Urpi Pariona (she/her)

Urpi was born in Peru and grew up in Chicago. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Yale University. After college, she joined President Obama's campaign team in 2012 as Regional Hispanic Press Secretary for Virginia and Ohio. Having developed an expertise in Hispanic voters, Urpi joined Google as a digital consultant, connecting Fortune 500 companies with multicultural audiences including African-American, Asian-American, and LGBTQIA+ communities. Urpi then decided to leave Google to get her MBA at The Wharton School, after which she is hoping to transition to a product-focused role through which she can continue advocating for all users. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with the Wharton Social Impact Consulting Club and mentoring Latina college students at UPenn.

After the OFA campaign, she received a couple of offers. One from President Obama’s press team and another one from Google’s start-up multicultural sales team. She turned down the White House offer for three reasons. First, she wanted a job that would offer her the greatest opportunity for growth, greatest resources for personal development, and largest scale for impact. Secondly, having seen how the use of analytics and digital platforms can make a positive impact in donations and voter turnout, she wanted to learn more about how technology could empower minorities and other communities around the world. Thirdly, she wanted an industry that aligned with her personal skills. She excelled working with large learning curves, constant change, and ambitious targets. The public sector isn’t known for quick changes, but tech is.

“I helped to organize a group at Google that advocated for using technology to empower all voters during the 2016 presidential election. It was comprised of individuals across the organization (advertising, engineering, marketing, etc). We advocated for Google to make search products available in other languages in addition to English. As a result, the One Box with voting information was released in Spanish and Chinese. I will never forget showing my mother how she could now type “where to vote” in Spanish and she’d be able to get directions to the nearest polling place and study the ballot questions. At least 20 million Spanish dominant Hispanics living in the US now had access to this information in Spanish and could become better-educated voters. This experience reminded me of the unparalleled scale of impact we have in the technology sector.”

Source of inspiration: Last semester in business school, my executive coach taught me to identify activities that give me energy and activities that deplete me of that energy. I figured out that painting, playing the guitar, working out, meditating, and volunteering are activities that give me energy. Whenever I do these, I lose track of time and after I finish I feel replete, ready to share that positive energy with others. I have since set time aside each day to pursue one of these activities for at least an hour.

Book recommendation: When I was an adolescent, full of dreams and ideals, my favorite book was The Alchemist. When I was unemployed and struggling to overcome a major life failure, my favorite book became Steve Job’s biography by Walter Isaacson. When I joined President Obama’s campaign, my favorite book became Dreams of My Father. When I was looking to strengthen my mind and find focus, my favorite book became Autobiography of a Yogi.

Sue Valdivia (she/her)

Sue was born in Chosica, Peru, and moved to the U.S. at age 13. With a double major in Finance and International Business under her belt, and now pursuing an MBA at NYU Stern, Sue is excited to be working for Google, a company she sees as dedicated to making information available to everyone in the world.

Source of Inspiration: Sue’s grandmother is a pharmaceutical chemist, a professor, and the mother of five children. Not only that, she also started her own business and has traveled to five continents. This is an extraordinary achievement, given that, at the time she did this, women in Peru were supposed to stay at home, cook, and clean for their families. When asked why she never learned how to cook, she responded, “I have three graduate degrees.” Her favorite piece of advice when someone asks if they should pursue a different career path or go somewhere they’ve never been is, “If not now, when?”

Book Recommendation: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Danielle Lomax (she/her)

Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, Danielle is an MBA candidate at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. This summer, she is interning at Google on the Emerging Markets Users and Products team. Prior to business school, she founded a digital marketing startup in Washington, D.C. Even though she didn’t know exactly what she was doing in the beginning, she’s now proud of herself for taking the risk and is grateful for the friends she was able to lean on. Always seeking out the next adventure, she first pivoted to management consulting as a member of Deloitte’s strategy practice before becoming an early member of CapTech’s product innovation team in Atlanta. On campus, she’s now actively involved in amplifying Michigan’s technology ecosystem. She works alongside a team of 5 amazing ladies who are empowering women to launch their own ventures and become investors through Women Who Launch (WWL), providing a voice for black students and alumni.

Source of Inspiration: Yoga has transformed Danielle’s life. To her, there’s nothing more humbling, yet encouraging, than contorting your body in a heated yoga class.

Book Recommendation: Simple’s Uncle Sam by Langston Hughes.

“During my junior year of college I decided to start my own business. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I asked a few friends to help me get started, leveraged the marketing and PR classes I had taken to find customers, and relied on Google for the rest. In the beginning, I targeted customers in the sports industry but quickly realized I didn’t have the network, so I pivoted to hospitality.

Looking back, I did everything wrong. But I’m proud of myself for taking the risk. I didn’t hesitate; I just did it. The business lasted about two years, yielding a small customer base that took a chance on a college kid. It also yielded a repository of success stories and a newfound passion for being entrepreneurial.

Although I decided to pursue consulting after that, I’ve maintained that passion for being contrarian and taking risks. I think that’s one of the underlying reasons why I ultimately ended in up tech. There’s a culture of failure and iteration. You just do it.”

Meghan Wilkens (she/her)

Meghan was raised in a military family and traveled all over the world, living in multiple countries throughout her childhood. She fell in love with the feeling of being completely immersed in a culture different from her own. After serving in the US Navy for 9 years, she is now pursuing an MBA at UNC Chapel Hill and completing an internship at Google.

“Upon graduating from high school in Guam, I went on to earn a bachelors degree in Advertising at Marquette University and secure a job at an advertising firm. But it didn’t take long for ‘cabin fever’ to set in. My thirst for adventure drove me to follow in the footsteps of my family, and I commissioned as a Supply Corps Officer in the US Navy, deploying early on in my career.

I learned management, operations, and logistics skills every step along the way. I also had the opportunity to lead sailors and teach them methods of problem-solving that started out here in Silicon Valley. After marrying, having two children, and completing nearly 9 years in the service, I am moving towards a transition into the tech industry, working on my MBA from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and using an MBA internship at Google to get a taste of this world — a culture very different from what I’ve known in the military.”

Source of inspiration: Her sister, Kassandra, who served in the Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer before making a name for herself in the tech industry. She is someone Meghan looks up to for her confidence and resilience.

Book Recommendation: Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans

Reneta Haynes (she/her)

Reneta Haynes is a Network Engineering Director at Verizon, responsible for negotiating with network vendors and electric companies to secure contracts providing the company with critical vendor provided network equipment support and pole attachment rights. Prior to her current assignment, Reneta was the Manager of Wireless Product Development, leading the team responsible for new mobile in-building solutions. During the course of her career, she has held various roles of increasing responsibility in network engineering and operations in Northern Virginia, Southern California, and Tampa, FL.

Reneta earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia and her Master of Business Administration from Duke University.

What’s a challenge you’ve faced and how did you get through it?

A self-imposed challenge, but a challenge nonetheless, was going back to school for my MBA at Duke University while I worked for Verizon in Florida. The rigors of leading a large engineering team at Verizon, focusing on my education, and traveling from Florida to campus in North Carolina every other week was tough. But I knew the importance of making it all work. A big part of making it work was finding my village of family and friends. They helped navigate me through crazy times and reshuffle my priorities when things were getting out of balance. I also had an awesome team at work, who backed me up as needed to make sure one goal didn’t suffer in support of the other.

What’s something you’ve done that you’re really proud of?

I am proud of having the courage to say “yes” to various opportunities throughout my career. Having the courage to step out of my comfort zone has led me to a number of incredible roles across the country and put me on the path to the career I have today.

Kassandra Kristoff (she/her)

Kassandra is a Communications Manager at Google. Prior to transitioning into tech, she was an Engineering Officer in the United States Navy for 6 years. As her father was also in the Navy and her mother is from the Philippines, she grew up all over the world. After serving in the Navy, she became a stay at home mom of two, while completing her MBA. Shortly after, she finally had the opportunity to pursue her passion for communications after moving to the Bay Area.

“My mother is the strongest person I know. She believed nothing could hold me back and pushed me to pursue whatever I wanted. So I served in the Navy on a ship with mostly men, then stepped into an unknown career path in tech with two little kids in tow — all while pursuing a Masters. Having my mother’s strength really carried me through all the risks. Now I’m really proud I’ve leveraged my strength as a Filipina; when I put my mind to something, I do all I can to do it. Being here at Google, I look around me and realize how many “good risks” I’ve taken.”

Karina Canales (she/her)

Karina Canales is a Sales Insights Manager at Google. Prior to Google, she had six years of experience in digital marketing and business intelligence at a Peruvian bank. She holds an MBA from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania, with a major in Statistics, Marketing, and Management, as well as a Master’s degree in Marketing from Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas. She received a degree in Systems Engineering from the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (Peru).

1. When did you know that you wanted to work in tech?

My passion for technology started at the age of nine through a course in school in which I discovered computers and it was love at first sight. This passion has developed throughout the years. By the time I was 13, I had created my own website on rented computers. When I was 15, I asked my parents for a computer instead of the traditional 15-year-old birthday party. Although my first PC was second-hand, it was the best present I ever received. At the age of 18, I had my first blog, one of the first ones in Peru back in 2004. I loved interacting with people from all over the globe. This was one of the reasons that I studied Systems Engineering. Since then, technology has driven my work experience.

2. Where is your hometown?

I grew up in Mala, a small town in the outskirts of Lima.

3. What is a struggle that you’ve faced and how did you handle it?

When I finished school, I decided to apply to the college with the most difficult admissions test in Peru: Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI) to study Systems Engineering. Their annual admissions test is taken exclusively to be accepted into UNI and lasts a total of nine hours over the course of three days. Furthermore, UNI is a public school and the best college to study Engineering in Peru, so it is in very high demand. The UNI admission test is so difficult to pass that there are institutes that specialize in helping prospective students prepare for it.

I spent the whole summer after graduating from high school studying for the exam an institute. In February 2003, I took the admissions test and did not pass it. The competition was steep and the admittance rate in my major that year was less than 5%. I felt terrible. Not only had I failed to get into college, but I felt that I had disappointed my parents. They told me they understood that the test was very difficult, but I knew that they were concerned because they had no money to pay for a private school education and I could have just lost the opportunity to earn a college degree.

Right then, I made a decision: I would apply to UNI again the next year. I studied all day, every day for the entire year. I gave up all the activities of a normal 17-year-old girl. Three months later, I won a scholarship at the institute due to my strong grades. From that moment on, my parents never had to pay for my education again. In February 2004, I took the test again and succeeded.

I entered UNI with the 1st place in my major and 3rd place overall among all 8,000 applicants! In addition, I won a full five-year scholarship granted by the German corporation Siemens after a selection process which included interviews and additional exams. I learned that I must have a clear objective, define a strategy, and focus all my efforts on the goal to achieve it. Furthermore, I realized that hard work leads to big rewards.

4. What is something that you are immensely proud of?

I feel very proud of my experience in the non-governmental organization (NGO) Un Techo para mi País (similar to Habitat for Humanity). I joined as a volunteer in 2007 when a college friend told me about this new initiative to build housing for the poorest people in my country and to implement a plan to help them achieve an economically self-sustaining community.

A month later, on August 15th, an earthquake destroyed several cities in Peru, causing them to go into a state of emergency. The most affected town was Pisco. Many volunteers were called to go into the disaster area but only a few had experience in building houses, so I took the role of construction leader. We travelled to Pisco by ship because all access roads were destroyed. When we arrived, the outlook was bleak. Everything was destroyed, hundreds of people had died, and thousands more were left homeless.

The goal of my team was to build 3 houses in 4 days. A house takes 2 days of work so we had to do what would typically be a 6-day job in just 4 day, with no experienced volunteers! It was a difficult challenge but not impossible. I focused on the goal and conveyed it to the team clearly. We worked hard every day from 7 AM to midnight. The area in which we worked had no electricity, so we used candles for light. We slept outdoors in sleeping bags and had to eat only soup for days. I proved to myself that I am persistent and can do my best even in extreme situations.

At the end of the 4 days we achieved the goal! All the teams combined built more than 100 houses benefiting over 500 people. After this amazing experience, I continued to lead construction teams for 4 more years in various cities throughout Peru.

5. Favorite food?

Peruvian Rotisserie Chicken. I have a tradition of eating it every year in my birthday.

6. Favorite book?

One day I found a book in my mom’s library called More Than One Thousand Problems of Algebra and I loved it! I liked solving those problems more than watching TV or playing any game. Thanks to this book, my passion for math grew and at the age of 8, I won my first national math contest.

7. If you could give your 18-year-old self a piece of advice, what would it be?

I can summarize my advice in 7 tips:

1. Be humble, even genius people have a lot to learn. One learns more by asking and listening than talking.

2. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Share what it is on your mind and your accomplishments. “More important that knowing is communicating properly what you know”.

3. Surround yourself with positive people. People who believe in you and in your dreams.

4. Find a mentor for every goal you have. Nobody can give you better guidance than someone who has already accomplished the goal you want to achieve.

5. Take a 5-min break every day to think about your true purpose. Why do you do what you’re doing? No wrong answers here. The key is to remember every day what your motivation is and then get back to work.

6. Prioritize yourself and your future. You will always have opportunities to explore the world and do crazy things, but if you keep your dream/motivation in mind, you will prioritize your future over your present. If you don’t do it, nobody else will do it for you.

7. Do all of the above with a smile, always. Smiling makes you more approachable, friendly, and happy. Smiling will not only help you achieve your goals but it will also help you enjoy the journey.