Influential Woman · Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Natalia Relic

Business Operations Manager, Sun Vectors

San Diego, CA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor of Science in Public Health Degree UCSD Degree MBA (in progress) Degree Johns Hopkins University - focus on biotech Degree Enterprise Degree And entrepreneurship

Her Story

About Natalia

I've always been interested in life sciences and just in general, learning about biology and life. That's how I started off, in biotech. I'm currently the Business Operations Manager for a startup called SunVectors, and I've been in this role for 8 months now. My startup is focused on gene therapy manufacturing, which is really what we're working on here. My main areas of expertise are operations and business development. When you work in a startup, it's just wearing so many hats - it can't be defined as one specific role, it's a lot of roles together. Day-to-day operations is really the true keywords I would say. Some days I'm project manager, other days I'm recruiter. My work involves lab management, troubleshooting, making sure the team has everything that they need in order to complete all the experiments, but also schedule coordination, ordering, everything. One of my proudest moments has been hiring really incredible people and having them as part of the team. I have my Bachelor of Science in public health from UCSD, and I'm currently halfway through my MBA, which is an online program at Johns Hopkins. It's a flexible MBA that's really focused on biotech, enterprise, and entrepreneurship.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Natalia

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I love that question. There's a lot I could say, but I would keep it company-oriented because I very much love what I'm doing right now. I would say the sunshine always comes through. I have so many quotes that I would share, but the one that's mine always wins. What I'm really looking for is to be there for high school level kids that are just opening up their LinkedIn, and they're like, how do I get into biotech? How do I do it? Just having that big sister energy, here I am. It's really important just to keep pushing forward and not give up, even when it's hard.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

The biggest challenge is what we're trying to solve. Really, it's manufacturing of gene therapies, just because it's very difficult to process and create them, essentially. So, manufacturing is a real roadblock in this field. As for opportunities, it's really important just to keep pushing forward and not give up, even when it's hard. There's always opportunity in that.

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