BÖËNA ARTICLE

Female Empowerment at Böëna:
Strength in Numbers

Böëna Costa Rica


Stop by any of the four Böëna Wilderness Lodges, and you may notice there are a lot of women running the show. In fact, this collection of four exclusive ecolodges has become a bastion of female empowerment, with women in half of the top management positions.

The corporate manager, the commercial director, the sales manager, the sustainability coordinator, the general manager of one of the lodges and two head chefs … all women. This is a bit unusual in this country, and it speaks to the company’s desire to find equilibrium among the genders, ages and socioeconomic origins of its senior staff.

At Böëna we believe it’s important for women to have opportunities for professional growth and development in a sustainable development. Objective No. 5 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals is to achieve gender equality, eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and girls all over the world.

Here are some of the women working in the upper ranks at Böëna.

Böëna Costa Rica
Böëna Costa Rica


Maureen Montenegro

Maureen, 32, is a native of Tres Equis, a small town near Turrialba, who serves as Böëna corporate manager, one of the top positions in the company. She lives in San José but travels every week to one of the four lodges: Pacuare Lodge on the famous rafting river, Tortuga Lodge in Tortuguero, Monteverde Lodge in the cloud forest, Lapa Rios in the Osa.

“I work with the managers of the four hotels, coordinating, developing strategies and standardizing processes,” she said.

Maureen has been with the company for seven years, working as a duty manager at Pacuare and as general manager at Lapa Rios before being elevated to the top management spot this year. She has grown into the role quickly, developing her abilities and skills with the teams she manages. Maureen has degrees in ecotourism and business administration from two Costa Rican universities, UCR and UNET.

Asked about women in management at Boena, she said, “There’s a lot of representation because of the philosophy of the business. We’ve never been discriminatory in that sense, and we look more at people’s capabilities, independent of their gender.”

Böëna Costa Rica
Böëna Costa Rica


Kattia Cárdenas

Kattia, 32, is from El Carmen de Biolley, near San Vito. Just last February, she became the general manager of Lapa Rios, a spectacular ecolodge on the southern tip of the Osa Peninsula (replacing Maureen after her promotion).

Kattia also studied ecotourism at UCR (with Maureen, in fact) and has a degree in the science of education, specializing in innovation and technology in virtual education.

Seven years ago, she worked briefly for Aventuras Naturales, the San Jose office that handled bookings for Pacuare Lodge, working in operations and reservations.

Kattia said, “In total, I have three female leaders from 11 departments, so it’s been a nice challenge incorporating more women into the hotel.”

One woman is in charge of reception and concierge services, one is an administrative coordinator who oversees financial issues, and one is the head chef (read on).

“I’m very happy to work for a company where feminine power is held in high regard,” Kattia said. “Women are in key positions in the business, so I’m proud to be a part of this.”

Böëna Costa Rica
Böëna Costa Rica


Dayana Robles Sánchez

Dayana, from Puerto Jiménez, leads the kitchen at Lapa Rios at the tender age of 22.

She came here four years ago on a two-month internship from school, competing with two male cooks for a job in Lapa Rios’ excellent restaurant. She said she noted some bias against female chefs, yet the cooks of the night shift said Dayana was very good and they wanted to work with her, so she was chosen. She soon rose to head chef.

“I’m in charge of a team where the majority are older men,” she said. “I’m the youngest, and there are three women and 10 men.”

The restaurant serves about 45 people a night in the high season. Dayana likes making risotto and orzo, but the most popular dish here is fresh fish — seabass, mahi-mahi and róbalo. She often prepares them in fish tacos by day, and for dinner bathes them in a broccoli and spinach cream, or another sauce made of corn and yucca.

Guests at Lapa Rios have the opportunity to try the cuisine of some of the most gastronomically sophisticated places in the world, all at a top-level restaurant in the middle of the jungle.


Böëna Costa Rica
Böëna Costa Rica


Milagro Vallejos

Milagro, 43, is head chef at the El Jardín Restaurant at Monteverde Lodge and Gardens. A native of León, Nicaragua, she has spent 17 years working at the lodge.

The hotel has a capacity of 80, and some nights she’ll serve 30 people, some nights 60. She oversees a staff of 12, of which only four are men.

Milagro likes making the black risotto, which is flavored with squid ink. But the most popular dish here is the tenderloin, which comes in an exquisite sauce made of blackberries and coffee beans.

Several women hold important jobs at the lodge, she said, including a management assistant and human resources professional, a duty manager and the dining room manager.

Kimberly Arguedas
Resident Manager

A native of Santa Elena with a degree in business management, Kimberly was promoted to resident manager of Monteverde Lodge & Gardens in November 2022. She started in the concierge department in 2018 at our Monteverde Lodge & Gardens, located on one of our two properties located in Monteverde. Previously, she worked for 11 years in tourism in La Fortuna. With a feeling of homesickness, she decided to return to Monteverde.

Kimberly tells us that she feels empathy for the tourist who comes from afar to visit Costa Rica, full of expectations of knowing the flora and fauna, seeing toucans and sloths, among others.

“I want to make guests feel right at home and I hope that their expectations regarding their accommodation and experiences are met and even exceeded, taking back the best memories of Costa Rica.”

Shortly after taking over management, she quickly adjusted to her new position: “I haven't had a typical day, I always learn a lot every day. I already knew our team including the department leaders and their roles, making my new position easier.”

In one of the first staff meetings, they realized that, except for the maintenance manager, that the other department heads were women, who came to their posts because of their abilities, as it is characteristic of Böëna's work environment, free of bias.

Böëna Costa Rica
Böëna Costa Rica


Priscilla Murillo
Sustainability Manager

Priscilla has a degree in sustainable tourism management and also studied marketing. In 2007 she began working in sales and operations at Pacuare Lodge.

“I always had the call for sustainability and seeing how things were done at Pacuare Lodge, in a very organic way, with its efforts focused on conservation, its outreach to the communities, its respect for culture, gave me the necessary encouragement to assume the position of sustainability coordinator.” This new position that Priscilla assumes arises from Böëna Wilderness Lodges’ vision of working under the philosophy of the 4Cs: community, culture, conservation and commerce.

As Sustainability Coordinator, Priscilla is in charge of supervising the sustainability of the five Böëna properties, located in four areas of Costa Rica that are quite different from each other.

“Sustainability not only implies the conservation of the flora and fauna that surrounds each property, recycling issues, but also involves implementing projects with nearby communities to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants and to be able to see positive impacts thanks to our actions, at the corporate level.”

Priscilla tells us: “One of the most important challenges is working in different 4 destinations within Costa Rica, with so many people. The growth we have had (at the corporate level) is very positive because it encourages us to investigate, learn, and achieve our objectives in all the areas where we operate.”