While we’re headquartered in Barcelona, our website wouldn’t be the same without its 30 co-workers around the world who help to cover the markets 24/5 in different languages. Today it’s time to interview one of our international team members. We want to introduce you Mauricio Carrillo who is the Manager of the Live Video and online TV channel project for FXStreet. Carrillo explains to us how working at FXStreet is for him.
Mauricio at work
How does a day in the life of the Live Video Manager at FXStreet look?
When I am in Florida, like now, I start my day walking around my neighborhood with a cup of coffee early in the morning. Also, I read the news on my cell phone while I’m watching the views. Then, I come to my desk to check emails for urgent issues and to watch the videos we did overnight. Usually, I have to deal with external speakers to find different ways to improve our videos, to create new shows and to plan the coverage that we will have in the near future.
If you were not a Live Video Manager of FXStreet, what would you like to do for a living?
I think I would be more involved in the Kuzamba project, an initiative to promote financial literacy in the Hispanic community in the US and Latin America. It’s complicated to tell you because I usually change my job every certain amount of time. I have been working at FXStreet for almost 9 years, but I have been doing different roles and every 2-3 years my job is completely different from what I did before. If I were out of FXStreet perhaps I would be a soccer journalist. Who knows!
What do you like best about your job?
I do like the ability to know new people. It’s a treasure to discover who is on the other side of the screen. Everybody is a book that deserves to be read. Also, I like the opportunity to learn new technologies, to read and to know new things every day.
What do you like least about your job?
Trust and transparency are very important for me. I need to be in contact with many people due to my job and, from time to time, I have to deal with people that are not as honest as you would like. It pisses me off but you have to deal with it :-/
You work from home. It’s a pretty special condition to work remotely 100% of the time. Do you like it?
Yes, I do like the freedom of my job. I have been able to travel around the world four times now! I feel really grateful that I have lived in California, Florida, New York, Colombia, Japan and Spain thanks to the freedom of my job, and FXStreet of course. It also gives me the opportunity to visit my family and friends anytime, something that I always dreamed of doing.
If you want to work remotely, you should be organized and persistent. Also, you should love what you do. If you love what you do, you will do it under any circumstance.
Do you work in a quiet environment or do you put music or radio?
I prefer an environment where music plays an important role. These days, I am almost all the time watching videos from FXStreet Live Videos, but I put music any time that I can. Music keeps me up many times!
What is your favorite band or singer at the moment?
My music profile is a mess, I can hear from rock to vallenato, from classic music to Spanish pop. All depends on my mood of the day. If you ask me for a favorite song right now, there are three that always hit my head: Believe it or not by Joey Scarbury (the theme of the Greatest American Hero), La Vuelta al Mundo by Calle 13, and The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals.
Any unconfessed vice or weird habits you have when working?
I am a compulsive coffee drinker. But weird is that I can not stand in my shoes when I am working. I guess it’s because I am working from home, but it happens also when I go to a cafeteria. It is sometimes hard for me when I have a meeting or when I go to Barcelona’s office. Oh my God… my shoes! Another thing is that I consider the sleeping time as a waste of time… LOL.
Animated gifs are often used in internal emails among collaborators at FXStreet… Share with us a gif that you particularly like!
I am not a huge fan of gifs, but I like one that remembers me what usually happens when Cristiano Penaldo plays against the Espanyol of Barcelona.
Mauricio in his personal life
You are from Colombia but you live in Florida. How and why did you decide to move to Florida?
I moved to Cocoa in Florida mostly because some members of my family live here. Before, I used to live in Barcelona and then in San Francisco. I moved to Barcelona because I wanted to experience Europe in a city with good football, beaches and modernism. Then San Francisco because my partner moved there because she got a job in Stanford U and I had to be in the US for personal business. She moved to Tokyo but I still have to be in the US, so I moved to Florida to be closer to my family while I travel around the globe.
Do you plan to stay there a few more years?
It is a big question! Right now, I need to take a break from airplanes, so I will be here for a certain time, maybe until Christmas. But I am thinking of getting back to Barcelona soon for some time. I am still searching for the perfect place to be: it should have beaches, good weather, friendly people, culture and a lot of nature. Any advice?
What do you typically do when you finish your working day?
I play sports. I typically play in three teams here in Florida, so I play around 3 or 4 games per week. When I don’t play soccer I usually run and walk in my area, a path just right to the Indian River between Cocoa and Merritt Island. Also, I do research for the Kuzamba project and other personal matters. I often drive all the way to South Miami or to West Orlando to stay few days there with my friends and family.
What are your holiday plans for the upcoming months?
As I told you, I am taking a break from airplanes, but I could change my mind, LOL. As far as my plans say, I will be in Ohio for Thanksgiving with my sister and my nieces. Also, I am planning to go to Barranquilla for Carnival. A must! And finally I will go to Barcelona, I don’t know if it will be by Christmas or after, but it will be soon.
What are your favorite websites? Do not say FXStreet 😉
I like Kuzamba, but if you ask me for Financial websites in English, I follow TheStreet and SeekingAlpha. Now, with the US elections coming soon, I check the polls at FiveThirtyEight. When it comes to soccer, I have the Forza app on my cell phone.
Do you have a specific hobby?
Wine and beer testing, LOL. Is it a hobby? Isn’t it? Well, I read books, not as much as I would like because I don’t have enough time, but I do like to read.
What is the last movie you’ve watched? Would you recommend it?
I think the last movie that I saw in cinemas was Finding Dory. But honestly, I don’t go to the cinema theater as much as I would like. Right now I am re-watching Game of Thrones all seasons… Aren’t you watching the whole series again? Shame…