I was born and raised in Venezuela and at the age of 16, I moved to the US to attend university. As English wasn’t my first language, I began my course work at Aurora Community College, later transferring to the University of Colorado at Denver (CU) where I ultimately graduated with my Master of Science in Finance.
As far back as I can remember, I have always been self-directed, driven and assertive – qualities I inherited from both of my parents. Dad (Pedro) and Mom (Minerva) were not only amazing parents but they set high expectations of their five children – a college education was not optional. My mother received her degree in Marketing and my father, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Kansas University. Times were different in the 70’s, and despite my mom’s decision to dedicate herself to child rearing she was unequivocal in her expectation for us. Dad had a successful career in the Oil industry, in jobs that afforded him the opportunity to work in Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, doing what he loved most. My father always set the example, he encouraged me to pursue a career, to be independent, to set goals that stretched my abilities and to establish myself as a leader.
After a 14-year career in Finance, I had 3 children and decided to take time out from my career to spend time getting my family off to the same strong start my parents had given me. During that time, I faced many of the same transitional challenges that so many working moms do when they take a step in a different direction. Fueled by a desire to do more, I took the leap into entrepreneurship, by starting my own businesses in direct sales and network marketing. For me, working from home allowed me the balance between being a Mother and a businesswoman. It was through these businesses that I found a true passion – encouraging, teaching, and growing other women into successful business people.
While going through my personal journey, I watched my husband, Felix, as he developed his career in Customer Service outsourcing. We met at a very young age and a fun fact is that when we got married, we both worked at call centers. Digressing, I watched Felix go from an overnight call center agent working his way through college to the CEO of a multinational Contact Center outsourcing company and I came to appreciate the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industry.
We reached a point in our lives, both personally and professionally, where we were both ready to do more. To build a legacy for our family, to make a difference in people’s lives, and to take a different turn in our journey. I had complete confidence that we could combine our talents and experiences to build a business that stood for something more, a business that could provide better people experiences, superior customer experiences while doing more for society – this was now our new mission in life. This is the moment Activus Connect was truly conceived.
Building a new business has been an exciting journey and as we worked on our business plan and brand strategy, it became clear that we were doing something more than starting a business – in achieving success we would also be paving the way for a host of new Women and Minority entrepreneurs. I recall the moment, very clearly – it was a sense of clarity and awareness that one of our core differentiators was rooted in trailblazing a path, across an industry that sees few women in executive leadership roles, even fewer Latina women in these roles and practically unheard of for the majority owner of a BPO to be a woman entrepreneur.
I feel humbled and honored to be leading a business that gives back to the community, to be able to inspire other women like me to follow their dreams and ambitions regardless of their background, to be the “mom boss” that they want to be.
As an executive leader at Activus Connect, I am using my experiences to continue to build a company that provides opportunities for women and men who want to have meaningful careers while still having a great work-life balance. Together, we are doing our part to cast a new example of what a people-centric, experiences based, socially committed outsourcing business can look like. With this vision we have created a new standard in Customer Experience outsourcing.
The path of a trailblazer is never linear, it’s rarely easy and yet there are few things in this life that are more meaningful.