customer experience. My role allows me to positively impact our wonderful
employees, the communities we serve, external partnerships, and our
customers directly and indirectly.”
Community engagement is important for Ramirez. She serves on the
University of Texas at Dallas Diversity Advisory Council. She is a member of the
Plano Culture and Inclusion Alliance. She is a big supporter of Cristo Rey College
Prep High School in Southeast Dallas, where she speaks to the students and
mentors a few of them. Ramirez also started a networking and support platform
for women called Empowering Latinas. This platform allows women to create a
sisterhood-type bond, one that allows them to support one another as they climb
through corporate America.
“I also wanted to help out kids that were separated from their parents and
were being held in detention centers,” she states. “My Latinos+ employee
resource group at Ericsson helped to collect 1K items that we donated to RAICES
to help the cause.”
Ramirez also mentors up-and-coming young Latinas. “Knowledge sharing
and supporting their success is important,” she says. “I feel that every person can
create change within their community, find what works for you.”
A mother of two, Lily and Diego, Ramirez has instilled in them the
importance and significance of diversity and inclusion. “I’ve explained what it
means to them now and how it will play a role in their future, their everyday
life,” she shares. “My call to action is for everyone to talk to the next generation of
leaders, your kids, your grandchildren, your nephews and nieces - speak and show
them about what inclusion (togetherness) truly means. Life-long lessons begin at
home.”
Milagros Figueroa-Tetuan
Network Engineer – Managed Voice and
Network Services
Global IP & Managed Services
Sprint
Curious at a young age about how the
radio, TV, or microwave worked,
Milagros Figueroa-Tetuan always turned
to her dad — her inspiration — for
answers. And, although she excelled at
math, it wasn’t until cellphones came
into the market that her excitement and
inclination toward engineering began.
“I thought I wanted to be an
accountant, but later on when cellular
telephones came to the market, I was so
excited to know more about how they
operated,” she states. “I knew this is what
I wanted to study. It was very exciting
to receive my Engineering title and
have my father present at my graduation ceremony.”
Milagros (far right) with former Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure,
and the Ballet Folklorico del Sol during a Cinco de Mayo ERG
(Enlace) event. May, 2018.
Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, she obtained her B.S. in Electronics
Engineering at the Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. Soon after, she
journeyed to the U.S. in 2004 to continue her education at Johnson County
Community College where she graduated with Presidential Honors and obtained
vocational certificates in Cisco and Windows connectivity.
Today, Figueroa-Tetuan is a Network Engineer II for Managed Voice Services
under Global IP and Managed Services. As part of the Tier III Cisco Voice Team, she
provides 24/7 technical support and Service Assurance for external large
customers using IP Telephony or Cisco VoIP products. This includes 13 Managed
Voice (MIPT/HCS), 375 SIP, and 9 Smart UC customers.
Figueroa-Tetuan’s path to success was a bumpy one. She had two major
obstacles, one was having an undergraduate degree from another country and the
language. Unable to find a company who would hire her as an engineer, she
worked as a dishwasher, and as a Spanish tutor. Later, she was able to work at a
call center.
As part of the Service Assurance team, she oversees 24/7 support
to customers. “We are one of the few teams who work around the clock for
emergencies and outages which can occur at any time, and it is a priority for us
to be there to help our customers and bring them back to operational status
as soon as possible,” she shares. “Some of our customers are airlines, fire
protection, and international customers with multiple sites in all five continents.”
Passionate about helping others, Figueroa-Tetuan serves as the President of
Enlace (Sprint Hispanic ERG) since January 2018. She also volunteers with the
Kansas City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
“I love meeting new people, and Sprint is such a big company, that even after
being employed for 10 years, I still meet new people every day,” she states. “I love
the many opportunities offered for professional development, like the ERGs. My
favorite part of working at Sprint is how much importance the executives give to
diversity and inclusion.”
14 www. lat inastyle.com LATINAStyle Vol . 25, No. 2, 2019
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