Being a 46-year-old woman in the engineering world has allowed me to experience the privilege and uniqueness of various life stages. Perhaps the name "engineer" was already written in my mind since birth, as I asked Santa for DIY tools when I was five years old.
During my teenage years, I spent much of my time trying to find balance between sports, studies, and my own expectations.
At 12, I became the Spanish national champion in swimming for my age group in the 100m breaststroke, having grown up in an environment focused on self-discipline, perseverance, and effort—values that, I now understand, went beyond what’s typical for kids my age.
Training five hours a day, earning a third-place at the European Championships at 15, and balancing my studies, I eventually reached adulthood (18), when I faced a crossroads: one of the most important decisions of my life: Should I study engineering or continue pursuing a sports career? At that time, my country, Spain, wasn’t fully prepared for this choice, making it a difficult decision. In hindsight, I can confidently say it was a decision I got very right.
For over 20 years, I have been an ENGINEER, in capital letters. My connection to water led me to the world of hydraulics professionally, and the universe brought sport back into my life in the form of Underwater Orienteering. This second chance allowed me to compete in European and World Championships representing my country while continuing my professional development.
It’s been, without a doubt, a wonderful chapter in my life. With a lot of hard work and determination, I was able to pursue both passions and keep growing as a person. I used to think that training five hours a day was demanding until my daughter, Marina, came into my life with new experiences and challenges; big professional projects paired with having a baby at home. It was both inspiring and exhausting.
Now, I find myself immersed in the fascinating world of adolescence, balancing it with conferences, meetings, strategy, projects, new colleagues, and new worlds, among them, ASHRAE. This is a world that continues to bring me immense value, growing and surprising me every day.
Every time I meet someone from ASHRAE, I am reminded that each and every person here is special and unique. These are individuals who put in the effort, and effort always brings its reward.