The Face of Latina Professionals

On this episode of The Face of Latina Professionals Podcast, host Paola Meinzer sits down with The Consulate General of Chile in Chicago, Ambassador Aylin Joo Liem.

A granddaughter to Chinese immigrants, Aylin grew up in Santiago, Chile knowing from a young age that she wanted to be a diplomat. 

“I was 14 years old. I was quite young. But my best friend, she still remembers. She said, ‘you had it so clear. When we were already at school, you wanted to be a diplomat.’”

She is the first woman to hold this position and shares that in the last month or so, history has been made. 

“Actually this is the first time that the government has  among 13 colleagues ambassadors, six of them are women. This is really the first time in Chile and this is a compromise made by the government who wanted to implement a feminist foreign policy.”

Her biggest passion is gender equality and she participates in different platforms to support women. 

“It was not enough before to say that we were just half of the population. I think that the world has discovered that women play a very big role and we have been a subsidized society for centuries.”

In her foreign service, Aylin has been working with other colleagues promoting women into important leadership roles and key positions. In her words, “we reflect and we represent half of the country. No matter where I will be, I will always continue supporting and working for women's visibility. ”

Aylin recently wrote an article describing a bit of what the last four years in Chile have been like. There has been a new government put in place. In part, she touched on the pandemic, but also spent time focusing on a new social movement that began in 2018. 

“Some students were protesting on the street demanding for some protocol against  sexual harassment in the academic field. The former president, President Piñera, heard that and in a way he empowered the ministry of women.”

Tune into this episode of The Face of Latina Professionals Podcast to hear more about Aylin’s story, how she climbed her way up the political ladder, and more about her work on empowering women.