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Conversations with the Inspiring Silvia Mendez

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Silvia Mendez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Silvia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in Medellin, Colombia in the mid-70s. I lived through the Pablo Escobar era which made my city a very dangerous place to live back in the 80s and early 90s. Growing up in a humble neighborhood, I was faced with the dichotomy of ethical, loving people working hard to support their families and next-door kids seeking opportunities as paid mercenaries or drug dealers with the same goal, but drastically different means. The only thing I was sure about was that I needed to become a professional and move to a better place, fast.

So, I became a geek and an athlete looking for scholarships since I was very young. I fell in love with coding at age 16 with one of the first PCs which had a black screen with yellow fonts. When the first Windows was launched with a mouse, it was surreal. I felt like a cyberpunk artist making the computer do what I wanted. The hard work I put in my studies paid off and I got a full scholarship from one of the best universities in my city. It was very special since my mentors paid for my ballet/lyrical dance and singing lessons and allowed me to take advanced grammar and conversation English classes. I could mix all my passions in one place, and learning English opened many doors for me.

Thanks to my interest in automated processes, I became a consultant and worked in projects in Bogota, Brazil, Chile, and Puerto Rico feeding my love for traveling and interacting with different cultures. I also found out that I was a workaholic. I ended up moving to New York in 2009 with a brand new husband and 60 extra pounds, during the recession, trying to materialize my dream of becoming a great project manager. I grew up so much in NYC! Both professionally and personally. Especially when my doctor said my horrible eating habits, lack of physical activity, high levels of stress, and extremely long work hours could cause me a heart attack. I knew it was time for drastic changes. I took on yoga (breathing is fabulous!), became a health coach, and took advantage of every dance class I could in town – God bless Broadway dancers! I lost my extra weight and shrank to an S size after being XL. I also started practicing mindfulness and opened the gates to live a more fulfilling, healthy life, and in the process I said goodbye to toxic relationships. Hence, I became a happy divorcee.

Being single in New York was a new experience. I had always been self-reliant, but being forced to go out and meet new people was challenging. I embraced extreme sports and camping, and my new friends taught me how to enjoy the wilderness. The peace and connection I can feel out in the woods cannot compare to anything else. When I was centered, happy about my new life and the future I had decided to embrace, I met the love of my life and moved with him to Los Angeles. We lived there for a couple of years, and after coming to visit a friend to Colorado, we sold everything, quit our jobs and moved to Denver.

We arrived in Colorado two years ago without a clear plan about what we were going to do here. My husband is a Front End Architect and I have vast experience as Product Owner and Project Manager. While interviewing for different jobs and working for small companies in the area, we got the chance to create our company, and Dotsur LLC was born.

We created Dotsur LLC because we felt Colorado provided the environment we needed to thrive in a company made with our own rules. We want to serve entrepreneurs with a heart, social impact organizations, and help companies of all sizes improve their performance. We love designing and developing innovative products. We are lucky to work with highly qualified ex-colleagues and friends from South America. I love our work environment and our clients, and I feel blessed to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

Did I mention that I love Colorado? Well, it is not only because of the warmth of people and beautiful landscapes but also because it is a place where it is easy to give back to the community. Last year, I had the life-changing opportunity to participate with Defy Colorado. They train inmates to become successful entrepreneurs using their innate skills for business. I could relate to their stories since I grew up in a violent neighborhood and could both inspire and feel humbled by their experiences while sharing business management tidbits. It really feels good to give back!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
“Everything worthwhile is uphill.”
My road hasn’t been smooth. I grew up in a dangerous environment and everything I have achieved, I had to fight for. But there is an Eros for each Tanatos: When I worked for chauvinistic bosses and my ideas were stolen by those up in the command chain because “I was a woman without clout in the company,” I fought for gender equality. When the company I was working for was doing unethical businesses, I fought for doing the right thing (even though it got me fired). I always did what felt just and fair, and I don’t feel any remorse. Au contraire! I feel proud of my path.

From all those experiences, I grew, I learned, and I am stronger. I am a better version of myself because I faced these challenges following my heart. These decisive and often painful moments brought me close to a group of fantastic like-minded people who I am thrilled to work with nowadays and who continue to be my support group.

My advice for the young women out there starting their careers is to create a persona of who you want to become and feel proud of. Not only in your professional life but also in your inner self. Define what means to be successful in your eyes and go for it. Hopefully, your definition of success will not only be the amount in your bank account but also include having time for your loved ones, doing things you feel passionate about, helping others, being happy, fulfilled, and healthy. I would advise jumping ship when you don’t have the same beliefs as the organization you work for and take into your heart that we all deserve to have balance and love in our lives.

If you are creating your own company, define a vision, mission, and values that inspire you and follow it. They are the pillars that will bring stability, growth, and will help you find kindred spirits to work with.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Dotsur story. Tell us more about the business.
Dotsur is a boutique software development shop with an emphasis on mobile and web applications. I am the Business Analyst/Product Owner and Project Manager y husband is the Technical Architect of Dotsur. Together, we love taking complex needs and creating simple solutions through Design Thinking. We basically take a business idea that involves technology (e.g. a mobile app, a custom website, an integration between services) and find how to make it usable for the users and the best, more affordable software architecture to build it.

We specialize in:
* Designing and developing complex mobile and web apps,
* Educating non-technical clients in the nitty-gritty involved in launching an app, and
* Creating interactive prototypes to raise capital, validate a new feature with a userbase, or garner feedback for a new product

Our development teams are in South America. They were our coworkers here in the USA where we all learned to value the benefits of Continuous Integration and Agile processes. Now that they have created their own companies in Colombia, Uruguay, and Argentina, we joined forces to create a network of technology professionals that can tackle almost any project or can be added to our clients’ teams to boost their performance or fill a hard-to-find position.

Working with highly trained professionals at South American rates allows us to help our clients achieve more with their budgets and work with non-profits, which is part of our mission to use technology to build a better future for all humanity.

For good reason, society often focuses more on the problems rather than the opportunities that exist, because the problems need to be solved. However, we’d probably also benefit from looking for and recognizing the opportunities that women are better positioned to capitalize on. Have you discovered such opportunities?
I believe this is the best time and place to be a woman in history. Women can achieve everything we set our minds to. For the first time since the creation of western society, we can express our thoughts openly, vote, and own our bodies. Women have proved to be great managers, creatives, and more than suitable for STEM jobs. I am an engineer after all! Nowadays, I find more househusbands than I saw two decades ago, and it is well-perceived by society. We are living exceptional times and the fight for gender equality is opening positions for women around America we’ve never seen before. Even though we still live in a patriarchal society, women continue gaining ground and, since we are driven by our hearts, we are the ones helping create a better future for the ones that follow. The only way possible is up!

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Silvia Méndez, Mariano Rozanski

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