When Samantha Laurent joined Parques Reunidos as Chief People & Organization Officer in February 2024, she brought with her more than two decades of experience crafting purpose-driven cultures and unlocking human potential. Before joining the global entertainment group, she spent 17 years at Unilabs, leading transformative initiatives that reshaped organizational culture and employee engagement.

Today, Sammy is guiding Parques Reunidos people and culture, championing leadership development programs and retreats that focus on trust, vulnerability, collaboration, and self-awareness. Her approach blends psychology, storytelling, and action, encouraging people to connect deeply with their own purpose and with each other.

As an accredited coach, Sammy’s initiatives help people rediscover their “why,” build trust, and translate cultural aspirations into tangible business performance.

Below, Sammy shares her thoughts on the importance of leadership, the power of vulnerability, and how reflection fuels transformation.

Sammy, you’ve introduced a series of workshops and retreats at Parques Reunidos since joining. What inspired this focus?

At the heart of transformation lies connection — with ourselves, with others, and with our purpose. When I arrived at Parques Reunidos, we were navigating significant cultural change. I wanted our leaders to pause and rediscover what truly drives them, not just professionally, but personally.

Our retreats and workshops are designed to create that space. They’re not PowerPoint-heavy sessions; they’re human experiences where we explore vulnerability, courage, and meaning. We start with personal stories, the moments that shaped us, and then build toward collective clarity and trust.

In our sessions, participants reconnect with their essence and purpose, a deeply introspective exercise that helps reconnect individual values with organizational goals.

How do these experiences help people perform better?

When people take the time to understand themselves, they lead with greater empathy and intention. For example, in one of our workshops, we worked through three dimensions of effective leadership:

• The view: clarity of direction and shared purpose.
• The crew: collaboration and trust.
• The rider: personal accountability and mindset.

We explored Trust.  Leaders practiced vulnerability, admitting where they struggle, where they need support, and how they can build stronger relationships. The results were powerful: teams started communicating more openly and began rebuilding the psychological safety necessary for performance.

This isn’t just about “soft skills.” It’s about creating the conditions for innovation, speed, and execution, what I call high-trust performance cultures.

Many of your workshops use creative exercises, from writing and storytelling to even dancing. Why this unconventional approach?

Because culture happens through experience, not instruction.  Great culture is who we are on our best day.

We use humor and physical movement, even an exercise inspired by Rocky’s “Eye of the Tiger” to help people express frustrations safely before turning them into constructive “Hope Roadmaps.” These moments allow teams to release tension, laugh together, and shift from cynicism to action.

It’s about meeting people where they are emotionally. Once they feel seen and heard, they become open to rebuilding, and that’s when cultural change begins.

What role do reflection and storytelling play in your leadership model?

A huge one. Reflection gives us perspective; storytelling gives it meaning.

I ask leaders to share their life stories: what shaped them, who inspired them, what lessons they carry. It’s extraordinary to watch colleagues see each other not as titles, but as people.

This balance between self-reflection and collective ambition creates what I call leadership coherence, the ability to align head, heart, and hands.

What advice would you give to organizations rethinking their approach to culture and leadership development?

Start by creating safe spaces for truth. People don’t engage with strategy slides; they engage with meaning.  They engage with clarity and care.

Invest in experiences that blend reflection, collaboration, and purpose. Encourage your leaders to ask not just what they do, but why it matters. Build trust intentionally, through open dialogue, empathy, and shared accountability.

When culture becomes the foundation, strategy can finally soar.  Results will be stronger and more consistent.

Under Samantha Laurent’s guidance, Parques Reunidos is redefining what people development looks like, not as a corporate formality, but as a deeply human journey.

Through her coaching-based approach and transformational workshops, she’s turning cultural aspirations into action, equipping people to rise stronger together with courage, clarity, and care.