Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucía Bellocchio.
Lucía, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am Lucia Bellocchio. I’m 33 years old.
I was born in the North of Buenos Aires province, and when I was 17 years old, like many young people in Argentina, I moved to the City of Buenos Aires to study at university. I studied Law at the University of Buenos Aires, and motivated by my interest in cities, I’m graduated with focus in administrative public law.
When the boom of technology came, I decided study a specialization in Big Data and Business Analytics to integrate technological and innovative tools to my knowledge.
I have been working for more than 12 years. When I was 19, I started working. I have experience working in one of the biggest and most demanding law firms in Argentina, in the public sector, first in the local government of the City of Buenos Aires, and then in the Judiciary: first in a Local Court and then in Attorney General’s Office.
After 8 years of working in Argentina, as a young professional, I was selected to be part of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights based in Costa Rica, which is one of the 3 courts in the world to guarantee human rights. It was a short experience but meant a breaking point in my career path because it was my first time living and working in a different country. This is where I got to experience the true Latin American region, and I got to learn different solutions like working with tech, sustainable approach, tools to open government, data for urban planning, among others.
During my stay there, I had the chance of co-writing a book with the Director of the Government School of Austral University from Argentina. Having written the book, I saw the opportunity to introduce a Program with these topics in Argentina at the University that is still in his charge. We developed a Diploma Program in Smart Sustainable Cities, and, at that moment, this was the first academic course in Spanish and in Latin America.
This is how I fully got involved | fully committed myself to the smart city’s world.
But going back to my work experience, most of my tasks were related to digitalization, innovation, access to public information, and data-driven solutions Without knowing it the ‘smart city approach.’
So, when I had a chance to learn more about the topic, I had no doubts that it would be the core topic to build my career and to try to bring this vision to my country.
Then, I created Trend Smart Cities as an initiative to share and spread what is happening in the smart city industry. We quickly got the attention of companies and local governments, and I had the chance to advise on projects with a focus on Smart City.
Together with this, the community on social media was growing, and many students and young professionals started becoming interested in apply this approach. Today I have a great team that is constantly growing and a big community on social media, and I have become recognized as a pioneer in this topic. Also, I write regularly as a columnist for La Nacion, a major newspaper company in Argentina.
In 2020 I was chosen as one of the 50 female leaders of the Southern Cone by Voces Vitales, and in 2022, I was selected as one of 10 “Smart Cities Influencers” in the world for my role as a disseminator of the subject by Onalytica (UK).
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been an easy path, but I was always convinced that this was my correct path. I remember once, when I started talking about smart cities, that a former boss told me, “This topic is bullshit, it’s too broad, it’s like talking about ‘democracy'”.
I also remember the rumors among colleagues, friends, and family when I decided to quit my job as a dependency to dedicate myself to smart cities, which at that time, nobody knew what it was or how to define or explain it.
Convinced and determined that the urban world had everything I liked, I did not hesitate to follow my own intuition.
Over time, another great obstacle would come breaking the myth that the study of cities is only for urban planners and architects.
A difficult myth to break in some areas.
I work every day with a multidisciplinary team, and I promote this vision of cities, because at the end, cities are a reflection of people’s lives, and all views must be represented; we must plan and design cities integrating the view of urbanists, but also anthropologists, sociologists, specialists in technology, sustainability and climate resilience, politicians and decision-makers, and mainly integrating citizens. We all make our cities.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We help to build smarter, more sustainable, and human-centered environments. We are a consulting firm specialized in smart cities.
We accompany our clients so that they can integrate technology, innovation, and data-driven planning and migrate from traditional management to smart management. We have a multidisciplinary team that adjusts to the needs of each project, and we work in diverse environments with companies, the public sector, multilateral organizations, investors, entrepreneurs, startups, and individuals so that they can implement a SMART approach in their local contexts.
We create tailor-made projects and achieve the best results by optimizing available resources. Our experience working with leading companies and the public sector allows us to develop the innovative and efficient solutions that our clients need.
We have 3 main services:
CONSULTING
*Strategy: Diagnosis and planning of smart city projects. Business development strategies. Integral communication projects.
*Implementation: Application, development, and monitoring of smart city projects.
*Articulation: Public-private sector linkage. Citizen engagement. Support for investment attraction.
*Mentoring: Dynamic meetings for entrepreneurs, startups, and work teams with a smart city approach.
*Facilitation: of urban innovation processes.
EDUCATION
*In-company programs: tailor-made training proposals for your industry.
*Smart City education: Online training courses.
*Congresses and events: participation as speakers and moderators.
*Exclusive and free content: trends, conferences with referents, and analysis.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I had a mentor for the first time at age 30, when I was part of the Voces Vitales Cono Sur mentoring program, a local representation of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization created in 1997 in the United States at the initiative of Hillary Clinton. It was an incredible experience. I had the honor of meeting there my mentor Desiree Ortiz (Logitech), who to this day, is a person who is present in my professional steps, whom I follow, listen to. I love talking with her and interchange points of views.
I was unaware of the importance and value of having a mentor. I highly recommend to all professionals that they seek and have a mentor, especially at the beginning of their professional career, which is where many times we find ourselves with many doors, many options, and we still do not have such a clear direction.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.trend-smartcities.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trendsmartcities/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trendsmartcities/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@trendsmartcities205
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luciabellocchio/
Image Credits
PH Retratos Profesionales
