Maria Burns Ortiz
7 Generation Games
Santa Monica, CA USA
"You can’t just kind of dip your toe into things. It’s only when you go all in that things start to work."
Career Roadmap
Maria's work combines: Journalism, Technology, and Communicating / Sharing Stories
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
It's not always about what you already know, it's about what you are willing to learn. Don't focus so much on the areas that you lack, instead go out there and figure out how to fill those knowledge gaps.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Journalism
New York University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Says her path into technology wasn’t traditional, but the longer you work in tech, the more you start to realize that very few people actually have a “traditional” path into tech.
2.
In college at NYU, she was a journalism major; after graduating, she wrote for ESPN.com.
3.
She loved her job, but at age 23, she realized that writing articles about “the Clippers doing yoga” wasn’t making a difference in the world, and it was no longer fulfilling to her.
4.
She wanted to help her mother start a gaming company, but she was hesitant because she’d just had a child, didn’t know if it was the right time.
5.
Her mom told her, “That perfect time will never come,” so she decided to just jump in and commit.
6.
Together, they started 7 Generation Games, an educational gaming company.
7.
Left journalism after working in that field for a decade, but assures road-trippers that it was the right choice; says they shouldn’t feel obligated to continue down a path they don’t like.
8.
Says that as a Hispanic woman, she’s faced difficulty in the tech and media worlds, but she uses any discouragement or doubts about her credentials as fuel to motivate her forward.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
I don't know if it's the right time to switch jobs?
How I responded:
My mom told me that there is never the "right time." You can't wait around for this idealized perfect time to do something because it will never come. I just had to go for it and fully commit to making it work anyway I could.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I started as a Hispanic woman in sports reporting. That may not be as white as the tech industry, but it's pretty close. I faced a lot of discrimination while there.