Meet Mariel Capco
Mariel Capco graduated with her Honours Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Mathematics/Finance degree from Concordia University, and now works as a Manager in Data Science at Intact Financial Corporation. In her spare time, Mariel enjoys travelling, trying new restaurants, playing the piano, practicing yoga, and hiking outdoors with her dog.
When did your love of STEM begin?
It started early on when I was in elementary school. It’s cheesy, but I enjoyed practicing those multiplication tables. Also, my mom was an elementary school teacher and I loved being her little helper, especially when she was correcting her students’ math tests. I enjoyed solving problems the same way I enjoyed doing puzzles! In high school, I loved my science classes (except for physics, which was never my strength). In the ‘90s as the internet was starting to explode, I discovered my love for technology. When I wasn’t studying, I taught myself how to code HTML and developed a hobby in graphic and web design. I was “that teenager” hooked up to the computer all the time, designing my own website.
What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?
We can see STEM being applied everywhere in our day-to-day lives (e.g. in the cities where we live, on our commutes to work, on the gadgets we’re addicted to). The field continues to evolve, which means there are always new problems to solve. This gives us the opportunity to be creative and drive innovation. I’ve been working in the insurance industry for 10 years, and while some may think insurance is boring, it is quite dynamic and innovative. In the past decade, we have been faced with various STEM-related challenges: using telematics to analyze driver behavior, creating insurance products to cover new types of risk -- drones, cyber risk, sharing economy business models = and dealing with catastrophic damages due to climate change, just to name a few.
What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?
Based on my academic and professional experience, I can confirm there is a gender imbalance in STEM. Often, I would find myself quite intimidated by this and I would start to doubt whether a career in STEM was right for me, or rather, if I was right for a career in STEM. So, my advice to young women would be to break the stereotypes: don’t compare yourself to others, stand out and never doubt yourself.