Maria Terceros

I think the motivation for me is my parents. I'm originally from Bolivia, and I moved to the U.S. about 10 years ago. I moved to South Carolina, and then I came to Miami for school. My dad is big on going to college. He always wanted all of his kids to go to college, and I think he really drilled that on me, where I think an education is really important for you, whether you use it at your job, whether maybe you don't use it. He's also an engineer, so he does give me a lot of advice with that stuff. Especially with this new job, I always come to him if I don't know how to maybe deal with something. He has been a mentor with so many years, and he told me that harsh truth, and sometimes I do need to be able to just be more successful and be able to use my best version.

I guess something that I've learned while I've been searching the industry and seeing what I'm going to focus on is to be able to be flexible, but also have an in-between. Don't focus on something completely out of focus that you were not thinking about. Kind of still have that focus on what you want, but still be able to be open to any new roles. It's about having that balance between staying focused on your goals while remaining open to new opportunities.

Right now, I'm in a field that's also new for me, which is the transportation side and also football, or just in general, sports. I think in Florida it's definitely something we just want to seem to be in, but there's always an opportunity for you if you really look, especially with the kind of engineering that I did. I can apply it anywhere, like now at FIFA. With engineering, be able to not only get that analytical knowledge, but also be able to have that business mindset as well. I think that is something that I always looked for in college. I love engineering, I love my degree, but I also think that it's more important to be able to present yourself, or be able to talk about things, even making presentations or things like that, just being able to be super well-rounded.

Some opportunities, I think, with industrial engineering, almost any company's going to need an engineer, especially industrial, because we really focus on optimization, supply chain, and just something that every company most likely will do and can be done in the sports industry, the food world, or any industry. But I think one of the challenges is being able to know what you're looking for, what kind of roles apply to an industrial engineer.

I do think the work culture is important for me. The work-life balance as well. I guess in personal life, I do look for just honestly, like I mentioned, being able to be transparent and just be yourself.