Name Surname: Pilar Torreblanca

Country: España

City: Zaragoza

Nationally: Española

Background: University degree

Sector: third sector

Position: Manager

Company name + url: Fundación CESTE: www.fundacionceste.org

I´m Pilar Torreblanca. I´m 62 so I have a long lifetime. When I was 6 months, I suffered Polio, what at that time was called infantile paralysis and it has been leading , as you can imagine, the rest of my life; not conditioning, but marking in some ways. I´m graduated in Medicine, graduated in Information Sciences, Higher Technician fom State in Protocol. All that has also marked my professional life.I started to work in Health Comunication field. After that, I decided to work only in Comunication: I started to colaborate in different organizations. I started up my own Event Organization Company and one day, as every passionate person, at 25 I decided that my life was in the music world, since I was child I had been singing and I decided to do it. I left everything and started studying classical singing; I´ve had a professional life for 15 years as singer in four out of the five continents. I couldn´t forget my other areas; it´s true that my medical part stayed out, but the communication one did not. I started to colaborate in CESTE, International Bussines School, from its beginning. It was in 1985-86 (It was when we started with that project) and I´ve always been attached to it. At the beginning, I worked in the school as Comunication Manager. 13 years ago we created a foundation; its Foundation's trustees were the International Bussines School CESTE and Sagrada Familia School, which joined to that learning proyect. From that moment, I have assumed CESTE Schools´management till now.

A family that has been supporting me, secondly a nature or a way of understanding life from passion and hope. I can tell you that my disability has never been a discriminating factor and I mean that I think that the determination and the desire and the strenth are the best motivation.I have a written sentence in my office (I don´t know whose it is, I think maybe it´s mine) that means:

We devote to improve the employability of those people in social exclusion risk, those people who because of their own characteristics, have troubles to be integrated into the labour market and thus, in the society. We have minly foccused, in people who has the three main exclusion signal: women, rural area and exclusion signals.

I can ensure you that I have never felt this discrimination, neither my disability nor other problem I had until a few years ago: obesity. I was an obese person and being an obese woman with disability I have never had any problem to be an Opera singer and acting in Operas all around the world.

I´ve been so lucky to have a family environment that has strengthened, above all, my abilities, my skills, my hobbies, my passions. It has given to me two keys that have marked my life: firstly the curisosity, which helpt me to know and learn more; secondly, passion in all what I do and in whatever activity I´m in.

I only want to say to all those women who are in difficult circumstances, either temporal or over coming from an accident, a sudden illness, etc. the most important issue is that they are alive!, the most important issue is that they have the world ahead!, the most important issue is that they are able to get anywhere they want! The brake will be firstly in their mind, later if they can overcome it.... The world is yours, girls!!!