‘I Love My Job’: It’s About Having Fun, Working Hard, Having Work-Life Balance and Making an Impact

Welcome to I Love My Job, the series where we hear from real women who really love their jobs. In this edition, we sat down with Yemile Ojeda Arjonilla, a U.S./Mexico Border Territory Sales Engineer at Henkel — a company that holds positions in both industrial and consumer businesses. If you were to look around your home, “you probably have one of the Henkel brands there,” Arjonilla notes.

And, not only are the company’s products prolific, the culture is remarkable, too. Arjonilla tells us that the culture at Henkel is “very friendly and helpful.” In fact, “I just came off maternity leave, and I had so many coworkers that jumped in just to help cover my position while I was gone,” she tells us. At Henkel, “everyone's willing to step in and help you.”

In the video below, Arjonilla shares more on why she loves working at Henkel. We also provide lightly edited highlights from the video discussion in the following article.

 Tell us about your work and career journey.

I’ve been with Henkel for almost nine years now. I started off in the Prism Program, which is the leadership rotation program. From there, I transitioned into sales, which is where I'm now.

I'm a senior field sales specialist, and I cover Baja California, so, all of our sales on the U.S./Mexico border.

What’s an exciting project that you’re working on at Henkel?

One of the projects that I'm really excited to be currently working on is how to incentivize and make our sales force win faster.

Behind the scenes, I'm working on sales tools to make sure that, when we're working on one-year to three-year projects, we can win those faster. [I investigate] how we can close those projects and get products out to our customers faster — which makes our sales cycle faster. At the end of the day, we all like things fast and we all like to win fast.

What is your favorite thing about Henkel?

My favorite thing about Henkel is the people.

I love my coworkers and everyone that works there. I meet people from different facilities or different divisions within Henkel, and it's just fun to talk to everyone. Everyone wants to collaborate together, do the best for Henkel and for our customers. Because, at the end of the day, we want to make sure that we're helping all of our customers by giving them the most innovative, best products.

What kind of benefits does Henkel provide?

We have the standard vacation packages, where your vacation days go up for the number of years you have with the company… We have excellent health benefits, and we also have paid paternity and maternity leave [which depends on your state]. I'm based out of California, and I received three-and-a-half months of maternity leave. That really helped me to bond with my daughter. The company's just been very supportive with me wanting to have a family while working and climbing up that corporate ladder… 

Every couple of months, I meet with upper management to go over my goals and to see what I want to do and what position I see myself in, whether it be the next six months or the next year. [This enables me] to get prepared for that next step, whether it be taking a course or having someone else mentor me. Henkel’s very supportive of you moving up the corporate ladder and being in a position that you're happy in…We want all of our employees to feel like they're valued and to feel like they're happy and that they belong. And so, Henkel does a very good job of doing that and giving you work-life balance. We work hard to play hard, and make sure to use all of those vacation days…. [For example I went on a safari in Africa.] 

What advice would you give to other women who are thinking about working at Henkel?

Be yourself and do not be afraid to speak up and make an impact. We're hiring you for you and for your skillset, and it's valuable…

There are not a lot of women in sales. So, we want to change that… We want to make sure everyone has a voice and that you're being heard because your voice is valuable. And the only way that things are going to change is if we speak up!

Fairygodboss is proud to work with Henkel. Find a job there today!

Check out other posts in the ‘I Love My Job’ series:

• ‘I Love My Job’: How My Company Supports Me As an AVP and First-Time Working Mom

• ‘I Love My Job’: How My Company’s Transformation Is Helping Employees Elevate Their Careers'

• ‘I Love My Job’: I’m Able to Be the Best Version of Myself, Professionally and Personally

• 'I Love My Job': Making a Meaningful Impact with Digital and Data Science at Johnson & Johnson

• ‘I Love My Job’: I Have ‘The Space to Celebrate and Feel Genuine Joy From My Team and Company'