Her Story
About Valeria
My career journey has been fueled by creativity from as far back as high school. I had a background in dance, choreography, making videos, and cinematography, which really drove me toward marketing because it gave me the freedom to be creative. During my undergrad, I worked as a bank teller and banker starting at age 18, which introduced me to the finance world at such a young age. This experience allowed me to tie my two passions together - creativity and finance - and now I'm embedded in the finance world from a marketing perspective. I studied digital marketing at Fairleigh Dickinson University with a minor in web design and development, learning Adobe, website building, coding, and development. This helped me stand out as a candidate and land my first role as a digital marketing designer. From there, I went into the med device world to learn strategy, then back into finance at a leading mortgage company, and now I'm at TD Bank. I'm also a successful choreographer on the side - I call it my dual personality. One of my students was mini Michael Jackson in the Michael Jackson movie and went on tour with Mariah Carey. I'm a leading director and choreographer for Prodigy Studio, and we reported a pilot show for Hulu. Dance has always been one of those things that helps keep me grounded, and I'm also a mom to a lovely child who is very active in the dance world as well.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Valeria
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to always giving myself that pep talk that the worst thing somebody can tell you is no. I've always been the youngest in every role I was in, or the only Latina, and I've had to battle those mental things where you experience thoughts like maybe you're not smart enough or good enough. Being able to overcome that and actually challenge it is probably the biggest thing that got me to where I am today. Any other person would easily use that as an excuse, saying they don't think they're good enough for a role because they don't have a degree from a prestigious university or whatever other reasons come up. But I've learned to push past those doubts and prove myself.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say literally what I tell myself - the worst thing someone can tell you is no. Network, network, network. And put yourself in a position to always be open to learn new things. Once you set those in place, you'll be able to go anywhere, any role, even if you need to change your job type or go through a career transition. If you tell yourself those specific things, you're going to be able to go anywhere and adapt to any type of job, any career choice, because many people change their careers midway.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say honestly, keeping up with just the day-to-day and the new technology. Obviously, we're in a world of AI, so we're actually experiencing huge changes in our organization as a whole. Balancing that with your day-to-day, your adversities, and things that go on in your personal life, while also keeping up with the constant change that the world is going through - that's probably the biggest challenge. But as we all have to, we all have to just take it on face-on and adapt.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Values that are definitely most important to me are being in a workplace that is inclusive and diverse. I am fortunate that I work at TD Bank, where there are so many women in leadership roles - honestly, my whole team is majority women, which is really a big thing for me. Diversity is also crucial, making sure that we're in an atmosphere that's diverse. And then work-life balance is essential, making sure that there's that balance between work and life.
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