Meet the Authors

Mónica Bauer is Vice President of Corporate Affairs for PepsiCo, the second-largest food & beverage company globally. She helps shape and execute the global Corporate Affairs strategy and the cultural agenda for the function. 

Before this role, Mónica was VP, Corporate Affairs for PepsiCo Latin America. 

In February 2020, she published the book The Power of Empowerment: Women Building Latin America with Paula Santilli, CEO of PepsiCo Latin America, and Marty Seldman, executive coach. The same authors published Empowering You, Empowering Her the year after.

Mónica earned her degree in International Relations at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) and completed her MBA in the Instituto de Empresa in Madrid.

Dr. Marty Seldman is a corporate trainer, executive coach, and organizational psychologist. He received a B.A. in mathematics from Cornell University and completed his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Temple University.

From 1972 to 1986, Marty specialized in the field of training. This experience included training trainers, designing training programs, and serving as VP of Sales for a training company. In 1986 he began his career as an executive coach and has become the coach of choice for many Fortune 500 companies. Marty has trained tens of thousands of executives around the globe through his seminars and coached over 2000 executives one-on-one. Approximately half of the executives Marty has coached are women, people of color, or non-U.S. executives.

Marty has written 9 books, including Survival of the Savvy (Free Press, 2004) which was a Wall Street Journal Best Seller, Executive Stamina, and his newest book, A Woman’s Guide to Power, Presence and Protection, coauthored with Mónica Bauer, Paula Santilli and Jovita Thomas-Williams.

In addition to Marty’s corporate work, he is active in the non-profit sector as a coach and
consultant. He also serves on the boards of four organizations that work in the areas of human rights and poverty alleviation.

Paula Santilli is the chief executive officer of PepsiCo Latin America, leading the company’s food and beverage businesses for Mexico, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. She is responsible for over $7 billion in annual net revenue. Besides being a member of PepsiCo’s Executive Committee, she previously served as the president of PepsiCo Mexico Foods (PMF), where she also led the PepsiCo Mexico Foundation.

Prior to this, she was the chief operating officer (COO) of all business units of PepsiCo Mexico Foods, providing leadership for Sales, Marketing and Operations. Additionally, as COO, Paula helped guide strategy and played a leadership role in talent development for the business. Her ample experience also encompasses managing the savory and beverages business in Mexico and leadership roles in Foods and Snacks in the Latin America Southern Cone region, including Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Before joining PepsiCo, Paula worked for Campbell’s Soups and Kellogg’s in Argentina in marketing roles. Moreover, Paula has been a strong champion of Diversity and Inclusion, increasing women’s representation in Mexico. She won the Catalyst Practices Recognition in New York in 2014 and was included in Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women International list. Besides this, she is a sponsor of the Inspira Program in Latin America, which seeks to propel female executive development within the business. Paula holds a degree in Communications and Advertising Sciences from University of Salvador in Buenos Aires and a postgraduate degree in Marketing and International Studies from Miami University of Ohio.

Jovita Thomas-Williams is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization (MGPO) in Boston, MA. Massachusetts General Hospital is a member of the Mass General Brigham HealthCare System, an 80,000 employee, $13.5 billion integrated not-for-profit academic health system founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, and a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. She joined MGH from Yale New Haven Hospital, in New Haven, CT, where she served as the Vice President of Human Resources. Her HR leadership experience spans decades and a variety of industries – including healthcare, higher education, consumer products, manufacturing, hospitality & entertainment, and management consulting – across North and South America and Europe.

As a senior HR executive, Jovita is widely known for successfully balancing the strategic needs of prestigious Fortune 100 employers and academic medical centers while remaining a strong advocate for employees and fostering workplace environments where employees feel valued, supported, and, most of all, heard. She was recognized among the 2021 most impactful Black Women in Boston.

A native of Detroit, MI, Jovita holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Tuskegee Institute and earned both her MBA and MILR (Master in Industrial & Labor Relations) at Cornell University (first in university history). Additionally, she is the recipient of both the SPHR and GPHR professional certifications. Jovita takes great pride in her career accomplishments but considers her most cherished role as that of mother to her beloved son — the center of her universe.