Berta Segura interviewed for B*Local

February, 11, 2022. Written by Clara De Nadal Trias

I once heard a saying that I liked a lot, which came to say that “successful people surround themselves with people who know more than they do.” Taking this saying personally, Berta Segura is one of those people that I would always like to have close by.
She was born in Barcelona in 1978, although the years have been going in her favor because she always looks 35 years old. She describes herself as a super curious and hyperactive person and always with a thousand stories in her head; to the point of calling herself "troublemaker", always linked to stories that have to do with entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity... and things that perhaps are not yet exploited or defined in society, but are glimpsed as potential future projects and businesses.

Professionally, she is the creator and director of the innovation and trends agency DMentes and also Co-creator of the festival dedicated to extolling and empowering women entrepreneurs @womenz_fest

She defines her work as: "I help brands to innovate, accompany them in the innovation process to achieve their marketing, communication, sales… objectives".

She is specialized in Generation Z (which is young people between 18 and 25 years old) and new generations in general. A few years ago her focused was in Millennials, now Generation Z and in a few years the Alpha, Gamma, Epsilon generations and more to come.

Please tell me a confessable secret…
Well, right now I'm in a moment of personal growth, expansion, increase... so I'm very interested in the whole world of alternative therapies. That has led me to visit México, Brazil, Ecuador, Cuba, etc., looking for bioenergetic therapies, teacher therapies, medicinal plant therapies and so on… and I love experimenting with all of that, to see how it can broaden my consciousness, way of looking and see the world from another perspective.

Professionally, what do you think is your greatest contribution to the city of Barcelona?
The contribution which I feel most satisfied with is -apart from helping the brands I work with and advising them on how to connect their values ??with the city-; is to help to promote the Womenz festival which aims to give voice and visibility to women of the younger generations and, above all, provide them with the necessary tools to bring out the art they carry within inside.

According to your personal experience... What is the best thing about living in Barcelona? And the most curious thing?
The best thing about living in Barcelona is its Mediterranean climate, which gives you the opportunity to live and enjoy a lot on the street. Also its small size makes it super accessible and you can get anywhere by foot. But for me, the most wonderful thing about Barcelona is that although it would like to be a Key Capital, although it is not, and that makes it as an Underdog city but always very proactive, always reinventing itself, always innovating, always looking for new trends (as an example a pioneer in architecture with Gaudí, a pioneer in gastronomy with Ferrán Adriá, with football and Barça despite the fact that we are now going through a very bad moment, a pioneer in pacifist activism…), and where things always happen and so makes it special.

And the most curious thing, precisely because it is always trying to renew itself, is that right now Barcelona has become the quintessential European city for K-Pop (Korean musical style) and the young people of the city are appropriating and live expressing this musical style especially in the area of ??the Arc de Triomf and Plaza Tetuán.

What is your favorite corner in Barcelona? What are your Top3 favorite restaurants or bars?
Bar Leo, in Barceloneta, run by La Leo (Leonora), a bar where in the 1930s, 1940s… Il bambino, who was a Flamenco artist, used to play there. The Leo Bar then became a place that paid tribute to him and where you could enjoy live Flamenco. But now it has become a space where you can have a vermouth and some tapas during the day and a place to have drinks for those who return from after party. The mix of people who gather there is an authentic varied fauna.

Vicio is a hamburger restaurant that has been set up by a young boy who won one of the editions of a famous TV program (Masterchef), which began as a Dark Kitchen and which has also become a great case study, since it uses a very good communication in networks and has recently opened its place specialized in hamburgers.

And without a doubt, I would also recommend you go for a paella, also in the area of ??the Barceloneta neighborhood, at Ca la Nuri. It is in front of the Hospital del Mar, but below the level of the beach itself; where in the past there were bathers' dressing rooms and now it is also full of older people playing Parcheesi and chess and it is a very interesting restaurant due to the mixture of people, having the sea in front of you and gastronomically speaking, very enjoyable.

If someone who has never been to Barcelona asks you... what can't I miss, do or not visit?
According to me, the place in Barcelona that no one who visits the city can miss is the Plaza del MACBA (located in front of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art), which has been capitalized and invaded by skaters that go there to skate and is also a connection space for all kinds of urban tribes. If you want to know what really happens in the city and what is the pulse that young people breathe, without a doubt this is the place to be.

What is your favorite plan in the city?
My favorite plan in Barcelona is to take my bicycle and go from the Paseo Marítimo to El Besós (outlying neighborhood of Barcelona where the River Besós crosses), which once you cross it you enter the municipality of Badalona… and there, there is a place of paellas that I love called La Doncella in front of the sea. After eating the paellas I would pedal back and before going back home I would stop to have a beer, an Aperol or a good glass of wine on the outdoor terrace of the Antic Teatre bar (in front of the Palau de la Música).

If you didn't live in Barcelona... Where would you live? 
Right now, especially with everything we have seen happening with Covid19 and the pandemic, I would go live in a village. In fact, I have several friends who are setting up a village outside of what would be the "Social Ecosystem" in Brazil and right now I would go and live there. There the Internet does not work, everything has to be self-sustaining... Far from Fake News and hyper-consumerism and living in community. That would be my plan right now, if I didn't live in Barcelona.

And if Barcelona was a person... Who would it be?
I love this question. If Barcelona were a person, it would undoubtedly be a feminist woman and very connected to women's rights. And if I had to associate it with a proper name, I would tell you two: On one hand Lady Gaga, because sometimes Barcelona also sins -and I say this negatively- a bit of being Fake and Too Much. And on the other hand, I would say Mª Teresa de Calcutta, because Barcelona also has a very social point of view, pro-refugees, helping immigrants, very humble that sometimes sins of being servile. Barcelona has two faces.

To end up... Please mention someone who you think I should do this interview to:
One of my best friends is Jordi Chicletol, who is a presenter and communicator for Betevé TV and is super connected dude with the LGTBi+ and Trans community, and now also very active in Mental Health. According to me, he is a very interesting person from the Barcelona scene.

Article written and translated by Clara De Nadal Trias.

More info about plans and people from Barcelona here.