A Day in the Life - Ziza Carla Palanques

Ziza Carla Palanques

dss⁺ Consultant, IBERICA

What does a typical day look like as a Consultant in the IBERICA team?

I’m officially part of the Iberica team, but one of the best things about dss⁺ is how borderless it can be. If you speak the language and bring the right experience, you can support projects anywhere. Right now, I’m truly enjoying working daily with amazing teams in Italy and Greece, it’s a gift to bring my voice and perspective to different regions while staying connected to my Iberian roots.

There’s no such thing as a “typical” day in my world, and I love that. Some days I’m wearing boots and a helmet, walking through an industrial site, connecting with frontline teams. Other days, I’m working from home, deep in analysis, building practical tools or crafting training sessions. And then there are the days I’m delivering workshops with top management, challenging mindsets, facilitating open conversations, and building alignment around safety and culture.

Why did you choose a career in consulting?

After many years leading Health & Safety teams across Latin America, I was ready to try something new. Consulting allows me to bring my field experience to different contexts and industries, while learning every single day. It’s never about just “delivering a report”; for me, it’s about co-creating a better way of working, with and for the people who live it every day. I’m a builder. I love walking into a new environment, discovering how things really work, and helping our clients find better, safer, and more sustainable ways to operate.

Why did you join dss⁺?

Because it felt like the right place to be myself, a mix of technical depth, field experience, international mindset, and a big human heart. I come from Dupont legacy, and I trust in an impact-driven, collaborative, and truly global culture.

What are you most proud of?

What I’m proud of is bringing humanity into the conversation, without losing focus or rigor. Health & Safety isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about protecting lives. Sometimes that means creating technical systems; other times it means creating emotional safety, so people can talk about what’s really going on. I think both are equally important.

I feel proud every time a client tells me, “You helped us.” When a conversation starts with those words, whatever comes next, whether it’s a safety observation, a procedural improvement, or something even bigger, that’s already the greatest recognition I could ask for.

What do our values mean to you?

I live our dss⁺ values every day, not only as a consultant, but also in my life outside of work. For me, values are not words on a slide, they’re how we show up, how we work, and how we treat others.

At dss⁺, we talk about health and safety, environment, compliance, and respect for people and I see those as both a foundation and a direction. They guide every conversation I have, every workshop I deliver, and every recommendation I make. I’ve worked in high-risk industries and complex cultural contexts, and I know how important it is to protect people, not just physically, but emotionally, professionally, and collectively.