Staff Corner

The Image of Success: Finding Growth Opportunities Through Adversities

Posted on July 8, 2020

For the two and a half hours that had been the interview for this article, Maria Theresa Loveria described, retold, and in some occasions, even directly pointed out her love for Infobuilder and the work that she does in the company. However, she actually did not need to. You can hear it in her voice as she talks about projects running smoothly, strategies she came up with her team, trainings she organized, and even her rocky start in the company. There’s pride in her words, not just with the projects themselves or the company, but with the people that work under her; like a true accomplished Project Manager. They say one can talk about a topic for hours without prior notice if they really love it and it has never been more true for Miss Matet and her work. And the best thing about it? It shows because her work truly speaks for itself.

Just last year alone, Miss Matet had been working as the Project Manager for one of our major clients. In the middle of the pandemic, she spearheaded the migration of 54 million documents. A task which would have been a daunting challenge for anyone who would hear about it. Even more so, that she did this during the height of the lockdown restrictions. However, when asked how she was able to handle such a challenge, she responded with a lighthearted laugh and the words, “It wasn’t a challenge at all.” 

She then described how she and her team used the first months of the pandemic to their advantage. While everyone was still adapting to the work from home set up, her team was already studying the materials that they had and testing the necessary programs thoroughly. “We told ourselves that we’re going to use this time to build a quality program for our client,” Miss Matet recounted. Therefore, when the time came that they had access to the client’s servers, they didn’t encounter any major issues at all. The program that they created ran as expected and didn’t give her team any headaches.

The pandemic has been hard on everyone, whether it be on the personal level or the professional level. As such, it is rare to see and hear about stories of success despite the lockdowns. Much more, of success stories that used the pandemic to their advantage. There is no argument that the triumph of this story, of Miss Matet and her team, was considerably because of her insight and leadership. She has all the qualities of a great leader—one that believes in her team, guides each and everyone of them, and comes up with collaborative strategies that improves productivity and morale.

That being the case, it was a surprise to hear that her start in the company was not as regal and smooth as it is today. It was roughly four years ago when Miss Matet got hired as a Business Analyst. “I’ll be honest, I actually wanted to leave the company within 3 months,” she stated. For various reasons, she couldn’t see herself belonging to Infobuilder right away. A far cry from her status in the company today. Fortunately, it was because of two things that she stayed and went on to become one of the most well-respected project managers in the company. One, she said that her then-partner, now fiancé, told her to give it a chance; that her worries might not be worries in the long-run after all. Looking back, those words had never been more true. Second and one that we could all learn from, she had the initiative that a lot of starting employees usually lack. She recounted that instead of sitting in the corner of the office and sulk about her work, she stepped up and continuously asked her supervisors if there was more work that she could do. Even if the said work was out of her skillset or given tasks, she had the vigor to try and ask for more. When asked why she did this, Miss Matet had a simple answer. “I wanted to learn more.” And learn she did.

Right now, as an established PM, she hopes to share what she has learned from her experiences and train more BAs into becoming PMs themselves. Truly one of the company’s prides, Miss Matet will be known as the woman who took up the challenge of migrating 54 million documents during the pandemic and turned it into her little playground. It was her initiative, even as a young BA that quickly took her in the path of being a Project Manager. And it was her strength, skills, and leadership that make her more than just your average project manager.

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