Meet Matilde Ruiz Valls
Matilde Ruiz Valls graduated with a degree in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad de las Americas Puebla, in 2010. She currenly works as a imensional Systems Engineer at General Motors. In her spare time, Matilde likes to cook, travel, read, and hang out with friends.
When did your love of STEM begin?
As a little girl always wondered how things worked, I used to take apart toys to see what was inside and then put them back together. My maternal grandfather was a textile engineer and would often let me borrow his millimetric paper and markers which he used to design for the knitting machines, this opened my eyes to the preciseness of numbers as he then took me to his factories and I could see it now translated into machines and blankets/napkins - his teachings ended shortly as he passed away when I was 9, but my curiosity didn’t. At around 14 I asked my parents to sign me up for aero modeling clases at a local art & culture center where I was the only female and only one under 30! Lessons consisted of aerodynamics -!: physics; first models were created on styrofoam and then in balsa wood - I got a few designs that could fly and some cuts with the esto knife as well.
What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?
Understanding how things work, seeing the capability of new technologies and how improvements simplify everyday tasks. Being able to solve problems with innovative thoughts and taking advantage of the previously walked path. Using the technology to help our surroundings and not only our customers; I was a volunteer of Project M, a project for creating masks for our community and first responders in a repurposed manufacturing environment and minimal investment. Being part of the difference we make every day in the world and how there are more women willing to be part of the change and remove the male stigma from the auto industry. This field has allowed me to be part of the selected list of professions to qualify under the former NAFTA treaty for a work visa, and move from Mexico to the US in order to pursue a career in dimensional engineering, not many positions or as widely spread at the time. Proud of being the First female engineer in my family and having shown my grandmas that it was ok to break they’re conceptions as they were scared this was not a “girl career”
What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?
Be proud of yourself and own it, be ready to break stigmas, do not take social conventions as a rule, but first and foremost do what you enjoy and what draws attention to you! Jobs are plenty, passions are few, follow your heart