Airplanes to Startups: Yunuen’s Story
Many of us who’ve dabbled in different fields feel overwhelmed, believing we’re lost or “crazy” for not sticking to one path. But what if that courage to change is your edge? Meet Yunuen. She’s studied fashion, worked in interior design, been a flight attendant, and now thrives in the startup world. Far from being a weakness, her multi talents got her hired. What I love about Yunuen is her resilience, willingness to adapt when things aren’t going according to plan, and strength to start again.
This interview is a part of Multi You‘s original project: Multi Careers. Get inspired by unapologetic multi careers that defy convention!
Follow Yunuen’s adventures:
1. Hi, Yunuen! It’s an honor to host you. Your diverse, multifaceted path is so exciting! Were these career changes a coincidence as you were going with the flow, or were they intentional?
Hi Maria, thank you for having me! I‘m so happy someone is opening this conversation. Usually I felt I was the only weirdo without a perfect 10-year finance career. I would say my path is a mix. When I decided all of these changes, they were intentional, but never thinking about a “career” – more about what I wanted in life. I tried interior design because I wanted to live somewhere else in Mexico, flight attendant because I wanted to see the world, and growth manager to build a career that can be diverse! Working in a small startup means doing whatever is needed in the moment to keep up.
2. As multis, sometimes our careers seem random, disconnected. But in retrospect, we often discover that there are some “a-ha themes”, some common threads and topics that make total sense in our experience. What do you think?
That’s true! This tends to cause a feeling of guilt, because we are supposed to know why we are choosing everything the moment we choose it! But once I heard someone said, “everything you learn is useful, you just have to wait and see” and that is so true!
For me those common threads were something I could see until just recently, when my boss decided to hire me. She was clear about how important it is for her to hire someone for their attitude in life and not only their knowledge, and that made me feel so proud of my path for the first time.
With this in mind, I would answer courage has always been a common in my life, open communication with the most different people, passion for understanding what motivates them and last but not least a mind that always tries to improve processes in order to have a better life.
3. Apart from these interesting fields you’ve worked in, you also have a bachelor’s degree in Design and Fashion Industry. What was that experience like? Do you carry lessons learned with you nowadays? Can you give some examples?
Yes! Haha, dear fashion 💓 It will always have a place in my heart. I think I learned to appreciate processes, how important it is to be mindful about them and to look at the details, which mostly makes a huge difference. Details are so important. I learned as well to value the work of others. When I did a formal male shirt and it took me hours to get all the pieces together, I realized every work has huge value, it doesn’t matter if we see it or not. So, I try to be grateful with the people around me who do “invisible jobs” which impact our life hugely.
4. Your past mixes computer science, natural sciences, technology, fashion. What challenges did you face while working these different industries? Which role was the hardest to adapt to?
I think every role came with a challenge, in a different measure. To work in interior design, I moved for the second time inside Mexico to a different city and that was interesting! I was really excited to live by the beach in Los Cabos. At the end, I wasn’t really enjoying it even though I loved what I was doing and my boss was an amazing leader – the city just didn’t feel right for me.
When I was in process analysis, I got to meet a group of my closest friends in Guadalajara, I learned a lot about getting used to different teams, and working for international clients and colleagues. Getting to know all these new people was amazing! Our client was from the USA and my colleagues were from India. If before I already knew I wanted to travel the world, this provoked an even major impulse for me to decide and look for a different job.
Now that you made me think more about it, Emirates was definitely the biggest challenge until then…moving from Mexico to Dubai, starting in a new different professional world which I had no idea from and all of this alone, thousands of kilometers away from anything I knew was a difficult experience that came with a price.
5. Does your multi personality reveal itself in other ways apart from your career?
Hahaha my friends always laugh when I say I´m doing something new, because I just like to experiment and see what it’s like to do different things.
In terms of sports, I’ve practiced Volleyball for a long time, now I’ve gotten into trying Badminton, Squash, Yoga and I’m looking forward to winter semester in the university to decide what I’m going to take, I would like to do Acro Yoga with my partner and maybe Bouldering.
From other interests, well… I love visiting museums and galleries, classical music, cinema, I would love to take some architectural photography courses too. I love writing, 2 years ago I was writing a series called “Mom, I Want to Know the World” telling my experience about becoming a flight attendant. So far, it’s only in Spanish and it was originally just published in a Facebook group for female Mexicans around the world. Now, I’m working on creating my blog about this history.
And well…I constantly see groups, topics or experiences I would love to be part of, but 24hrs a day are not enough haha! 😄
6. I noticed on LinkedIn that you’re active in Women in Tech events, supporting female professionals and promoting talks by women researchers globally. How has being a Mexican woman impacted your journey, and is it more noticeable in certain fields?
Oh yes! Right now, I’m so excited to get more involved in the startup world, full of female founders, innovation, amazing and inspiring women I didn’t get to know as I was growing up! And well, being Mexican made a difference in me growing up. I notice now a lot the influence of my culture in thinking that women are made to get married, have kids and be an amazing mother and wife, but you didn’t use to see many intelligent discussions happening between women, those are supposed to be left for men, at least until growing up I only saw that. The women in television were the ones looking amazing and being kind and the guys were the smart ones. But I’m happy that this situation is changing and more women in Mexico are now strong voices in politics, science and other important areas.
7. Let’s talk about plans. What upcoming adventures, interests or hobbies do you have in mind that you’d like to explore?
Well, first of all, keep on studying. I’m really excited to see which university I will be staying in and which of both careers I will follow.
Apart from that, DigiWhat, the startup I’m working for is growing and it is so exciting for me to be so close to Claudia, the CEO and founder because I get to see how everything is evolving and she is just an amazing human being! I’m able to learn a lot of her about being a leader and I can’t wait to see how we keep on growing. On other topics, I’m excited about my new blog, I love writing and I think it will be fun and I’ll learn a lot in the process.
There’s a lot other topics I would love to be involved in, but I realized for me is better to concentrate on a couple of topics at once and then move forward when I’m experienced enough and can manage the actual challenges I’m facing.
8. What would you tell someone like you, who has many different interests, loves getting involved with different industries, but feels lost or underappreciated because society seems to pressure us to stick to a linear path?
Trust your gut feeling, be super honest with yourself… even if your decision is confusing to others. If it makes sense to you, GO FOR IT! Understand that society might be hard on you for not having a 10-year finance career, but you being harder on yourself is what normally is stopping you from evolving. And well, because I love quotes I would like to share my personal favorite: “In order to fly you have to let yourself fall”.
Thanks for your amazing interview, Maria, I wish you all the success with this new adventure! I’m sure you’ll get a lot of satisfaction from it, thanks for giving the people like me with colorful careers the chance to speak about our diverse and fun world.
