Her Story
About Sarah
I have been working in business management in tech for around 6-7 years in roles including admin assistant, business administrator, and executive assistant. My work involves organizing slides, emails, events, and contracts. I studied international relations and also did a small study on international law and human rights. I grew up in a small town in Mexico, and I always felt like I wanted to see more, learn more, and understand the world better. I love languages, I love traveling, and I love law, so that's what made me want to go and study international relations. While my current role at a tech company isn't my dream job, it's a great job that gives me the opportunity to live the life I want while I'm learning something new. I take advantage of the time it allows me and the income it gives me to make small studies on the side and travel more. What I really love to do and hope to accomplish in the next 5 years is something related to migration, immigration law, and human rights. I started my career at Microsoft, where my first supervisor was a person who made me so inspired about everything she has accomplished. She came from Budapest, Hungary, worked at Microsoft for about 11 years, and now works at a company called D-Wave. She has two kids, she's very outspoken, always speaks her mind, very straightforward and disciplined. I really admire her and still talk to her even though we haven't worked together for 6 years. I hope that everything I've learned so far will help me achieve and accomplish a good career in the area of immigration law and human rights.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sarah
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say that my perseverance is one thing I attribute my success to. And the other is that I feel blessed. Sometimes I don't even make decisions that were exactly the ones I planned to take, but then they put me in the right direction. When you're open to opportunities, you allow the doors to continue to open for you. I have a solution-based approach - even if I don't have the solution at that moment, I know that I will find it. I've always tried to enjoy my life while having a career. I believe in work-life balance, or really, it's an integration of both. Why not do what you love and continue to do it with passion? Make it enjoyable. That's what has helped me throughout my career.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice that I would give women is to follow their passion and follow their heart, and don't care too much about what people say. If people decide that they want to become a mother, or they want to study, or they want to work, there's nothing wrong, right? We have a world of possibilities, so whatever we choose is good. Don't care too much about what society thinks or says, or dictates about our role in this society. You have to first be your own advocate and be confident within yourself in order for you to best advocate for others.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think respect and empathy are the most important values to me. We are in a world of diverse people. We all think differently, we all act differently, and not because we think a certain way, it means we are right. So I think for that reason, we need to respect all of the time others' opinions, others' lifestyles. I think we need to be empathetic and grateful, because sometimes we have so much, and we don't realize, we give everything for granted, and then we see other people, maybe with not the same opportunity that we have, or maybe not the same blessings, and we're not empathetic with other people. Sometimes we might not be able to understand each other, you know? I live with my sister who is [AGE], and my mom who is 57, 58, and we are all in different stages of our lives, different generations. My mom's mentality, my mentality, and my sister's mentality is so different. We manage to be in peace most of the time, but sometimes we cannot understand each other. All we have left is to respect each other and to be empathetic, I think. It's okay to say, I don't really understand your perspective, but I still love you anyways, and I still respect you anyways.
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