Millions of vehicles travel across the roads of Peru every day. Anyone inside them can appreciate how these engineering works connect regions across a rugged terrain, but what no one sees are the personal stories behind the people who build them.
Jem Valenzuela’s story began long before she ever knew what an ISO standard or an environmental permit was. It began when she was a young girl, travelling from site to site following her father across the country.
Today, several decades later, she heads the environmental management team for the construction consortium of the Lima Peripheral Ring Road, one of the most significant infrastructure developments underway in Peru. “A very complex technical challenge, not only because it is a 34.8-kilometre road inside the city, but because it traverses many well-established urban districts. It’s a three-stage development that also includes carrying out the technical assessment of La Vizcachera, an open dumpsite that must be transformed into engineered embankments.”
This is just one example of the challenges posed by this ambitious motorway project, in which ACCIONA participates, set to connect eleven districts in Lima and streamline access to strategic logistics hubs such as Jorge Chávez International Airport and the Port of Callao, while integrating with key national road networks.
The remit of Jem and her team includes drawing up the Environmental Management Instruments (IGA) to evaluate the scheme’s environmental footprint. “We have already submitted the detailed Environmental Impact Assessment for sections 1 and 3; they are currently under review by the competent authority in Peru, and we know scrutiny will be thorough, which is why we are so thorough in our work,” she notes, radiating a self-assurance she consistently nurtured through grit, and which came into full bloom at ACCIONA.
Possessing an iron will and a gentle touch, she was born in Ayacucho, in the heart of Peru. Yet she was barely two years old when she left behind the Andean landscapes of the Cradle of Independence to relocate to Moquegua, a mining region in the south of the country overlooking the Pacific Ocean. That was to be the first of many moves.
Her father, Durand, a land surveyor by trade, worked across different projects, requiring the family to relocate continuously. As a result, Jem had an unconventional upbringing. “I grew up watching a construction project start from scratch and gradually take shape. I was fascinated by the thought that every single person, no matter how minor their task might seem, was an essential part of bringing all of it into being.”
I was fascinated by the thought that every single person, no matter how minor their task might seem, was an essential part of bringing all of it into being.”
Back in those years, she hardly ever saw women on building sites. The few she did encounter were typically in nursing, cleaning, or administrative roles. Even so, she never regarded the site as forbidden ground for her. Largely, that was because she had always heard the same message at home.
Her father did not merely talk about equality; he lived it. When workmates warned him that taking a little girl fishing brought bad luck, he responded by taking her anyway. “My dad always said: whatever a man can do, a woman can do too.” Years later, she would realise just how deeply that phrase had shaped her.
If her father instilled the conviction that being a girl set no boundaries, it was her mother, Úrsula, who turned that conviction into a real-life masterclass.
When Jem was twelve, her parents separated. Her mother, who until then had been a homemaker, had to find employment without formal work experience and with three children to raise. The job she found was, as it happened, in construction. She began as an unskilled labourer.
In my family, we always believed we had no limitations, whether because of being men or women, or having fewer resources. If we put in the work, we could get ahead.”
Jem would watch her set off before dawn and return late at night, exhausted yet determined to provide for her family. “Watching my mother work on site was what truly opened my eyes. I understood that hard work and resolve could overcome fear.”
That period also forced her to grow up well before her time. While her mother endured gruelling shifts, she helped look after her younger brother, Ghereemey, taking on duties far beyond what was expected of a teenager.
Far from seeing herself as a victim of circumstance, she remembers those years as a formative school of resilience. “In my family, we always believed we had no limitations, whether because of being men or women, or having fewer resources. If we put in the work, we could get ahead.”
The decision to study Environmental Engineering came about almost by chance. She was thirteen years old and, at her school in Chincha, pupils had to sign an attendance register each day. Next to the name column was a prompt: What career do you want to pursue? She did not know yet, so she simply drew a dash.
Until one day, she noticed a classmate had written: Environmental Engineering. The field was completely unfamiliar to her. She asked her mother for fifty centavos to pay for half an hour of internet access at an internet café and searched for what the profession actually involved. “I felt it was a discipline that cared for the environment and made total sense within the construction sector I was already familiar with.”
The following morning, on the sign-in sheet, Jem Valenzuela wrote next to her name: Environmental Engineering. Looking back, she remembers that those fifty centavos were the very first investment she ever made in her professional career.
Jem began working when she was just nineteen, even before finishing her degree. Her initial role was at a local council, and later with an environmental consultancy; however, the real culture shock occurred when she stepped onto an active construction site.
At first, she managed environmental permits, a task revolving more around public authorities than fieldwork. Everything shifted when she moved to the safety and environment department and took on direct on-site supervision. It was then that she heard a remark she would never forget: “The construction manager at the time said: ‘I don’t want to see women in the field because women only distract the men.’”
On that project, there were roughly eighty people in supervisory roles, and only five were women. She was the only one permanently overseeing field operations. Every time she appeared to inspect works or verify compliance, the manager tried to pull her away from the frontline.
She had to make a choice between two paths: “Either I toughened up or I broke down in tears. And crying was not an option.” She was not entirely alone, however; she had the backing of the site manager, who did see her potential: “He told me: ‘Don’t let them break your spirit; you are going to encounter a lot of people like that in this line of work.’”
Another major turning point came with the birth of her daughters. At the firm where she was employed, the prospects had looked promising. There had been talk of promotion, fresh projects, and upward progression into positions of greater responsibility.
Then she became pregnant with her first child, and the tone of the conversations changed. “I felt that many of the opportunities being mapped out for me were put on hold simply because I was pregnant.” Yet rather than resign herself to the situation, she set out to prove that motherhood in no way diminished her professional capabilities.
I felt that many of the opportunities being mapped out for me were put on hold simply because I was pregnant.”
It was a difficult pregnancy. Even so, instead of stepping back from her professional growth, she continued supervising on site.
When she gave birth to her first daughter, Illari, a Quechua name meaning radiant dawn, she faced another painful dilemma: take an assignment far from home or resign. She secured a position closer by, ending up on one of Lima’s most prominent highway schemes.
Shortly afterwards, a second pregnancy followed, this time classified as high-risk. Her working arrangements became untenable, and she ultimately decided to leave the company. “I felt that all the career progression I had built was collapsing.” For a while, she thought her path might simply be to stay at home with her daughters. Little did she know that one of the most rewarding chapters of her life was about to begin.
Jem grieved seeing everything she had worked toward for years seemingly unravel. She had spent over five years carving out a place in an industry where every single milestone seemed to demand an extra effort. She had proven her capabilities time and time again, yet she found herself starting over from square one.
While caring for her daughters, she returned to an ambition she had quietly harboured: setting up her own consultancy. She did not do it alone; she leaned on the people who had always stood by her: her father, the surveyor who had taught her to love building sites as a child, and her elder brother, Christopher, by then a qualified mining engineer. Together, the three began offering what they did best: surveying, environmental advisory services, management systems implementation, and quality certifications.
It was a modest venture, but driven by genuine enthusiasm. “Let’s start with what we know how to do,” she remembers saying back then. That decision would ultimately open a door she could never have anticipated.
Not long after, in 2019, she received a call from Paul, a former colleague. ACCIONA needed support implementing and certifying its management systems in Peru. Ahead of the meeting, she researched the company thoroughly, discovering a global enterprise and, above all, a guiding principle that aligned seamlessly with her own view of engineering: sustainability.
Many companies talk about sustainability. At ACCIONA, sustainability is part of every decision.”
“I thought that if a firm of this stature was seeking me out, it was because I had earned it.” Recognition had finally arrived, though she still had to clear an interview she remembers as rigorous and exacting. In the end, Jem’s track record won over the panel.
That marked the start of a collaboration spanning a year and a half. Throughout that period, she steered the certification process as international standards evolved towards the ISO framework and compliance demands intensified. Yet what stays with her most is not the audit itself, but something else entirely.
By that point, Jem was a mother of two and had recently gone through a separation. Living in Chincha, she had to commute constantly to the ACCIONA offices in Lima, some 200 kilometres away, leaving her with barely any free time. She would work late into the night, sleep for three hours, and wake up early to make breakfast for her daughters before starting another long day. “I had to prove I could do it. Not just for myself, but for them as well.”
She kept up that pace for nearly twelve months, until the final audit arrived. The sessions began early in the morning. “When they realised I would have to set off from home at 4 a.m., they booked me a hotel room near the office so I could rest the night before.” That simple gesture meant the world to Jem: “With ACCIONA, for the first time I felt that a company saw not just the professional, but the person as well.” It was the beginning of the mutual trust and understanding she shares with the firm to this day.
With ACCIONA, for the first time I felt that a company saw not just the professional, but the person as well.”
Once that assignment ended, she moved on to new projects. She collaborated with ACCIONA again on an ad-hoc basis during the contractor qualification process for the expansion of Jorge Chávez International Airport. Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, ushering in a particularly trying period.
She took on a job twelve hours away from home. For three months, she was unable to see her daughters, who were in their grandmother’s care. Her youngest wept every night. Her mother kept this from her so as not to make the physical separation even more unbearable. Eventually, she decided to return home. “I thought the worst that could happen was being right back where I started.”
In 2021, just as she was preparing to join another firm, she received another call from ACCIONA about an opening on the Jorge Chávez International Airport development: they needed someone to join the Quality department.
She hesitated; her background had been focused primarily on environmental management, and she was unsure whether she fit the brief. The response from Flavio Rodriguez, who has since become her mentor, was immediate: “I am not calling you because you already know everything. I am calling you because I know you will do everything possible to master it.” Those words proved decisive, and she returned to ACCIONA, this time for good. “It was an aviation project demanding an exacting standard of technical detail, and in a discipline I had not led before: Quality.”
The challenge paid off twofold. Since then, the airport's air traffic control tower has stood as one of her proudest achievements. Following that project, she served as Quality Manager on the Chimbote Bypass highway, successfully completed in 2024.
It was upon wrapping up that project that Jem found a kindred spirit in an engineer named Francisco, who over time became not only an anchor in her life, but her partner in shared dreams.
Today, Jem Valenzuela oversees one of the most intricate areas of the Lima Peripheral Ring Road. Her team is tasked with securing environmental clearances through the preparation of environmental management instruments and restoring degraded ground, paving the way for an infrastructure project comprising 11 motorway interchanges, 24 grade-separated junctions, 2 tunnels, and 1 viaduct.
You cannot simply move forward focused solely on design without taking into account the daily reality of the people living there and the hurdles they are going to face.”
Yet when discussing her role, she rarely leads with figures or paperwork. She prefers to talk about people. She explains that behind every permit are neighbours, local communities and families whose daily lives change with the arrival of a major development. “You cannot simply move forward focused solely on design without taking into account the daily reality of the people living there and the new hurdles they are going to face," she notes.
That is why she stresses the value of listening, engaging in dialogue, and understanding the specific requirements of every community across the project’s footprint. For her, sustainability is not about ticking regulatory boxes; it is about delivering schemes that improve people’s lives while remaining mindful of the surrounding natural environment.
It is a philosophy that, in Jem’s case, creates a natural alignment between individual and organisation: “Many companies talk about sustainability. At ACCIONA, sustainability is part of every decision.”
Perhaps one of Jem’s greatest sources of satisfaction lies outside any single project. Today, she manages a team that includes several young female engineers. She prefers guiding them with questions rather than simply handing down answers; she wants them to learn how to analyse, question, and decide independently. “I do not want the people on my team to depend on me; I want them to be able to handle any situation on their own in the future.”
That dedication also explains why she was selected in Peru for the Women Who Inspire and Transform initiative, promoted by ACCIONA to mark International Women’s Day. It is an honour she accepts humbly, insisting that much remains to be done: “Being a woman and a mother should not mean having to constantly prove our competence.”
At 34, when Jem is asked about her ultimate dream, she does not speak of a loftier title, a grander project, or industry accolades. “For me, being at ACCIONA means having reached a major milestone,” she reflects, taking the opportunity to cite Pedro Iniesta and Guillermo López-Cediel as key mentors within the company where she says she feels truly fulfilled, thanks to the backing and trust they have placed in her.
What I want most is for my daughters to achieve whatever they set their minds to, with nothing holding them back.”
Instead, the question brings her thoughts back to her daughters. She wants Illari and Mariajosé to grow up knowing they can pursue any path they choose, without ever wondering whether a career is meant for men or women, and without anyone ever making them feel that motherhood places a ceiling on their potential.
Because, in the end, building infrastructure is about far more than laying tarmac, assembling airports, or delivering major capital works. It is about engineering opportunities, and few people appreciate the value of seizing them quite like Jem.