Juan Fernando Domínguez

Emma is a self-driving job search AI assistant created by Torre. Let her find the perfect job for you! To learn more and get started, visit torre.ai/emmatorrenegra Emma's name is inspired by Maria Emma Torrenegra, the grandmother of Torre's founder. This is her story: María Emma Torrenegra was born in 1913 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her father, Olimpo, worked at the town’s port. Her mother, María, was a homemaker. Emma was the eldest of five children raised in a restrictive Catholic environment. She never completed high school. Although there were independent primary schools for boys and girls, only high schools for boys — girls were denied the privilege of secondary education. Consequently, girls couldn’t attend university. Fortunately for Emma, in 1929, a lady named Lady Chauvin founded the Universidad Comercial del Atlántico. It was the first university for women in Barranquilla, and it didn’t require a high-school qualification. Emma was one of their first students. In 1933, she graduated with the only diploma offered by the university: Stenography. Soon after getting her first job, tragedy struck: Olimpo died in a train accident. Given that her mother had never worked outside the home and her four siblings were still at school, Emma found herself responsible for supporting her entire family. One can only imagine what a challenge it must have been for a 22-year-old woman living in such a patriarchal society! Nevertheless, she succeeded. Not only did she support her family, but quite ironically, she paid for her male siblings’ university education — thus enabling them to pursue degrees that society disallowed her to study for. Since Emma was so focused on work as a professional secretary, she waited until she was 40 years old to marry. She soon gave birth to her daughter Katia. Three years after that, her husband abandoned them. Once again, she found herself solely responsible for a family. But Emma raised her daughter well. Emma had several clerical jobs during her career. She became a teacher at the age of 70. For health reasons, she stopped working when she was 77. Seven years later, at age 84, she passed away. Inevitably, one wonders what other professions María Emma might have pursued. Perhaps she could have become an engineer, a scientist, a doctor, or a professor. Unfortunately, she and so many others like her were trapped in a society that severely discriminated against women. Thanks to nonconformists like Lady Chauvin and the many others who followed her, discrimination -against women and others- will soon be a thing of the past.