TradeExperettes' Letters to Santa 2022

On this podcast episode you will hear from some of the TradeExperettes Queens, Advisorettes and Members who have shared with Kellie and Belén their thoughts about their favorite TradeExperettes activities in 2022 and their wishes for the New Year.

Kellie Kemock: Welcome to the TradeExperettes Podcast. I'm Kellie Kemock… 

Belén Gracia: … and I'm Belén Gracia, 

Kellie Kemock: and we're the host of the TradeExperettes Podcast. In today's episode, you will hear from some of the TradeExperettes' Queens, Advisorettes and members who have shared with us their thoughts about their favorite TradeExperettes activity in 2022 and their wishes for the New Year. 

Belén Gracia: 2022 was a tough year. We are still feeling the consequences of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, which impacted millions of lives, as well as trade flows. But since we are approaching the holiday season, we want to highlight some of the good things that we have experienced this year and give our listeners a bit of hope for the year to come. 

Kellie Kemock: This is our holiday gift to all of you, and we hope you enjoy it. 

Hello everyone. Hi Belén! 

Belén Gracia: Hi Kellie! 

Kellie Kemock: So it's been a year and a half since we've formally launched the TradeExperettes as a network that shines a light on female trade experts. And it's open to everyone who would like to support us by becoming a member. And this year and a half, we did a lot! 

Belén Gracia: Indeed! We published eight blogs and produced six podcast episodes, we held dozens of Confidentials, tutorials, coaching sessions, and Meet and Greets for our members, and we also welcomed a new cohort of our exceptional Mentorettes Program. We published our 10 Quick Wins for Digital Trade, and launched our Digital Trade Year with three events taking place in three different parts of the world during the same day. And we made the Young African TradeExperettes (YATEs) Program a reality.

Kellie Kemock: And all of that would not have been possible without our incredible volunteer team, but also without the help of our loyal members and supporting allies. 

Belén Gracia: And so for this episode, we wanted to give them the opportunity to share with us their thoughts about the projects that we developed during 2022 and also their reflections and wishes about trade for the next year.

Kellie Kemock: The first question we asked was, what was your favorite TradeExperettes' activity, and what did you like most about it? This is what Hannah Anderson said.

Hannah Anderson: So in the past year, my favorite TradeExperettes' activities were the number of meet and greets that we were able to hold virtually. As somebody who , you know, spent the last year navigating a lot of professional and personal changes between completing a master's, moving a new job, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, it was wonderful to be able to, on a pretty regular basis, tie in and link up with other ladies in trade who care about the same big policy areas that I do, talk a little bit about that side of things, but also talk about the personal side and stay connected with all these communities, which is really difficult to do when you're navigating all those sorts of transitions. And so the Meet and Greets are something I greatly appreciated throughout the past year.

Belén Gracia: Kellie, you also have a message about the Meet and Greets. Right? 

Kellie Kemock: Absolutely. The Meet and Greets are my favorite TradeExperettes' activity, and not only because I host them, but because it is such a great way to connect back to the human side of the trade world. Too often I get bogged down with day-to-day work and, you know, that narrow focus on what's in front of me as far as my workload is concerned, and then it's so great to be able to connect with other trade professionals and really take a step back and look at the forest for the trees, right, and get to see a broader view of trade. I think that's what the Meet and Greet does for me.

Belén Gracia: And Marta Soprana told us her thoughts about the Mentorettes Program and her experience with the Writerettes, a virtual space where our members get together to work and write their reports, papers and PhD dissertations. This is what Marta said.

Marta Soprana: There are two programs that are offered by TradeExperettes that I want to highlight. The first is Mentorettes, which I co-organized with Mitali (Pradhan) and has launched its first edition in 2022, and the response has gone way beyond my expectations. And the second one, of course, is Writerettes, which is led by Professor Michelle Eagan. Because gathering online to write together with other fellow TradeExperettes has proved absolutely instrumental in helping me finish my PhD dissertation, and therefore, I'm immensely grateful for it. 

Kellie Kemock: This year we launched our Young African Trade Experts program. Let's first hear Sarah Frimpong talk about this fellowship program. 

Sarah Frimpong: We had the opportunity to welcome 20 amazing young African women of which I had the privilege to be part of the young African TradeExperettes Fellowship. This year we launched the inaugural cohort, the very first of the TradeExperettes YATEs, that is a Young African TradeExperettes, and we had the opportunity to also go to Geneva to attend the WTO Public Forum. And this meant a lot to me because under normal circumstances or ordinarily this opportunity would have taken us a very long time to realize it. But with the kindness of TradeExperettes and the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, we got the opportunity to have the door open to us to be in Geneva, where decisions were being taken.

Belén Gracia: And we also have the testimonial of two other YATEs fellows that shared with us their experience in the program so far, and told us about what they have enjoyed the most about it. 

Chidinma Nwodo: My name is Chidinma Nwodo from Nigeria, and I'm one of the Young African TradeExperettes. So far, my favorite TradeExperettes' activity has been the opportunity to attend the World Trade Organization Forum in Geneva and listen to several empowering and amazing sessions, as well as meet several trade negotiators and leaders. At the forum, I was able to expand my network of trade and development specialists, and this has led to impactful connections and career growth.

Laone Nthaga: My name is Laone Nthaga and I'm a development finance practitioner passionate about leveraging innovative financial solutions to boost inclusive and meaningful trade. Being selected as part of the inaugural Young African TradeExperettes Program was the highlight of my personal development journey this year. It's a pleasure to be part of a sorority of women experts who lift as they rise. Most importantly, a community committed to co-creating towards sustainable and just trade. Attending the WTO Forum in Geneva, this year was the highlight of my experience with the TradeExperettes. The privilege to sit at the table with various trade experts and industry leaders, to share ideas on how trade can be harnessed as a tool of economic growth and sustainability provided me with an invaluable personal and professional growth opportunity. It challenged me to be more solution oriented rather than critical about all the development challenges that Africa faces. 

Kellie Kemock: This year, we continued our TradeExperettes Talks program, TE Talks, which gives our members the opportunity to have a safe space to develop oral and presentation skills and prepare for interviews. Let's listen to Andrea Bulnes Acevedo's experience with TE Talks. 

Andrea Bulnes Acevedo: My favorite TE activity of this year was definitely TE talks, which is the space where members can practice job interview skills in a friendly way and receive feedback from other TradeExperettes. In my case, I requested to practice for a graduate school interview, because I was applying to master's programs, and well, here, I received all the insights and feedback that were super useful for me. The TradeExperettes shared their recommendations and this not only helped me to improve my presentation in the interview, but also, how I could do better the presentation of my skills in international trade. This was super valuable. And, I followed the recommendations and I could in this way achieve one of my dreams. Right now I'm studying at the university, in a master program in Geneva, and also I got admitted to four other programs. And I'm really, I'm really happy about that.

Belén Gracia: And finally, this is what our President, Hannah Norberg said about this year. 

Hanna Norberg: For me it's been a magical year and it's hard to pinpoint just one activity or one event. I am in awe of this year's magnitude of things that we have been able to put together. This year, we have held close to 50 events, five-zero, and with all, you know, an all volunteer workforce, helping people from all over the world take huge strides in their careers, and learning so much and getting to know all these people, I'm just in awe. 

Belén Gracia: Next, we ask them the following question. If you have the power to change something in trade in the coming year, what could that be? This is what Laone and Chidinma told us.

Laone Nthaga: If I were to change something about trade in the coming, I would say that transforming Africa from a raw material exporter to a producer of market competitive value added products will be a priority for me. One of the greatest unresolved challenges in Africa when it comes to trade is the lack of value addition in commodities that are traded. Most economies still rely heavily on commodity production and exports with minimal value addition and even fewer forward and backward linkages to other sectors in the economy. I believe that trade has a significant role to play in the realization of the African Union's agenda 2063 as a powerful engine for economic growth and development. Africa's role needs to shift from just being a raw materials and a commodity producer to a supplier of value added products. This is the only way that we can have stronger economies, and Africa playing a significant role in global trade.

Chidinma Nwodo: If I could change anything in trade in the coming year, it would be that all countries in Africa adopt the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and also deposit their instrument of ratification. This will encourage broader and deeper economic integration and will attract investment, boost trade, provide better jobs, reduce poverty, and increase shared prosperity in Africa, which should help reduce the migration and brain-drain problem we are having in African countries.

Kellie Kemock: Sylvia Chen also sent us her wishes for the next year.

Sylvia Chen: I would love to see some more women of color participation in trade policy, and also, on advisory on trade law and other related economic issues. So yeah, that's one of my biggest goals. 

Kellie Kemock: And we love the special guest in the background, Sylvia. Hopefully we can have her as a future TradeExperette. Thank you, Sylvia! 

Belén Gracia: Hannah Anderson also shared with us her thoughts for the next year.

Hannah Anderson: So my answer is a little bit broader than just a change in trade policy. Something I wish people in the trade world, but also broadly the policy community would change, is putting trade back at the top of people's agendas. It seems like, since 2019, a lot of other things understandably took over as the top concern for folks. And when I hear about trade these days, it's either in relation to climate or supply chains, which are both incredibly important areas for trade policy. But There's a lot more to trade than that, and trade in and of itself merits policymaker attention for a variety of reasons beyond just making sure semiconductors get from one place to another. And I really hope in the coming year, policymakers recognize trade for the value that trade brings and take the same sort of whole of government or comprehensive view we see applied to other policy issues to trade.

Kellie Kemock: And this is what Cecilia Malmström, one of our Advisorettes wishes for 2023. 

Cecilia Malmström: Next year, I wish that trade could become less of a geopolitical tool, less of a weapon, and be what it should be a means to connect people, to facilitate trade, to create jobs, investment, innovations. That's what I want from Santa this Christmas.

Belén Gracia: Kellie, do you have a trade wish that you want to share with us as well? 

Kellie Kemock: Sure! Mine's pretty basic, I suppose, but I just wish that trade data was more accessible. I wish that there was more public trade data available, but then also that internal companies and internal, like to governments as well, just had more visibility to be able to make informed decisions with data.

What about you, Belén? What is your trade wish?

Belén Gracia: I wish for more coordination among countries and WTO members in particular on measures that involve trade and climate change and environmental sustainability. We all know that climate change is a crisis that the whole world is struggling with, and instead of unilateral measures that affect trade, we need multilateral coordinated efforts to be able to successfully tackle it. So that is my trade wish for 2023.

Kellie Kemock: Well, I hope that Santa listens to all of our wishes and we can all make the trade world a better world in the coming year. Thanks, Belén, and thank you to all of the members for this wonderful conversation. 

Belén Gracia: Thanks to you, Kellie for this fun last TradeExperettes Podcast episode of the year.

Kellie Kemock: Thank you to all the TradeExperettes' Queens, Advisorettes and members that contributed to this podcast. And thank you all for listening and supporting us during this year. We send you our best wishes for the next year, and if we would like to know more about the TradeExperettes, you can find us online in LinkedIn and Twitter. Join us!