Spotlight On… Liliana Torres!
Written by Claire Tolbert
This June, Women Who Code Dallas/Ft. Worth is shining our spotlight on a member who is incredibly successful: Liliana Torres. She is an inspiration to so many of our members, and we are happy to be able to celebrate her this month!
Originally from Venezuela, Liliana studied computer science in college. When she moved to the US, she had to start over in her career. This meant not only learning the technical language, but she also had to pick up conversational English. In the process, she got a job working customer service. A surprise to no one, Liliana worked well enough in that and future positions to move up the ladder to where she is now.
Liliana now works as a Data Analyst for TMX Finance. She develops automated reports to provide insights about the corporation’s performance. This feeds beautifully into her passion for Python. Most recently, she has actually joined the Women Who Code Python track, where she gets to share her love and wealth of knowledge with other members in the organization.
The daughter of someone who worked for equal rights for women in Venezuela, Liliana feels right at home empowering other women. Growing up, she got to watch her mother work towards legislation that required a minimum of 25% female candidates in elections.
“When I found Women Who Code DFW. I instantly felt the connection between my technical background and the goal to inspire women to succeed.”
Most recently, Liliana is proud of joining the Python Track hosted by Women Who Code. She’s able to learn and teach at the same time, and she says: “There is nothing more amazing than hearing someone happy because you did something for them.” Liliana is motivated by making a difference in others’ lives. She wants others to excel and wants to help in any way she can.
When she’s not coding, Liliana is a fan of exercising. She runs a couple of times a week, lifts weights, and “buckets are [her] favorite”. I don’t know what a bucket is, but it sounds intimidating. She also enjoys salsa dancing and a good book before bed to help her relax. We’ve heard she likes to cook sweets in a healthy way, and we can’t wait for her to share with the group!
We’re happy to hear that Liliana is setting her course towards the Data Scientist direction (because we think she’d be great at it!). She wants to keep growing both professionally and personally. Most importantly, she wants to continue learning so she can help “this wonderful community of women in IT and show the world what we are capable of achieving”.
“I want to be an example for [women in IT], so they can see there is a way to get it done.”
We are so honored to have Liliana in our community. We get to see her help out other members get started in their careers or just troubleshoot some code here and there. It’s inspiring. Every event that Liliana attends is a blast because as much as she loves to learn, she also loves to laugh.
Here’s to you, Liliana. Thank you for everything you do in our community.