Ale Rivas

I have always felt a great interest in cooking, since I was a child.

I remember the chocolate cakes my mother used to make for us. We liked them so much, me and my sisters! No one in our house had ever been a professional cook, but my mother was an excellent cook. From her I learned the popular recipes of Mexican cuisine and, above all, the love for desserts . How I loved helping her make cookies and cakes!

Growing up, I decided to train at the UNICO Culinary School in Guadalajara, Mexico. I expanded my training with a Spanish cooking course and three months of internship at Martín Berasategui's restaurant (3 Michelin stars). Afterwards, I spent time at El Celler de Can Roca, worked in all departments and served as pastry chef for a short period, under the orders of Jordi Roca, with whom I share creative concerns. After this experience, I continued my training in creative pastry in Mexico DF, and the opportunity arose for me to work as pastry chef at Pujol, by Enric Olvera.

Here I started to experiment in my own creations.

In 2012, I returned to Girona to take over and manage the Rocambolesc ice cream shop project, together with my husband, Jordi Roca.

• Ale Rivas wears the Blossom Bouquet pendant in rose gold, diamonds and natural tourmalines

This initiative was born with the desire to recover the traditional dessert cart of El Celler de Can Roca. Andreu Carulla designed the new petit fours cart for us and when we saw it , we immediately imagined that it would be great fun to tour the streets of Girona and offer these sweets on an ambulatory basis.

The idea was very exciting, but we ran into the limitations of the municipal regulations, so we chose to park the cart in a very central place in the city, on Santa Clara Street. In fact, this is the beginning of our first Rocambolesc store in Girona, a sweet journey that has continued towards Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Alicante. In total, we have opened 5 establishments in 5 years, in addition to the online store and the supply to 15 El Corte Inglés Gourmet Club stores.

My job is to bring Jordi's dreams to earth.

I am a pragmatic person. I am in charge of turning your imagination into a reality in the store. To get here I have had to face many challenges, personally and professionally. One subject is cooking and the other is running a business, hiring staff, taking care of logistics (which is not easy in the frozen sector)...

• Ale wears the Bunch Rose Creole Earrings in yellow gold with pink sapphires

I also learned a lot from starting all the stores from scratch, growing them and building a good team. It is essential to hire people you can trust and who can convey the philosophy of the house. In addition, no Rocambolesc store is the same , each one has its own personality. This can also be seen in the preferred tastes of each area. As a curiosity, I'll tell you that, in Girona, the most successful ice cream is Baked Apple, in Madrid, Coco with Violeta wins, and in Barcelona, ​​chocolate!

In our stores, 80% of the staff are women , and this has been the case spontaneously. We all understand each other very well and, together, we give Rocambolesc a more sensitive and feminine touch, both when serving the ice creams and when dealing with customers. In any case, we should not make a distinction between men and women in the workplace , because if we don't, we ourselves contribute to keeping the gap open.

We have already reached a point where women take on and lead positions of responsibility.

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