Her Story
About Maricela
I've been working in the chemical industry for about 8 years as a project manager. My journey to this career began in high school when I had to make a decision about my future. I knew I wanted to be independent and able to live anywhere in the world and obtain a job - I didn't want to be limited. While I was really great in accounting, I chose not to pursue that because I didn't want to be sitting in an office all day long. I wanted to meet new folks, go in, go out, and be on the move a little bit. A company, I think it was Chevron Phillips or maybe Exxon, came to my high school and made a presentation. There was a female in attendance who made a presentation about the industry, and she had her Nomex on. I don't know, she just came off so confident. I researched the possibilities through engineering and made that decision one month before college started, and I stuck it through. It definitely paid off. Before my career, I was a college student and a single college mom. I had a full ride to college, and when I had my child as a single mom, I had a lot of negative feedback that I wasn't going to finish and that I was going to be a burden on my parents. But I was able to continue school full-time, have a job full-time, take care of my child, and finish still on a full ride. I continued to get additional scholarships, and then I was able to continue and get a master's degree in addition to my bachelor's. I've been working in the field ever since. It was such a difficult time being a single mom, working night shift, trying to stay full-time, not losing my scholarship so that I could finish. I work for RDS, which is an engineering firm, but I'm staffed through them to Valero, a chemical plant, where I work as a representative for all of their work.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maricela
01What do you attribute your success to?
I appreciate my team members and lean on them to guide me, and I'm always open to challenge from them and others. That's what I would say has been important from my experience. The acknowledgement of the hard work that has gone into where I'm at in my career is meaningful to me. It was such a difficult time being a single mom, working night shift, trying to stay full-time, not losing my scholarship so that I could finish. I didn't let the negative feedback stop me - people said I wasn't going to finish and that I was going to be a burden on my parents, but I was able to continue school full-time, have a job full-time, take care of my child, and finish still on a full ride. I continued to get additional scholarships and then was able to get a master's degree in addition to my bachelor's. Even when I faced discrimination in the industry, like when a vendor told me 'don't wear your pretty little head, let me take care of it. Why don't I just take you out to lunch?' I did not let that stop me. It kind of even pushed me to try to show him more how, though I was a fresh engineer at school, I took my time to do due diligence on the work that I was performing, to understand to the best of my capabilities how to do it, and I definitely leaned on my team to do that.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I don't remember necessarily receiving specific career advice, but from my experience, I would say to appreciate your team members and lean on them to guide you, and always be open to challenge from them and others. That's what has been important to me throughout my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I want to motivate young ladies who pursue whatever dreams they may have to not let their fears overcome them. I know the industry is a man industry, and it's difficult in that aspect. I remember I had one job where one of the vendors told me, 'don't wear your pretty little head, let me take care of it. Why don't I just take you out to lunch?' That was upsetting that they would treat me in that manner, but I did not let that stop me. It kind of even pushed me to try to show him more how, though I was a fresh engineer at school, I took my time to do due diligence on the work that I was performing, to understand to the best of my capabilities how to do it. I definitely leaned on my team to do that. My story as a single college mom shows that you can overcome obstacles - I had a lot of negative feedback that I wasn't going to finish and that I was going to be a burden on my parents, but I was able to continue school full-time, have a job full-time, take care of my child, and finish still on a full ride. I continued to get additional scholarships and got a master's degree in addition to my bachelor's. Don't let anything stop you from pursuing your dreams.
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