Her Story
About Maite
I've been in fintech for 10 years, and I work for fintech leader Cariba where I manage a team of consultants who implement solutions for many clients. I started as a consultant myself and now lead a small team while also helping partners implement the system, since about 80% of Cariba projects are implemented by external partners. After college, I began working with a bank helping clients manage their cash, which is when I first came in contact with Kariba. I was drawn to consulting because I wanted to work on projects where I could see something starting from nothing and becoming a fully developed implementation. I love working on projects that have a very clear beginning and end, where you can see the end result visibly and witness clients who were doing everything manually suddenly have Cariba after 6 months or a year, drastically changing the way they work. That's what drove me to consulting and project implementation. Even after 10 years, every single implementation is different. Supporting my team has been extremely rewarding - seeing them grow, get promoted, and receive kudos from clients brings me great satisfaction. In the next 5 years, I see myself as a VP leading an entire practice of consultants and directors, making sure that AI is being used to its full potential and automating redundant tasks.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maite
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my surroundings. My family has always been very supportive, and I was just very lucky to have great mentors around me. My previous manager was exceptional and put me in the right places at the right time, really allowing me to be part of meetings and giving me a lot of exposure. Whenever I got promoted, and I got promoted multiple times under him, I was 100% ready for the job. Being surrounded by the right folks really made a difference. I'm also extremely inspired by our fearless CEO, Melissa Didonato. Just seeing a female, a strong female leader, especially in fintech, is quite admirable, and seeing her leadership has been a great inspiration for me. I've also never been afraid to ask for more. If there's a project that I think is interesting and aligned with where I'm going, I'm always the first one to jump on and make proposals. I've always made sure to put myself out there and be a continuous learner so that I could put all the chances on my side.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There's definitely a lot of room to do even more with AI and automate tasks that are redundant. Obviously, we see AI being used in many use cases, but there's still so much potential to leverage it further. Making sure that AI is being used to its full potential is something I see as a major opportunity in the next 5 years.
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