Gemma Puig: "I haven't lost the money I paid in rent because it has allowed me to decide where I wanted to end up living."

Physicist and meteorologist Gemma Puig (Berga, 1976) was the first in her family to attend university: "My parents hadn't studied and they instilled in my sister and me the idea that we should study." Puig loved science and graduated with a degree in physics. As a child, she said she wanted to be an astronaut: "But once I started university, I studied astronomy and meteorology, which was the branch most focused on Earth and space."

During her student years, she earned her first money by giving tutoring lessons. "However, I don't remember saying that money was mine, because I never felt that other people's money [her parents' money] wasn't mine. If I needed something, I knew I could buy it for myself."

She entered the workforce through an interview with Tomàs Molina: "I started an internship at a company within the corporation. It wasn't exactly TV3 yet; it was a company that sold weather content. I started the internship and stayed on." "It's the only place I've worked with a salary; it was my first paycheck, and I've had one ever since," she explains. She started working on the weather model database and, in fact, never imagined she'd be the weather presenter on TV3: "There was a restructuring, and Mònica López told me, 'Gemma, if you want to keep working here, you have to present, too.' I don't remember exactly how long she gave me, but it must have been about 15 days. And I've been here ever since."

"The moment you stand in front of a camera and people believe what you say, you have a responsibility. We would add that we even have a responsibility for people's lives, especially now, with these very complicated events." And in this sense, he believes he's in a place where "the conditions are good," but that doesn't mean that in moments of high responsibility, when he has more work, he doesn't think, "I could be paid more."

Regarding personal finances, she tries to be thrifty: "I do think about having that nest egg in case something happens." She saves a portion of her income, although sometimes it's difficult to maintain a balance, especially when you have children and finances no longer depend solely on what you want: "You have to divide things up; there are four of you, and everyone has their needs."

In summer or at Christmas, keeping track of things also becomes more complicated: "You tend to do more than you could because you want to enjoy yourself, you want to take a trip, or you want to go out, and then this throws off the balance a bit with what you can do during the year." "Summer is that time when the four of us are together as a family and you think, 'Now that we can, let's make the most of it,'" the meteorologist explains. In fact, it's when traveling and skiing that Puig lets loose a bit more: "I don't feel bad about the money I spend, especially when I share it with my family, whether it's my parents, my sister, my nieces, my husband, or my children."

On the other hand, the scientist carefully analyzes the product and its price before making a purchase: "Obviously, if I'm buying a car, I think about it a lot, a lot, a lot. But it's the same with clothes." "And then I think, maybe it wasn't necessary to think so much about buying a sweater that was also inexpensive," she explains.

And housing has been no different: "When I moved in with my husband, we rented. We rented for 20 years. And now, three years ago, we bought our own apartment." "If I did the math now, I might say, 'Wow, that's a lot of money.' But I don't think I've lost it, because renting allowed me to move around and decide where I wanted to end up living." And since taking out a mortgage, her daily life hasn't changed too much: "In the end, I was also paying rent that kept going up. And a portion of my income has always been dedicated to housing." In fact, she also owns the family home in Berga: "Now I use it for myself." But if retirement doesn't inspire her to live there, she doesn't rule out renting out one of her properties.

Puig maintains that despite having the same employment contract since 2001, she has always done different things: "With technology, I've changed a lot of my work, I've learned a great deal, and I know I'll do new things." That's why she's motivated to continue working in this sector.