Her Story
About Paulina
I began my nursing career 18 years ago as an LVN, starting in postpartum and NICU, but I quickly realized that wasn't my destiny. When I got the opportunity to work in the ER, I found exactly what I wanted to do. I worked my way up to become a Level 1 trauma nurse and absolutely loved it. As a single mom, I wanted to grow my career even further, so I moved to a local organ procurement organization where I learned every aspect of organ procurement, organ allocation, and how organ donation works. The schedule was grueling with 24-hour shifts and very unpredictable, so when I got an offer to open a lung transplant clinic as a lung transplant coordinator, I took it. When our pulmonologists could no longer sustain staying and we had to shut the program down, I moved forward to my current opportunity at Natera. Now I look for transplant rejection through cell-free DNA, which means I still get to work in the field that I love while having the work-life balance I was yearning for. My territory covers Texas and the Midwest, and I travel to different transplant centers to provide education, schedule meetings, present to lab personnel, and work closely with sales reps to advance our tests in the field. I grew up in a very medical family - my dad was an orthopedic surgeon and my mom was a nurse - and even though no one ever pushed me toward medicine, I was called to it. I'm passionate about organ donation, transplant medicine, and the tests we offer, and I think people pick up on that passion, which has helped me build amazing relationships at transplant centers.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Paulina
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to building genuine relationships at transplant centers. It's a very small field, and it's not easy for everybody to open up to somebody, especially in diagnostics - it's very similar to pharmaceutical in the sense that people think, what are you here to sell me? But I've been able to really open up and tell these people, I'm not here to sell you anything, I'm really here to educate and be your friend, your partner in something, and they trust me on that because they know I have such a passion for this. I have a passion for organ donation, I have a passion for transplant, and I have a passion for the tests that we offer. I think it really speaks into what I do, and people pick up on that. I've been able to build relationships not only in Texas but outside of Texas, with some of the hardest places to get into and some of the hardest people to get in contact with - very busy people that don't always have time to give somebody. When they're willing to give me that time and listen to what I have to say and welcome me, and they're willing to make changes to improve how they work based on what I'm telling them, that just really makes me feel amazing. That wisdom comes with a passion to learn it and to be able to spread it.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important values to me are passion, trust, and work-life balance. In my work, I need to sell trust to my patients - they need to trust that I'm going to take care of them and that they can trust me to fulfill that order and let them know when something's wrong. My advertising and marketing background taught me how to speak, how to gain confidence, and how to gain trust, and that has brought me to where I am today. Even though I didn't finish that degree, it gave me a different jumping point into my nursing career. In my personal life, having work-life balance is crucial. I'm fortunate now that I get to work from home, take my daughter to school, and still be in the field that I love. I have a very happy life to be able to relax at home now as well. I enjoy spending time with my family - now that I'm married, with our dogs and my daughter, it's just really important to me.
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