Her Story
About Emilia
I've been in the payroll field for 15 years, though I originally went to school for Psychology. While I was in college, I started working in the accounting space and fell in love with it. I've done everything from full cycle accounting to full cycle HR, and I kind of just fell into payroll over a decade ago and really loved it. It's something I've been able to continue to build on. I've worked for pretty large CROs and then jumped into tech, joining Cloudflare when they had just gone public. I was hired to build the function from scratch, which I absolutely love doing. I love building teams and doing global payroll. I have extensive knowledge when it comes to global payroll and building out the function, dealing with all the moving parts, especially in the tech world where you have things like equity. I'm currently the head of payroll, and payroll pretty much ends with me. It's been that way for most of my career. My most notable achievement was definitely building out the payroll function from scratch at Cloudflare. There was literally no payroll team. I had to hire a full payroll team, do system implementations, do audits, build out the entire audit function, and learn how to process equity. It was very challenging, but I learned so much. By the time I was done in that role, it was a 10 out of 10. I left a complete team, every process was smooth, everything was working as it should. I'm very proud of that. I'm certified in several aspects of Workday and have implemented Workday and many different software systems. I've done consulting on the side for payroll and have even helped companies with their payroll issues. I'm a first-generation Latina, and I'm very proud of that. Spanish is my first language. I was born in the U.S. but raised in another country, then came back to the States in elementary school. I think my background and being really proud of who I am is what attributes to my success. It's hard being a female, being a mom, and being a Latina, but my family is my driving force. They are literally my driving force, and anything I do, I do with them in mind.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Emilia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'm a very goal-oriented person, and I think the fact that I cheer on others inspires me to want to go for more. I have that mentality of 'oh my gosh, this is amazing for you, you totally can, but that means that I can too.' I think it's hard being a female, being a mom, and being a Latina. I feel like you always have those things going against you, like obviously it's much easier to hire someone else that doesn't have all these responsibilities on them. But my family is my driving force. They are literally my driving force. Anything I do, I do with them in mind, and they're always going to be my driving force. I think not letting that be an obstacle for me, instead saying, hey, I'm actually a first-generation Latina, and I'm kicking ass. Look at where I am, look at how much money I make, look at how successful I've been. And so, this is me with English being my second language, me being raised in another country and then coming back to the States in elementary school and picking up like nothing. I think that's what attributes to my success, my background, and being really proud of who I am.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think the thing about payroll is either you see it as a job, or you see it as a career. There's a big difference. I don't think it's widely advertised that payroll can really be a career, but it can. If it's something you enjoy, if you enjoy working with numbers, if you like that at the end of the day you're dealing with people's livelihood, it's something very impactful. I just don't think it has the correct seat at the table currently, and that's something I am constantly fighting for. I'm an advocate of payroll being its own department because of the sensitive nature of the work we do. I think people think we just push buttons, but it's so much more than that. Anybody trying to break into this, I would say you can absolutely make a career out of this. You can absolutely set the highest goals. I remember maybe 10 years ago talking to my husband about my career goals with payroll, and he was like, oh, soon enough you'll make six figures, because back then I was making like $60,000, and I was like, I don't think I'll ever do that. And I did it within a few years. There's so much you can do. I wish it was more widely known that it can definitely be a career. And it takes passion and dedication, and it also takes thick skin, and you have to know this is a very thankless job, but it's a job that matters.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think we're a dying breed because not enough people are coming in. We have people retiring, and there's just not enough payroll talent out there. I do think it's something that we should highlight and build on. That's why I think it's so important to advocate for this and say, hey, you can actually make payroll a career, because I feel like it's not widely known. Most of us in the field have fallen into a payroll job. It's not something that has been widely advertised. I do think we're a dying breed, but it's something that's going to exist far beyond AI and robots. You're always going to need a payroll person.
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