Did you know that, despite accounting for over half of the college-educated workforce, women in the United States made up only 29% of those employed in science and engineering (or STEM) roles? That’s according to the latest research done by the research group, Catalyst. For women of color, the number is even smaller at 11.5%. But here’s an even more disturbing statistic, in engineering, specifically for Latinas, this figure drops to a low of 2.3%!
In this episode, we get to celebrate one of these trailblazing Latina women who has worked hard against the odds, fighting tooth and nail, to be in this elite 2.3% – Iliana Quinonez, Sr. Director of Solutions Engineering at Salesforce. Iliana shares exactly what it’s like working with the boys and how we can pave the way for future female generations.
Iliana is an award winning, Latin Trailblazer Woman in Engineering and a Developer of Leaders. She is a passionate advocate and ambassador for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. Her career in the high tech industry spans over 25 years across 3 continents and more than 15 countries, working at both enterprise and startup companies. She has held leadership positions in several functional areas including solutions engineering, product, and marketing strategy, consulting and business development. She is the former Chair of the Board for Latinoforce, the Salesforce Latinx Employee Resource Group and currently serves as their Advisor.