WLA Woman of the Year, Rosa Santana featured in San Antonio
Business Journal Forma Automotive at Toyota Motor
Manufacturing Texas (TMMTX). August 25, 2016.
“For me it is not about luck, it is about hard
work, how we position ourselves, and our values
instilled i n u s suc h a s in t egrity, honesty, and
being trustworthy.
For Santana, who describes both her
mother and grandmother as strong, loving
women, the sense of perseverance,
responsibility, and drive instilled in her led
her to be the person she is today.
“My mom also used to say, ‘Ustedes
pueden ser lo que quieran ser, lo unico que
deben hacer es trabajar duro.’ (You can be
whoever you want to be, you just need to
work hard at it.) My mother succeeded in
bringing us here,” she says. “We come from
a humble environment - the housing projects -
but we had great family values, great
o r ie n tatio n , and she was a hard worker.
For me it is not about luck, it is about hard
work, how we position ourselves, and our
values instilled in us such as integrity,
h onesty, a n d being trustworthy. Today I
wonder how she did everything she did.”
Santana honed her own entrepreneurial
skills by participating in several executive
education programs, including completion of
two Minority Business Executive programs
at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
University as well as the Advanced
Management Education program at the
Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern
University.
With 20 years of experience in the
corporate world, Santana saw herself doing
greater things. “When I started working in
the corporate world, I took to the staffing
industry amazingly well; it fit me like a
glove,” she says. “I was helping people get
jobs, I loved what I did and that was ver y
gratifying for me. Fortunately, I’ve placed
myself in positions where I’ve had a
tremendous amount of opportunity.”
For over 35 years, Rosa Santana has
been a driving force within the U.S./Mexico
staffing industry and is recognized
internationally as an outsourcing expert.
Santana is a fearless leader who harnesses
her passion to successfully create and
develop companies through outstanding
client service and innovative business
solu ti on s. As a visionary trailblazer,
Santana’s integrity has established her
staying power and success throughout the
course of her career.
Santana's continued commitment to
integrity, innovation, and a continuous
improvement culture drew the attention of
Toyota procurement and supplier development
leaders, and she was eventually selected to
supply Toyota directly.
Making history with Toyota, Santana
shares how building relationships has led to
her business success. She tells the story of
the time shortly after leaving Westaff, one of
her customers called her seeking engineers.
Today she credits that client with igniting
the start of her own staffing business.
”
“We built a relationship with Toyota for
over 10 years before we had the opportunity
to work directly with them,” she shares.
“When I was tapped by Toyota, we already
had a relationship with their suppliers. One
of their suppliers, Berto Guerra of Avanzar
(L-R) Toyota GM Ryan Grimm, CEO &
President of NMSDC Adrienne Trimble,
Rosa Santana, and Toyota Executive Vice
President, Product Support Chris
Nielsen. Rosa was invited to speak at
Toyota’s Plano headquarters by Toyota’s
Women Influencing and Impacting
Toyota (WIIT) group about how she
"started her impossible". August 3, 2018
at Toyota Plano Headquarters.
Toyota’s 15th Anniversary at TMMTX (L-R): Santana
Group VP Nicole Navarro-Velesiotis, Santana Group VP
Lisa Navarro-Gonzales, Executive Vice President of
Product Support and Chief Quality Officer for Toyota
Motor North America (TMNA) Chris Nielsen, and Rosa
Santana. October 19, 2018 @ Toyota Motor
Manufacturing Texas.
Interior Technologies, stepped up and said ‘I
will help you,’ and I asked him, ‘Will you
mentor me?’ He made a group of leaders
available to help us as we entered the
automotive and manufacturing industry,
and today he and I are business partners in
a different venture. Relationships are key,
mentoring relationships are critical. Having
been selected by Toyota is very powerful.
The relationship we built with them over 10
years apparently demonstrated to them why
I was worthy of becoming a supplier.”
LATINAStyle Vol. 24, No. 5, 2018 www. lat inastyle.com 23
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