Her Story
About Vilma
My professional journey spans decades of service and continuous learning. I began my career working with the U.S. NRCS, Natural Resources Conservation Service, where I dedicated 27 years to helping farmers and landowners protect and improve their land through base contracts. After retiring from federal service in 2016, I didn't stop working. I looked for new ways to reach that gap in my community, and in 2018, I began volunteering as a Spanish-English interpreter. That volunteer work quickly evolved into a professional consulting role, and today I provide interpretation services across medical and business environments. On April 20 this year, I launched the most exciting chapter of my career by joining the Expedia Cruises team in Pinehurst as a multilingual vacation consultant. I'm fluent in English, Spanish, and French, and I'm thrilled to translate my lifelong passion for global travel into a professional service. I have traveled to 9 countries, including France, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico where I'm from, and throughout the United States. I studied French for a total of 9 months in 2 different cities in France. As a vacation consultant, my responsibility is to take the stress and burden of planning off my clients and make their voyage an unforgettable experience. I'm able to use all my experiences in travel and utilize my multilingual skills to help Spanish-speaking and French-speaking customers. I'm also deeply committed to giving back to the community through volunteer work with the local non-profit, Given Thought, in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Vilma
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to perseverance. I persevere in everything I do. I just don't quit. I believe that you fail one time, you fail two times. It's like when you are applying for a job. Some people apply for one or two jobs and say, well, there's no opportunities out there. You have to apply for 100, and maybe in 101 you get the job. So, perseverance is very important. Being perfect is not. Perseverance, it is.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to never stop learning. I mean, when you think you know it all, there's always something new to learn, and you have to be willing to listen, first to listen to your clients, to people, and then based on your experiences and your journey, convert that into a skill to help these clients to whatever the purpose or the objectives are. It's a continuous process, no matter how old you are or how many things you have done or studied in your life.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Always stand up for your values. That's really important. No matter where you work, you have to stand up for your values, and always believe that you can do it. That it's not a male role, or it's not... it's simply, you can do it. You have to study, continue studying, like I did with my language skills. People ask me, well, why you want to learn French? And I said, well, I think it's important to be prepared professionally. So, you have to continue studying, you have to continue improving yourself professionally, every day, every minute.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge I face is balancing my life, because I'm very passionate about every time I work on something, I am very passionate, and sometimes I get a little bit too much, try to work too much at home, when I'm in the cafe. You know, now with the internet, you can do everything everywhere, so I have to make sure I create a balance between my personal life, my family, I have a husband, and having somebody who's supportive in my career. That's probably one of the most difficult challenges that I have had. I'm too passionate, especially now as a multilingual vacation consultant. There's so much to learn. It's amazing.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are ethics and honesty. Those two, if you don't have that, you cannot serve people. You cannot serve well people. I'm very ethical. And if I don't make any money in a commission because I can help customers, I'll do it. I have my own pension already, I don't have to worry about money. I'm doing this because it's a passion I have, you know, to help others.
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