Her Story
About Carmen
I have been in food manufacturing since 2018, which makes it about 8 years now. I currently serve as an Associate EHS Manager at Reese Foods in Dinuba, California, where I've been for nearly 2 years. As an EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) manager for 4 years total, I handle the health and safety of our employees and ensure compliance with all OSHA and EPA requirements at the state and local level for our manufacturing plant. My most notable professional achievement was when I was with Cargill a few years ago, where we went one entire year without injuries at one of our facilities. I earned my bachelor's degree in Environmental Health and Science from Fresno State in 2018, and throughout my career I've completed multiple technical trainings. I'm currently working on getting my CSP certification through the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. What inspired me to get into this field is that my parents are laborers, and I've always been passionate about helping people and making sure that companies do the right thing. There's a lot of laws to follow, but there's also the people aspect of it, which is a huge portion of my job. I always ask myself, if this was my mom or my dad asking me for help, what would I do? That's been a huge motivator in my career to do the right thing and make sure that as a company, we make the right choices, not just for the company but for the people we hire. In food manufacturing, it's a lot of laborious work, and the people we usually hire are from backgrounds where they're immigrants or have very low education, so they rely on people like me to do the right thing and help them with the things they deal with on a daily basis.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Carmen
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think my success is attributed to my family and having a strong moral compass and always doing, sticking to my guts and doing the right thing regardless if in that moment it makes other people upset. In my case, I'm very lucky because usually the law is on my side, so just being very resourceful and knowing how to pull those cards when I need to at the right time.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received was from one of the ladies I used to work for, and it was basically to always stick to your guts. If it feels right, you know, just stick to it, because you know yourself better than anybody else. So, just do what you think feels right.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would give them the advice to be strong, be confident, and know that you're worthy. You have every right to be in the room as any man in any room that you're in. There's no different. They don't know more than you. You know as much as they do, and you just trust your gut, always.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Food manufacturing and agriculture are just very male-dominated, so as, especially like me, I'm a young woman coming in, you just have to really build rapport with your team and get them to take you serious. I feel like that's just been a struggle throughout my career, and I feel like it's because I'm a woman. Right now I'm in my early 30s, so most of the managers and everybody else on my team are in their early 40s or 50s, so just building up a name for myself, basically, so that they can trust me and take me serious in the work that I do.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Family, I have two young children that I love. In work, I would say doing the right thing, following the law, being honest, safety, obviously, that's my job. Being respectful towards others, regardless of their background.
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