Speaking about her experience and the impact she witnessed while working at WE, Maria said,

I worked for WE in the international programming department for many years and had the opportunity to work directly with our teams in Ecuador and Nicaragua. I am proud of and believe in the WE Villages 5 pillar model and was impressed by the quality of the teams implementing them. It was inspiring to see children attending schools we built and drinking water for water systems put in by WE. The partnership approach and respect for local community members was good to see.

I had a very positive experience working at WE. I respected and trusted my manager and enjoyed being surrounded by so many people with passion and commitment to positive change. There was a lot of variety in the work and opportunity for taking on new and exciting projects. While not perfect, WE was a great place to work.

Looking back on what she was most proud to be working on during her time at WE, Maria reflected,

I was very proud to work on a team that hired almost exclusively locally for our international staff. The team in Nicaragua was made up of Nicaraguans and the team in Ecuador was made up for Ecuadorians. This is not always the case for international charities.

Thinking about what has changed during her time at WE, Maria said,

WE was always looking to improve its systems. In my team one of the things we did was to track all of our international programs and annually we worked hard to make that process for effective and efficient.

Reflecting on the most memorable impact of her work, Maria noted,

I was fortunate enough to visit Ecuador and see the impact of our projects in the communities we serve. Meeting community members who worked hard with WE on projects was very impactful.