Latinas Excelling in STEM
JBy Gloria Romano-Barrera obs in areas of STEM are growing, and companies are actively working to create a better
diversity balance in the workforce. But many Latinas, especially girls, with the potential
to be the next Ellen Ochoa, computer scientist or engineer, look around and don’t see
themselves reflected in the STEM world. Girls who see women in STEM careers are more likely to
go into those fields. Meet two Latinas, Rabecca Rocha at Google and Marisela Cerda at Microsoft,
who are working to break that cycle.
Rabecca Rocha
Test Analyst
VR Google
“For me, it’s the privilege to be able
to show other people that If I can be
here, so can you,” shares Rabecca
Rocha, Test Analyst for VR 180 at Google
and 3D Freelance Artist. “My favorite part
is being transparent about my dreams
and goals of moving into 3D Art as an
Environment Artist and being able to do
so on my time while also having a
sustainable life.”
A first-born generation Latina of
Rabecca Rocha at the
INSPIRATIONALATIN
Awards.
Guatemalan, Mexican and Colombian
descent, Rocha recalls the day her dad brought home a Compaq family computer.
At nine years old, she played and learned animation through a Spiderman game.
Today, she has become an artist who uses technology to create art as well.
“I speak Spanglish, this is kind of a lingering reminder that we had an uphill
battle to climb even just getting a job let alone in tech,” she states. “This made me
grateful for the things that began to come along whether easily or not. I understood
the immense amount of sacrifices that led to me being able to go to good schools,
have food on my plate and having an education. My grandmother had to leave
school in order to help her mother with the bakery shop, this memory and lesson
never left her and she wanted a change for her children and grandchildren, she’s
the smartest woman I know.”
As a Test Analyst at Google she can’t go into detail about her projects but what
she can say is that it is moving onto the Cloud, which is a massive storage for
movies, games, etc. “This allows the users to pull whatever they want to play or
listen to from that storage,” she says.
For Rocha, her greatest accomplishment so far is feeling comfortable enough
to lead meetings, strategize her plans and set expectations for the developers
when it comes to QA testing. But this wasn’t as easy as it sounds. Barriers and
challenges arose for Rocha and she remained determined to succeed.
“There were obstacles every step of the way,” she shares. “Being smart
enough, being right for the role. Being myself versus being the person I thought
the interviewers or developers wanted to see. I was always so nervous to speak
up in meetings, always so scared to be seen as the loud brown woman, but now
I have no problem. No one is going to give
you permission to pivot or move onto
something different unless you do.”
Passionate about her work and
community work, Rocha proactively
engages the community to network
and build a community at Washington
State. “There are less than 1 percent
of Latinos in tech, especially on my
campus, it shows,” she shares. “The
only people I saw in Fremont, WA or in
Mountain View California that look like
me are the staff and janitors.”
Rocha also launched “Latinos in
Tech” podcast on SoundCloud,
Rabecca Rocha testing VRs.
Rabecca Rocha.
(www.soundcloud.com/latinosintechpodcast). This avenue serves to tell stories of
Latinos in tech, how to get in, stay in and bring other like-minded individuals in.
Rocha also planned a Hackathon and was part of Latino legislative day in 2018.
Rocha’s advice is to not give up. “No one will give you permission to succeed,”
she states. “So many people love the idea of Latinos in tech but only hire us as
interns and bring in the same folks. Yes, you can do this too and YES, even if
you are the only one of your type. Last but not least, the Latino community is
alive in Seattle and thriving! We are doing it better together and your ancestors are
with you.”
8 LATINAStyle www.latinastyle.com Vol. 25, No. 5, 2019
/latinosintechpodcast)
/www.latinastyle.com
