Meet the Team of Spring 2017
Maria Guerrero
President
​​Maria Guerrero is the President for Bauer Women Society. She is a junior student pursuing a Supply Chain major and a Finance minor degree at C.T. Bauer College of Business. She has been an active member since Spring 2015 at Bauer Women Society.
Maria loves UH and Bauer college. Prior to being president, Maria served as a Corporate Relations officer for an academic year. She is part of the Hispanic Business Student Association and Supply Chain Student Association. She is a campaign ambassador for The University of Houston.
Maria enjoys being involved on campus. She was featured in the Bauer Magazine for her involvement on campus since freshman year and was featured by the PROVOST office. She was a Counselor this past summer 2016 for Cub Camp. She participated in Leadershape program and Ted Bauer Leadership Certificate Program. Following her hard work and leadership roles through her college career she was nominated for the Freshman Award in the Campus Leaders Ceremony hosted the Center for Student Involvement. By earning a 4.0 GPA, Maria was recognized by the C.T. Bauer College of Business Dean. She will be interning this upcoming summer 2017 with HP.
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Maria’s passion is to empower and develop women to increase the female representation in the corporate world. She is really proud of representing her country as an international student. So do not hesitate in approaching her!
Xena Ayala
Vice President
Xena Ayala is the Vice President for Bauer Women Society. She is a sophomore pursuing a supply chain management degree at C.T Bauer College of Business. She has been an active member of Bauer Women Society since Fall 2015. She has previously been the Community Service Director and Logistics Manager for Bauer Women Society.
Xena loves working out, playing with animals, being outdoors and giving back to the community. Some of her favorite places to volunteer at are The Cottage Shop at The Women's Home, and also at the UH community service events.
Xena has always been interested in the fashion and retail industry. Her dream is to become a fashion buyer for a retail company. She currently works as a Student Outreach Programs Coordinator at the Undergraduate Programs Office at the Bauer College of Business.
She is very passionate about helping others and is excited to be a part of a wonderful organization that helps young women learn and grow together.
Eva Silva
Finance Director
Eva Silva is the Finance Director for Bauer Women Society. She is a junior student pursuing a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting. She will continue to pursue her Masters of Business with the Professional Program in Accountancy. Her ultimate goal is to become a Certified Public Accountant.
​She is also a full time employee as a bookkeeper and tax preparer during tax season.
Aside from being surrounded by numbers, she loves spending time with her family. She enjoys going out to concerts and finding new hip hole in the wall restaurants.
Nekisha Olaya
Operations Director
Nekisha Olaya is the Operations Director for Bauer Women Society. She is a Junior of the Hilton College pursuing a major in Hotel and Restaurant Management and a minor in Business Foundation. She has been an active member of Bauer Women Society since Fall 2015.
Aside from being an active member, she currently works at the Welcome Center as a UH Ambassador. She enjoys informing prospective students about the great things that happen here at the University of Houston through the huge events like the UH Football games to the student involvement that adds to the Cougar Spirit. Her involvement with the organization has helped her develop skills leadership and communication. She has also became more passionate about leading people and helping them grow into becoming a stronger person within and outside of this organization.
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On her down time, she loves cheering on her UH Football team at every football game. She also enjoys to dance, read, and also she sometimes likes to draw. She hopes to open up her own restaurant, club, or community center of her own in the future. She may come off with a lot of energy, but she is always smiling and never afraid to talk to others. And if you want some cougar spirit, just be around her at all of the games!
Lalah Jackson
Logistics Manager
Lalah Jackson is the Logistics Manager for Bauer Women Society. She is a Sophomore at the Bauer Business School at University of Houston studying Supply Chain Management and Global Procurement. She has a thriving passion for innovation, analysis research, and project management.
A few companies she hopes to work with throughout her career are: HP Enterprise, HEB, Amazon, and BP America. Outside of school Lalah enjoys fining the art in everyday life. She currently plans to begin her career here in Houston; and after live in another country for a while working with an amazing company that has a progressive global procurement sector.
She enjoys reading, watching films, dancing, traveling, going to museums, and so much more. You can always find Lalah laughing with friends or caught up watching TED talks.
Hilda Rodriguez
Corporate Relations Director
Hilda Rodriguez is the Corporate Relations Director of Bauer Women Society. She is a freshman student at the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, pursuing a major in Finance. She has been an active member in Bauer Women Society since Fall 2016.
Aside from being a part of Bauer Women Society, Hilda has other extracurricular activities. She plays for the Lady Cougars Soccer Club where she gets to compete against other big universities in and out of Texas. She has also volunteered in elementary schools, holidays events in her high school and helping others in need in her community.
Her goals for the future include working in a financial firm, invest in stocks and create a non-profit organization that will help improve the education system in her country of birth.
In her free time she likes to play the guitar, watch movies and go to the gym (or play almost any kind of sport).
Rija Arif
Media Director
Rija Arif is the Media Director for Bauer Women Society. She is currently a sophomore at Bauer, majoring in Accounting with a minor in Finance. She plans to continue her education by pursuing a Masters through the Professional Program in Accountancy before going on to become a CPA. Her dream job would be to be an accountant for Chanel or Christian Louboutin.
Rija has been an active member of Bauer Women Society since Fall 2016. She credits BWS for providing her with many opportunities and helping her through her first semester at University of Houston. As a transfer student, she understands how stressful it can be in a new environment and wants to be there for any member who needs help.
One thing she loves more than anything, is traveling. Some of her favorite places she's visited are Sydney, Australia, Chicago, and Paris. She loves to seek adventure in new places and learn the cultures in different countries worldwide. She plans to spend a year to travel the world and visit all the places on her bucket list including her number one goal; Greece.
Outside of school, Rija has a passion for all things beauty. She expresses her creativity through her Instagram and her blog. She is a certified makeup artist and does freelance hair and makeup throughout the year. She loves to sit and talk about her favorite products, brands, and looks. One of her main aspirations is to build her own high end makeup brand.
Janely Toledo
Secretary
​Janely Toledo is the Secretary of Bauer Women Society. She is currently a freshman at the C.T. Bauer College of Business with a 4.0 GPA. Janely is seeking to declare a major in Supply Chain Management and a minor in Marketing. She has been an active member of Bauer Women Society since Fall 2016.
She currently works as an Orientation Team Leader for the University of Houston. Her hobbies include solving math riddles, discovering music, and painting. She loves her parents and her siblings, all seven of them. She takes on every situation with a positive and hopeful approach. She is so excited to make new friends through the society.
Janely’s favorite quote is: “We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” – Arianna Huffington
Laura Ramos
Community Service Director
Laura Ramos is the Community Service Director for Bauer Women Society. She is pursuing a major in Supply Chain Management and a Minor in Marketing. She has been an active member of Bauer Women Society since Fall 2015.
She enjoys volunteering and is happy to be the new Community Service Director because she wants to introduce new organizations to Bauer Women Society.
Laura has two dogs: Lonnie is a Golden Retriever and a rescued dog from the Houston Humane Society and Bessy is a wiener dog that randomly came home and the rest is history.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. - Wayne Gretzky" - Michael Scott
Mary Haar
Member Relations Director
​Mary Haar is the Member Relations Director of Bauer Women's Society. She is a Junior, majoring in Accounting at the C.T. Bauer College of Business. She has been an active member since Fall 2016.
This isn't Mary's first foray into life at a University. She attended SHSU for a while before leaving to work. She spent a few years outside of academia in the working world. Upon the news that she was going to be an aunt, she decided to come back to school and get her degree. She has grown to love UH, Bauer and the Bauer Women's Society.
Between school, BWS activities and two jobs, Mary has very limited free time. However, when she does have it, she enjoys spending time with her dog and her nephew. She also can often be found reading and when time and funding allow it, she loves to get in her truck and just drive as far as she can. So far, her personal best is Seattle. Also, whenever she sees a dog, she will mention it and if possible, pet it.