Tecnológico de Monterrey Receives World-Class Female Talent

To commemorate the International Women’s Day, Tecnológico de Monterrey, campus Santa Fe and Puebla, planned the week-long “Raíces de Hermanas Mexicanas” (Roots of Mexican Sisters) forum. The first Mexican interviewee at the event was Dorothy Ruiz-Martinez, Mission Control Center Systems Ops at NASA.

Ruiz-Martinez talked about her trajectory in the aerospace sector, along with the challenges she has had to face. “I started at the NASA center in Virginia, specialized in research. However, I wanted something more dynamic. I decided to specialize in rocket design and go to NASA to work. I started as an astronaut trainer, then became a space activity planner. I participated in three space broadcasts and then I decided to become a flight operator despite the many requirements. Two years ago, I went to another project where commercial flight simulators were modernized and updated. Finally, I returned to NASA and was given the opportunity to be the leader of my team for training activities. I am the first female leader of the group in terrestrial management system.”

Female participation within the sector is increasing, according to Ruiz-Martinez. She talked about how there were times when she was studying when she found it difficult to continue but that her teachers encouraged her to go on. One of the phrases she repeated several times during the conference was that “talent has no gender,” being very persistent in the fact that everyone can fulfill their dream through education.

Education was another important subject addressed during the interview. “If we educate the new generations and encourage them to do whatever they want, while we give them the necessary tools, more and more women will be involved in areas like aerospace,” said Ruiz-Martinez.

The event “Raíces de Hermanas Mexicanas” was organized by the HeforShe student group. In total, there will be 20 conferences and some of the other guests will be Nora Navarrete, Financial Planning Global Director of Bimbo; Yasmín Esquivel, Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation of Mexico; Alessandra Rojo de la Vega, Mexico City Deputy and Norma Garcia, Founder of the Glitter Restorers.

Orianne Stern, President of HeforShe Santa Fe, told MBN that the association is expecting approximately 500 students attending the event from the entire Tecnológico de Monterrey system. “The event is open to people outside Tecnológico de Monterrey and we have attendants from other Latin American countries, such as Colombia … Tecnológico de Monterrey has been critical to the success of the event. Its platforms, people and community allowed us to create an event bigger than we could imagine, connecting women from all over Mexico. They encouraged us and helped us manage and promote the event to generate the awareness and presence it deserved. More importantly, they helped us bring forward this topic in a multidisciplinary way for it to represent our movement, while appealing and contributing to people inside and outside our community,” said Stern.