HDCS graduate Marisa Mireles, who graduated with her BS in Consumer Relations and Marketing in 2004 and currently serves as Business Development Manager for Tulsa Inspection Resources, LLC in Houston, Texas, “wouldn’t change a thing” about the academic and professional experiences that have led her to where she is today.
“I have to laugh, because I never would have imagined that starting in HDCS and ending up working with engineers on a day-to-day basis is where I’d land, but I love it,” she said. “It’s been a perfect fit, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Her experience at UH was largely shaped by her involvement in DECA, a student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management at high schools and colleges worldwide, and by her study abroad experience in Spain.
“Using my experience and knowledge of how businesses operate across departments has helped me further develop my skill set. To this day, being 20 years out from UH and this program, I still take the lessons and experiences of being in DECA into my day-to-day tasks,” Mireles said.
“And I still talk about my study abroad all the time, even twenty years later. It was a huge growth opportunity for me as well: taking what I had already learned in my first couple of years at UH and then finishing that off by going out to find my autonomy, my path, who I was.”
Mireles spent the first years of her career post-graduation working in banking as a marketing professional before transitioning to a public relations role for Saks Fifth Avenue. She enjoyed getting “back to [her] degree roots,” and later co-managed a design department of Neiman Marcus.
“I had my degree in marketing, I liked fashion, but where was it that I wanted to be? After a year with Neiman Marcus, I took a job with HP, and that was my first step into a true global role,” said Mireles. “I then moved into oil and gas, which led me back to the technology side of things.”
In her time with NDT Global — a supplier of In-line Inspection technologies — Mireles was able to cultivate contacts and relationships with companies like Phillips 66, Plains All-American, Enbridge, McDermott, Baker Hughes and Kinder Morgan.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I really like this!’ I started to see the fruits of my labor in what I was selling and what I was doing, and those contacts ultimately helped me end up with Tulsa Inspection Services (TIR), where I am today,” she said. “Because I have a strong understanding of the business, I can hold my own and engage in well-rounded conversations with engineers,” she continued. “I think that’s what makes me successful in this role and why I enjoy it so much. When I meet someone new, the first thing I say is that I’m by no means an engineer—I’ve only been doing this for about four and a half years—so I may not know everything, but I can speak knowledgeably, and I have a tremendous team behind me to support me whenever I need it.”
“It’s not what one might expect, I think, coming from the consumer relations and merchandise marketing,” said Mireles, but is nonetheless an excellent example of the ever-evolving presence of the HDCS department within the Cullen College of Engineering.