At the age of twelve Rosalia Dupont found herself in an unknown land. Her parents decided to move them from Peru to the U.S. because there was little opportunity in the country of their ancestors. She watched them build a restaurant and work hard to provide for their family. She looked up to them.
She was residing in the U.S. on a business visa, and lived with the anxiety of possible deportation, therefore she challenged herself to excel in everything she did so that her parents’ sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain. In her junior year, through reading the writings of Transcendentalist thinkers, she began to realize that she wanted to give to the world, rather than just exist in it. At this time she also fell in love with computer science, and as a result, she applied to the UC Davis CS program. However, when she got there she noticed she was an anomaly. She only had one female professor in the CS program and the top students in each class were male. She believes the reason for this lack of representation is a combination of lack of mentorship and traditional socialization. Because women are not in these positions they lack the power to influence the industry. She hopes to be a mentor for others in this area.
On the cusp of graduation, Rosalia’s request for residency in the US was denied. She had to move back to Peru immediately. Thankfully she was still able to complete her BS in Computer Science. Rosalia was offered a position as a Solutions Engineer at one of the most competitive tech companies in the world. She moved from Peru to Paris where she was faced with creating a home in a new land once again. It wasn’t the first time she had been a woman in a foreign space. Luckily, she has learned to thrive regardless of her struggles.
When faced with obstacles, Rosalia uses the “bottom up” problem solving technique, one she learned in her engineering classes: she looks for the problems within the problem and then rebuilds from the ground up. She has applied this process to every area of her life. In the future, she wants to continue growing in the tech industry while also giving back. Her aspiration is to start her own company and educational institution in Peru so that young people will not have to leave their families and their country in order to rise.
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