When she was 5 years outdated, Veronica Miller (née Teklai) and her household left their homeland of Eritrea, within the Horn of Africa, to flee an ongoing conflict with Ethiopia and create a brand new life within the U.S.
She grew up in East Orange, New Jersey, watching others decide her dad and mom and switch them away from jobs they have been certified for due to their look, their accented English or their unfamiliar names.
After working within the transport trade for 20 years, Miller’s dad finally grew to become a New York Metropolis cab driver, an often-dangerous job within the Nineteen Eighties. Her mother, regardless of incomes a pc science diploma within the U.S., educated to turn out to be a house well being aide, the place jobs have been extra obtainable.
“My dad and mom’ resilience and braveness made my life potential,” Miller mentioned.
After graduating from Ramapo Faculty of New Jersey with a level in worldwide enterprise, Miller labored at giant automotive corporations in consumer assist, manufacturing assist and venture administration.
Now working as a technical program supervisor in product safety at NVIDIA, she seems like her household’s journey has come full circle.
“It’s the glory of my life being right here at NVIDIA: I’m the proudest refugee,” she mentioned.
In her function, Miller features like a conductor in an orchestra. She works with engineers to bridge gaps and perceive challenges to outline options — at all times making an attempt to create alternatives to show a “no” right into a “sure” by collaboration.
At NVIDIA, Miller seems like she might be herself, serving to her thrive. She now not feels the strain to adapt to slot in, permitting her creativity to move freely and remedy issues.
“Beforehand in my profession, I by no means wore my hair curly. After somebody as soon as requested to the touch my curly hair, I believed it could be simpler to make myself appear to be everybody else. I believed it was the easiest way to let my work be the main focus as a substitute of my hair,” she mentioned. “NVIDIA is the primary employer that inspired me to deliver my full self to work.”
Outdoors of labor, Veronica and her husband, Nathan, are enthusiastic about paying it ahead and serving to native youth in Trenton, New Jersey. Collectively, they’ve developed The Miller Household Basis to assist with group wants, together with training. The inspiration’s scholarship fund has donated $20,000 to low-income highschool college students to offer assist for school tuition and profession mentorship.
“I really consider anybody might get right here. There wasn’t anybody that confirmed me the trail. It was perception in myself, a ton of analysis and countless onerous work,” she mentioned. “We’re in a particular place the place my husband and I may give the following technology a number of the monetary assist and profession steerage we didn’t have.”
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