Let's promote female talent, to be stronger together
10 April 2025
March is a time of growth and renewal. It marks the arrival of spring and, since 1975, has been the month in which we celebrate International Women's Day, observed globally on March 8th.
What better opportunity, then, to reflect on the subject of gender equality and renew our commitment to supporting women and empowering female talent?
This year, we’ve chosen to highlight stories that showcase the significant and vital contribution women make to our Group.
WOMEN OF SCIENCE
Today, women’s contributions are rightfully acknowledged as essential across many fields – including science. We are proud to share the inspiring stories of some of the women involved in research and innovation at Barilla.
Rosamaria Petrosino, Vice-President of Global RD&Q Capabilities, has been with our Group since 1993. With over thirty years of experience, she now leads a team of 35 individuals who blend the art of gastronomy with science to ensure that all our products maintain their distinctive flavour, while ensuring the quality and safety of our production processes every time they are made.
At Barilla, more than 15,000 analyses are conducted annually in our laboratories to monitor every stage of production, from ingredient selection to the final product’s quality. Meanwhile, our research teams continue to drive scientific and sensory innovation. One such innovator is Francesca Lambertini, Allergens Research & Labs’ Management Scientist since 2011. She plays a key role in tasks ranging from detecting allergens in food and raw materials to overseeing the laboratory's broader operations, where research and technology come together to perfect every detail of the perfect al dente pasta, from its texture to its roughness.
Before texture and roughness, however, come our product recipes and the raw materials that go into making them. In this area, Elena Gucciardi, a young Food Technologist, plays a key role. Through her dedication and perseverance, she was able to transform an internship into a full-time job. Today, she helps define and refine the recipes for our pasta, showing that women of all ages are empowered to make a difference, even in the scientific field.
A WOMAN’S “NOSE”
We often associate a “nose” with the world of perfumery. It describes those rare individuals who use their exceptional sense of smell to create fragrances.
However, not everyone knows that in the food industry we also rely on the expertise of real "noses” who are specialists in the sensory analysis of food. At Barilla, we have a team of 20 tasters, coordinated by Federica Quaini, Sensory and Analytical Food Science Associate Director since 2016, who play a crucial role in evaluating and perfecting the sensory experience of our products.
While advanced technologies can detect aromas and flavours, no tool can truly replicate the explosion of sensations we experience every time we chew, savour and eat something. That's why, under Federica Quaini's guidance, our tasters assess every sensory detail of our products with a scientific approach, whether they are baked goods or pasta.
OPEN TO INNOVATION
In recent years, we have worked to accelerate our innovation efforts by mapping out the key players in this complex global ecosystem. As a result of this commitment, we have established over 100 new international contacts annually and strengthened more than 50 active collaborations.
At the heart of this initiative is another essential female figure within our Group: Claudia Berti, Head of Open Innovation, who has for over twenty years been instrumental in building synergies to develop new food solutions through collaborations with universities, start-ups and innovative companies. Thanks to her leadership and the efforts of her team, alongside the start-up Connecting Food, we have developed a cutting-edge system that ensures the traceability of the basil in our Pesto through a QRcode.
A concrete example that demonstrates how innovation is at the core of everything, embodied in the many people, many of whom are women, who help us pursue it every day.
PASTA IN SPACE
Valentina Tereshkova, Sally Ride and Samantha Cristoforetti are three remarkable women astronauts who have achieved great success in the traditionally male-dominated field of space exploration. While we don’t yet have any astronauts, male or female, within our Group, we did managed to break through earthly boundaries with the "Pasta in Space”project, which sent Barilla fusilli into orbit for an extraordinary tasting test.
In January 2024, the space capsule carrying Air Force Colonel Walter Villadei launched with 3 kg of fusilli on board, already cooked and ready to eat. With a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and Barilla’s al dente pasta, this recipe that made its way to the International Space Station, designed to offer astronauts the unforgettable experience of enjoying a delicious plate of pasta, even among the stars.
If we succeeded in this challenge, it’s also thanks to Cristina Gallina, Director of the Global Discovery Center at Barilla, and her team, who have spent many years experimenting with new technologies applied to the food industry. Once again, this extraordinary initiative, which allowed astronauts to "feel at home" even 400 km from Earth, is part of a broader context of research and innovation, reflecting our commitment to responding to people’s needs with new solutions, often driven by the intuition and expertise of our female professionals.
FOR GENDER EQUALITY
When you enjoy a plate of our pasta with your loved ones, have breakfast with our biscuits, or treat yourself to one of our snacks, behind each of these products often lies the talent of a woman.
Looking to the future, we are preparing more women for leadership roles over the next 5-10 years through talent development programmes supported by concrete initiatives aimed at promoting equal opportunities for all our people.
After achievinggender pay equality for all employees in 2020, we introduced a new parental leave policy in 2023 which guarantees all parents in the Group a minimum of 12 weeks of fully paid leave, regardless of gender, marital status or sexual orientation. Additionally, in 2024, we launched a partnership with LEAD Network, a non-profit organisation that supports the advancement of women in the retail and consumer goods sectors across Europe.
Our commitment to women is part of a journey that has involved over 8,700 people for many years, each of whom contributes to our vision every day, helping us deliver our products worldwide. A long-term project that we are excited to continue nurturing!
OUR PLAYLIST OF THE MONTH
If you want to delve deeper into the topics we have just addressed, here are some reading, listening and watching suggestions:
- Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, a book written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky that highlights the contributions of fifty notable women to the STEM;
- Hidden figures, a film by Theodore Melfi in which three African-American female scientists play a pivotal role in launching astronaut John Glenn into orbit, confronting racial and gender discrimination;
- Women Changing The World, a podcast by Lis Best on a mission to shine a light on the real-life humans who are birthing the new.
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