From Bilbao by birth and generation – “I worked with a fax machine and without a mobile phone,” she admits -, Laura Ceballos Watling He studied Business Administration in London, specializing in services and starting his career in the hotel sector, especially in food and beverages. «I was a Hilton girl and a Four Seasons in Mexico. Mine is a vocation; My wish is that the client wants to return and remembers his name. Curious and with a restless soul, her life has always been a succession of reinventions. “If I’ve never done it, why not learn something new?” he laughs. So, from managing hotels he went on to open themed restaurants in Latin America – Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood or Rainforest – and to inaugurate that one in 1999. Planet Hollywood Madrid under the now defunct Palace Hotel. «Here sponsorships were not understood. I had to explain that the value was in the means, not the money. “It was wonderful madness,” he adds.
Then came another twist: music. «Walter Pol gave me the opportunity without having previous experience. I entered the promotion department and ended up in international marketing, working for U2, Bon Jovi, Pulp or PJ Harvey. The arrival of Napster and the iPod shook the industry, so the scene changed again. «I helped turn Gran Vía into Broadwaygoing from Beauty and the Beast to Cabaret. We set up our own ticketing because the label company did not give us the data. “It was a brutal learning experience.” After years of vertigo, he decided to stop. “Being a mother was also an act of bravery,” she acknowledges. Shortly after, he joined the CEDRO management entity, which had to reinvent itself after the end of the canon: «It was a total digitalization process. “It was an analog company that had to be brought into the 21st century.” From that stage his entrepreneurial streak was born. Not finding a space that fit her daughter, she created Gray Elephant, in La Latina. «It was a little school in the morning and workshops in English in the afternoon. A meeting home in the midst of the 2008 crisis, where families knew each other and supported each other. “There are still links from then.”
He returned to publishing with Penguin Random House, where he unified teams and modernized processes. «With a minimal investment you can reach a gigantic media value. “I loved measuring the real impact of communication.” However, what marked him most was discovering how people really work. «A bad match can destroy any team. That’s why I trained in coaching and neurolinguistic programming. “First they turn your socks around, and then you learn to really listen and help.”
“I convinced Felipe González to make a podcast”
During the pandemic he participated in the launch in Spain of the audio entertainment platform Podimo. «We were six people at home and the bosses were Copenhagen. I convinced Felipe González to make a podcast, and in two months we uploaded 35,000 titles». From that experience, Anthrop was born, his most personal project: a collective that helps people and companies get to know each other and be able to move forward. «We have coaching for adults and families. Anthrop Quest, based on artificial intelligence and psychometrics created with Wayra; and School of Life, where we teach how to make a resume or prepare for an interview. “Happiness, if there is no responsibility, is not capable of engaging with reality.”
But Laura has another half and that is Swiss Army Knifehis latest project. «We do what no one likes: numbers, Excel, taxation and strategy for authors, musicians and artists. There are those who do not even know how much they need per year to live. The key to everything is that becoming professional changes your decisions. Thus, he is in charge of organizing accounts, translating contracts and advising honestly. «Life is short and the world is small. If you can, leave the places well,” he points out, before finishing: “I have spent my entire life serving people and projects. “I want to be the springboard that doesn’t judge, that listens and helps you see what you don’t see yet.”