In this ECLAC Oral History interview, Silva vividly recalls her first day: “I was very impressed first by the place—the gardens, the building—and then by the people.” Coming from the University of Chile, she encountered an environment that felt both elegant and demanding, but above all one characterized by a level of expertise that, in her own words, “deeply impressed me.”

She began her career in the training area, coordinating regional courses that brought together professionals from across Latin America. ECLAC was analogue at that time. Work was mainly done on paper and the first computers were shared among several people. “We had to take turns to use the PC,” she recalls.

A central chapter of her experience was her involvement in the Women’s Action Group, an internal initiative that emerged in the 1980s. Through workshops and spaces for reflection, the group helped to make gender inequalities visible and to strengthen skills such as assertiveness and participation in public settings. “At that time, women would think twenty times before asking to speak in public,” she recalls.

Closely linked to regional development and trade, her professional path was shaped by figures such as Sergio Boisier, Carlos de Mattos, Carla Macario and Luis Lira, among others. Looking back, Verónica Silva highlights both the intellectual contributions and the human dimension of her years at ECLAC: generous teams, formative leadership and spaces for exchange that fostered a multidisciplinary perspective on development.