Published: 2023.09.06.

My name is Jonathan Barrera, I am 40 years old and working as a Sales Support Analyst at Roche DIA Chile. The past 16 years of my life have been a fantastic ride through Roche’s amazing career growth opportunities and a great support for my sport-driven life.
Looking back at my past experiences with the company, I remember when I was once playing soccer with a couple of co-workers. One of them stressed that I was actually very fast at running and could potentially start participating in races. Back then I was only 23 years old and the word “sport” meant only “soccer” to me. I never imagined I could be practicing something else or even excelling at it. This colleague of mine went even further: he enrolled me in a race without my consent and asked me to train together since he had also signed up for it. And that’s how I met this fulfilling sport of athleticism. Over the years I have improved so much that now I enjoy being among the best in each discipline that I am involved in in my country Chile.
I eventually started looking at participating in international races. The training became more intense and I needed to adjust my working hours in order to be able to train at the right pace and timing. I am forever grateful to Roche and my leadership team for always encouraging me to keep doing my passion and allowing me to move my schedules in my department, which was logistics at the time. I have always had support of all kinds to accomplish my dreams and that is also why my work-life balance has become such a key factor in growing within Roche. A few years ago, I set out to finish the six largest marathons in the world each in less than 2 hours and 45 minutes, and now that I work in another department where I can plan better in terms of schedules, I feel even more confident to accomplish this goal!
Until now, I’ve already completed two of them: Berlin and Boston, both in 2 hours and 41 minutes. This year I’m going to New York in November. For any marathon, I always prepare a strong 21K before being ready for the competition. However, this year was different. One day I was training in my town back in Santiago when a young man approached me and asked me if I would be willing to help a 42-year-old visually impaired man who needed a guide to run a marathon.


" I have always had support of all kinds to accomplish my dreams and that is also why my work-life balance has become such a key factor in growing within Roche."
Jonathan Barrera
Sales Support Analyst
slide 1 of 10 The Perspectives Programme is an excellent way of getting to know Roche and gain insights on how we are evolving personalised healthcare for the benefit of patients. It’s also a great way to focus on your strengths and the opportunities that lie ahead. Severin Schwan, CEO Roche