Three Questions for Melissa Bañuelos

How did your family’s immigrant experience impact your career trajectory?

My parents come from very large families, from Zacatecas, Mexico – each one was the youngest of 10 children. When you have families that large it’s hard to keep them close, so they started moving to the United States to make their way in the world. It was all work and no play for them, and my mom worked just as hard as my dad. What I remember the most from childhood is learning to make the most of everything you have.

For both my mom and dad, that manifested from the opportunities they didn’t have as children. His family had to grow their own food, and from a young age he worked to live. He remembers with sadness how much he wanted to go to school but wasn’t able to and that was very impactful to me.

I was born and raised in California, in small Central Valley agricultural towns near Turlock. I loved where I grew up – all that open land. For us, it was a lot like Mexico. When I was in my teens all I wanted to do was leave, get an education, and an amazing job in the city. I graduated high school when I was 16-years old, went to a local community college and earned my Associates degree when I was 18. After that I left to continue my education at the state university at Longbeach, where I lived for almost 10 years.

Time was always a focus for me, and I wanted to do things as quickly and efficiently as I could.

Does education still play a big part in your life?

Where I grew up, there wasn’t a lot of diversity. There were either Mexican kids or white kids. We didn’t have the best schools; kids didn’t have a lot of motivation to care about going on to college. The older I got the more I realized I couldn’t hang out with my classmates because it could take me off track.

I went to school for fashion merchandising with the goal of covering the fashion industry as a journalist. But I started working for a woman who owned three boutiques and basically ran her business, and from there I got an interest in operations. I realized I could do that work from anywhere, so I came back to the Central Valley to be closer to my family and earn an MBA for Global Innovators from Cal State East Bay.

I enjoy learning, and at the Lab we have the amazing benefit of a tuition assistance program. So, now I’m looking to see what I will do next.

How would you describe your work experience at the Lab so far?

I’m the business operations specialist for the Security and Emergency Services division. I was really fortunate to have been brought on when I was. We’re a relatively new division, and we’re implementing a lot of new processes and helping develop a lot of the things that will be used in years to come. That feels really good.

I was taught from an early age to make the most of every opportunity, every conversation, and that goes right along with every decision, and every process. How do you get more done in less time?

Like my dad always said, if you can help others through tough times then do that. If I have information, big or small, and I can help you then I’m going to do my best to do that.