Interviews

IWD 2024 Chie Mihara

Spanish shoe designer, Chie Mihara has broken barriers in a male-dominated industry, inspiring many with her unwavering pursuit of excellence.

Chie Mihara

1. As a manager, what influence do you strive to have on the women in your team?

My company is made up of many women, most of them are in the creative, administrative and sales areas.

I am very comfortable having them with me, I call them “my girls” because we make a very good team!

Regardless of gender, we work with good communication and mutual cooperation, but women are more emotional and we really like this close relationship and express our thoughts or input more freely. As women we have this interest and attention towards others, so it is very nice to see this natural activity of coexistence in a group.

2. What improvements have you witnessed toward achieving gender equality in your personal and professional life?

Look, I came to Spain, a young girl of 26 years old, Asian and exotic for the Spaniards of that time (almost 30 years ago), I have never had any type of disrespect in that sense. I also spent a lot of time with the factory workers where the majority were men but they have always treated me correctly. I think that comes mainly from one's predisposition to attract these types of occurrences.

Regarding equal salaries, in our company, in particular, we have never had this differentiation. We always validate the capacity and performance of each one. It is true that before, I am talking about many years ago, men negotiated their conditions better, but today there is no difference. Both men and women, who know their value and know what they are going to contribute to the company, with integrity and honesty, in the end fight for their correct exchange and this is an admirable aspect of each person.

3. What makes you a strong woman? What fulfils you?

To continue with enthusiasm and desire, it is important to have a balanced life, both work and family, but the most important thing for me is to be focused, keep studying, learning, getting to know the mind, people and working on my spirituality. All this helps me play a much bigger game than just designing shoes, because in the end one can do enough for oneself, have enough to live well...what do you do with the rest? You have to share with others. You can't sow the wheat, harvest it and eat it all by yourself, you have to share it with the local church, with those who don't have a chance...and help the community. Whether this community is a neighborhood, a city, a country or the entire planet.

I find it very fulfilling to help others. Apart from the company, I work with organizations to educate about drugs, human rights and the human values of good coexistence and the improvement of life.

We also opened a school in Madrid two years ago, with very efficient study technology, which makes the student really learn, increases their self-esteem and respect for themselves and for others. It's amazing how this changes the entire family. Sometimes having a child with problems at school is a ruin for the family, because from there it leads to many other problems such as violence, smoking joints, alcohol and other drugs. We must always work on prevention.