Mariah Manzano '20 is the CEO & Co-Founder of Opal, whose mission is to empower students through mentorship at any point in their career-search journey. She is also currently a Software Engineer at Cisco, former NASA Ames intern, former Santa Clara University UX Project Manager and Career Center employee, and University Innovation Fellow. She’s a class of 2020 graduate from Santa Clara University with a degree in Web Design & Engineering and emphasis in Entrepreneurship.
She is particularly passionate about empowering underrepresented groups to pursue their dream careers because as a woman of color in tech, she recognizes the power of seeing someone you can identify with in a role you see yourself in. Or even in a role you never thought you could pursue. She believes that the realm of possibility exponentiates with even the slightest bit of encouragement and empowerment.