Spain, to Barcelona, because I was told there was work. I came with a backpack full of dreams, ready to change my life.

Have you experienced professional downgrading since your arrival? Could you tell us about this experience?

Yes, it was the first time I left my country, I traveled without really knowing what to expect. Upon arrival, I realized that you couldn’t stay in another country without a permit and without money, that I had become a migrant and that papers were needed to be able to work. I felt panic and fear, but in the end, you had to survive. I was advised to work in a household, take care of children, or do any job to start earning money and be able to live in this city. I started working in a household. I lived in that house, there were three children I was responsible for and I also had to manage the house.

I am the eldest of five siblings, my parents never had many resources. My dream was for all my siblings to become professionals and for my whole family to advance. So, in the interest of improving myself, I started looking into whether I could work again in a field related to art or my studies. But the processes were long, and without papers, I couldn’t. So I started from the beginning: getting papers to have the right to study… in general, to become someone here. Because without papers, you don’t exist. This family I was working with helped me get my papers.

How did you get into cooking? How did this professional retraining process go?

This family I was working with traveled a lot, so I stayed with the grandmother, the woman’s mother. She introduced me to cooking. At that time, the experimental movement of Ferrán Adrià started on the Costa Brava, cooking began to change, and that caught my interest. I realized that I liked cooking, that it could be a new source of work, a way to integrate myself here, to have other income and other dreams.

I asked this family for the possibility to study. I did two years of culinary school here at the Bellart School in Barcelona. During those years, I was a kitchen assistant for one year and a professional cook the next.

What were the main obstacles during this process?

Culinary schools are very expensive. To support myself and pay for my studies, I worked in this household from Monday to Friday and on weekends, I took care of an elderly person. In 2005, I finished culinary school. At that point, I left the family that had employed me and started my professional journey in cooking. I started as a kitchen assistant, but I wanted to conquer the world of gastronomy. After working in several places, I became a head chef at 30 years old here in Barcelona. But throughout this journey, I encountered obstacles because I was a woman, a migrant, and the professional cooking world is dominated by men.

Many people were angry with me, they thought, “how is this migrant woman here leading the kitchen?” They would ask me, “but do you know how to cook paellas or local dishes?”

Can you share a particularly difficult or frustrating moment you experienced in your professional journey in Europe?

In 2010, I became a mother. I had my son Gabriel, and two years later, I realized something was wrong. My son was diagnosed with autism. From there, I started a new cycle of my life, a mourning period, because I had to accept that my son was different, but I didn’t know how to do it because I was living a different adventure on a professional level. I loved being a head chef, being the best, it was very important for me to show that migrant women could also be professionals, that they could also reach those positions. However, at the same time, I wanted to be a mother and the best mother possible. I didn’t know how to be the best mother in this new reality. I realized that I couldn’t do both things at the same time, so I left professional cooking and returned to domestic service.

It was like experiencing professional downgrading for the second time. How did you overcome this difficult moment?

I decided that I could continue cooking, not at a professional level, but I could do catering. I have always loved events, weddings, where people gather to celebrate. Since I have always lived in the same neighborhood here in Barcelona, I started promoting myself among the mothers of my son’s classmates, offering my services for birthdays, Christmas, etc. This way, I continued cooking, but not as if it were a business, it was an economic alternative to continue being a cook. I consider that cooking saved me many times from losing hope and continuing to move forward.

Thanks to catering, I was able to help other people like me because I have always hired more migrant people. I trained them and gave them the opportunity to make cooking a source of income. In this process, I met SINGA.

How did you hear about SINGA and what motivated you to join us?

Through social media. I was interested because it brings together migrants with locals to create impactful businesses, giving opportunities to people with abilities who, being out of their environment without family or economic support, sometimes face more difficulties. I attended the first meeting they organized on the outskirts of Barcelona. I saw that we all had projects and desires to improve ourselves, and we shared a social component. I really liked the human aspect of it. We are all human beings and, deep down, it’s not just about business; we also help more people who have hearts, lives, and rights. From there, my catering business grew, and I eventually got a place, even though I never did it officially full-time.

Can you share an experience or a key moment when SINGA particularly impacted your professional journey?

During the pandemic, I had continuous anxiety because it was said that many people were hungry and without work, and I had the catering place. At a meeting organized by SINGA, I proposed the idea of a social project for healthy solidarity meals. The goal was to guarantee people at least one meal a week. That’s how “Where One Eats, Two Eat” was born. I came up with the idea myself, but SINGA helped me realize this project. We fed vulnerable families healthily, almost every Friday, for nearly a year. I was very satisfied to have been able to realize this project. I am very grateful to SINGA for helping me carry it out.

How has SINGA influenced your integration in Europe?

It helped me understand my value as a migrant. I realized that I had value as a person and the ability to create projects and do things that contributed to society. In a way, SINGA validated me. Before, I felt that as a foreigner, I didn’t have that validation. I didn’t feel capable, but by creating this network with others like me, you realize there is something more important than others’ validation. Thanks to SINGA, I also found another way to build community. This community tries to integrate all of us, including the general society.

What do you think are the main changes needed to improve the professional integration of refugees in Europe?

Firstly, I think we need to change the narrative about us, those who come from outside, the narrative that says, “we come asking for something.” In reality, we are not asking for anything.

Secondly, I think migrants, especially women, need to think about themselves first. I believe I would have gone further if I had thought about myself first, by training more in the early years, before starting to carry two burdens. I think the integration would have been faster because I would have dedicated all my economic resources and reached a higher professional level more quickly. But when we come from outside, we want to be here and at the same time not abandon our family, even if they continue to lead their lives in our country.

What advice would you give to newcomers experiencing professional downgrading in Spain?

You must believe in yourself; I think that’s the most important thing, even if sometimes it’s difficult. I would also tell them to live in the present. Accept that you made a decision and that the present is here, in this new city. Tell yourself that this city will be your home and that it is here you will develop. Put all your energy into the present to develop yourself professionally and personally, stopping telling yourself, “I come from here or there.” Simply say, “I am in a place I chose, and it is here that I must develop and find a way to do so,” to adapt to this new reality.

SINGA actively supports new arrivals in Europe and Canada, helping them to rebuild their network and find a professional activity that matches their skills. SINGA offers entrepreneurial support programs, enabling newcomers to create and develop their own businesses. With 12 incubators in Europe, SINGA has supported over 2,000 entrepreneurs, 50% of whom are women. These initiatives enable ambitious projects to come to fruition, and 60% of incubated companies remain in business after three years.

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Interview conducted as part of SINGA Global’s World Refugee Day awareness campaign on the professional downgrading of refugees on June 20.