Mariah Manzano 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, and former Santa Clara University UX Project Manager. She’s a class of 2020 graduate from Santa Clara University with a degree in Web Design & Engineering and emphasis on 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 desire yourself. 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.

In this episode Darius invites a budding entrepreneur, Mariah Manzano, to discuss where her entrepreneurial mindset began, how her experience at Santa Clara University built upon this mentality, the creation of her business Opal and its mission, the necessary steps to transition from the idea stage to manifestation, how SCU can improve its entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the importance of overcoming failure.

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