Lorena Martinez
President, Spanish Au Pair Programme Association (AEPA)
Lorena Martinez is the Director of Au pair Mallorca, an au pair agency in Spain founded in 2009. Having been a host mother to au pairs she felt that the au pair programme was a great way for her family to meet young people from other countries. But she also saw the need of protecting and caring for au pairs as they are the ones who leave everything behind and take a huge step out of their comfort zone to pursue their dreams. Having studied in the UK herself she was familiar with the feelings and challenges one faces when living on your own abroad.
Lorena co-founded a second au pair agency in Spain mainland and in 2013 she started working to improve and settle AEPA, the Spanish Au Pair Programme Association. She was elected AEPA´s President in 2014 representing 17 au pair agencies at present. At that time, there was a need to establish standards in the au pair industry in Spain and moving the country towards participation on an international level. Lorena joined IAPA in 2015. Since 2017 she was elected Chair of ECAPS, the “European Committee for Au Pair Standards”.
She prides herself in having built a strong and reliable of professional partners who share the same values and give the same amount of support to au pairs and families