After completing her first class BA (Hons) in Communications Studies from the University of Malta, Angelica started her career in 1995 as part of the team that brought Malta’s first business newspaper – The Malta Business Weekly – to life.

In 1999, she moved to the IT industry, joining GFI Software, then a start-up. In her fifteen years with this international software company, she has headed worldwide marketing and HR teams, projects and processes. She joined AAT Research Ltd in 2014 to head marketing and operations.

AAT Research is a group of companies dedicated to the research and production of cutting-edge medical technologies that provide patients with the chance of leading a better life. The company’s objective is to use the team’s research and development skills and experience to provide a unique and innovative academic-industrial approach based on scientific research.

“Our award-winning Mente helps relax the minds of children with autism,” explains Angelica, “enabling them to focus better and engage positively with their environment. It is an easy-to-use, neurofeedback device for safe home use that provides daily therapy to children with autism”. The device is FDA registered, and the company holds ISO 13485 certification. CE medical registration is currently in progress. The technology behind it, developed by the Maltese neuroscientist who founded AAT, Dr Adrian Attard Trevisan, is also patented.

Another medical solution currently under development by AAT is an epilepsy predication system. This technology is patented and won a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) award last year. 

ngelica notes that the feedback from users of Mente is heart-warming and satisfying to the company’s team of scientists, engineers and developers. Some of the benefits reported by parents whose children use this system include longer attention spans, longer timeframes of “actual learning”, increased relaxation and improved communication skills. This makes a significant difference not only to the children but also to their families.

“Parents tell us that through Mente, they have finally got to know their children,” says Angelica. Many children with autism struggle to interact socially with others, even those closest to them. Other parents have reported that their children can finally indulge in “normal” family activities, and see their children flourish in ways that had been previously unthinkable to them.

For Angelica, these positive results were the main draw to AAT – she felt inspired to work with such important technology that had the power to improve people’s lives.

So what is it like to be a CMOO at an innovative and exciting start-up company like AAT? “My job is very hands on and changes every day,” explains Angelica, “I am intricately involved in various aspects of the business, such as sales, marketing, channel relationships, investment opportunities, financial discussions, HR, project planning and providing direction and guidance on diverse issues.”

Angelica admits that although she begins each week with a precise action plan, true to the spirit of a start-up, several other opportunities crop up as each day progresses. She has learned to roll with the punches, and notes that every day is an exciting challenge.

When I ask Angelica for her thoughts on the local corporate industry and the frequency of women in upper management positions, she responds that while there has been more focus on women in leadership roles (in the form of more studies and more attention), in reality, the percentage of women in executive roles is still incredibly small.

“While the appointment of CEOs in larger firms makes the news, reports tend to take a particular slant when that appointment is female. The topic of women in the workplace is still debated and discussed – even though women’s role in the job market has been acknowledged as active and valid since the First World War, when necessity dictated that women join the labour force and when facts showed this was not necessarily a bad thing,” suggests Angelica.

Various studies have shown that there is still workplace inequality both in terms of salaries and in terms of perceptions around acceptable behaviour and performance, which then affect promotions and appointments to particular posts. Angelica points to a recent Business Insider article that showed that women are more likely to do “office housework”, such as taking notes in meetings and mentoring others, but are less likely to benefit from those actions than men are – workplace altruism tends to be expected of women regardless of their level but rewarded in men.

Malta has some of the lowest rates of women in the workforce within Europe. Angelica believes this a result of multiple factors, such as traditional family dynamics and expectations, educational issues, cultural acceptance and support structures. “For a woman in Malta to enter the workplace but, more importantly, to stay there after giving birth, the career opportunity needs to be worthwhile, both financially and also in terms of the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment it provides,” she says.

Typically, when women in corporate leadership roles are interviewed or profiled, there is some mention of maintaining work-family balance in the woman’s life and her “having it all”. This highlights the fact that women are still considered, by default, as the primary caregivers for their families. Rarely are male executives asked how they balance their home life. It is important to be analytical of such rhetoric and consider whether it is positive to highlight that women play more than one role, or whether it only further highlights that men and women will never be equal in their professions.

Angelica responds: “When you hold a challenging role at work, the reality is that your job is going to take up a large portion of your time. How you make use of your time outside of work is then based on prioritising. In my case, that tends to be family, which often means I have very little ‘me time’”. Angelica notes that this is a choice, one which reflects her values – a choice that women are more likely to face than men.

 

 

 

Equality between the sexes in the workplace is not an easy subject to tackle and one must pick one’s battles. For Angelica, the main emphasis is not how she might differ from her male peers. She instead focuses on meeting the company’s needs hand-in-hand with her team, and then letting the results speak for themselves.