In celebration with the Hispanic Heritage Month, we have Chris Cindy Cordova on the podcast today. She is a full-time MBA, class of 2020, fresh graduate, and alumni. Before Haas, she studied aeronautical aeronautical and astronautical engineering at Stanford and worked several years with Honeywell in various roles. She's currently a Sr. Product Manager at Amazon Web Services aside from being an awesome mother.

Chris talks about her struggles and successes growing up from an immigrant family from El Salvador. She shares her experience of going to a school that was 1-5 hrs away from her home so she could join a gifted program, the people in her life that made it possible for her to get the best education she could have given her circumstances, and how much her mother's sacrifices for her and her siblings gave her the motivation to succeed and accomplish her dreams.

She also talks about her career as an astronautical engineer, why she's passionate about it, and how it was to be the only woman or Latina in an industry that's dominated by white men.

Chris is also passionate about increasing the representation of women and minorities in tech and entrepreneurship. She aims to provide more funding and create more opportunities for people of color.

Lastly, she shares her experience being a mother of three daughters and balancing her time between that and being a career woman.

Episode Quotes:

"One of the main things that I have learned and I try to teach my kids is not to be afraid, to stand up for yourself, and to pursue the passions that you have regardless of who's around you or who's not, what people are saying or what they're not."

"Find the mentors and the champions that will help you, even if they don't look like you, even if they can't relate. The people who don't look like you can also be champions for you and not being afraid to reach out to them and not being afraid to ask for help when you need it, I think that's been crucial for me."

"I want them to see the example that I saw in my mom of this hardworking woman who did not let any limitations hold her back. I want my kids to be able to see that and to see that there are no limitations for them, especially because they have so many more opportunities and advantages that I didn't have when I was growing up."

"We want them to recognize their privilege because despite being a minority, they are also privileged with having parents that are educated and having opportunities. And we want them to use that privilege for good and to be the voice for those who can't speak for themselves."

Show Links:

• LinkedIn Profile
• Berekely MBA Blog

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