Noramay Cadena
Engineer, Entrepreneur, Investor & Co-Founder and Managing Director of Make In LA
Noramay Cadena is an engineer, entrepreneur, investor, and former nonprofit leader. She’s the Cofounder and Managing Director of Make in LA, an early stage hardware accelerator and venture fund in Los Angeles. Since launching in 2015, Make in LA has invested over $1MM in seed stage companies. Prior to cofounding Make in LA, Cadena spent over 10 years in aerospace with The Boeing Company. Her roles included technical oversight, shop floor operations management, and program management with profit and loss accountability over major system deliverables. In the community, Cadena is active civically and in the nonprofit sector. She co-founded the Latinas in STEM Foundation in 2013 to inspire and empower Latinas to pursue and thrive in STEM fields and led the organization through 2015. She also serves on the Housing Authority Commission of Los Angeles and is a founding board member for a proposed K-8 charter school in Los Angeles.
A highly regarded role model, Noramay Cadena is nationally recognized for her technical achievements in the aerospace industry, and for promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers in the Hispanic community.
Cadena has worked at The Boeing Company for 12 years and is currently leading process improvement strategies across large development programs and helping Boeing become service-ready with a capsule transporter for the Inter- national Space Station by 2017. As process improvement leader, Cadena draws on both her technical experience and her business training to manage profit and loss and drive improvements. She has a track record of leading by example and recognizing the contributions of all team members. Cadena has received many company awards for her successful team leadership, including the 2015 John Van Gels Award and the 2014 Team of the Month Award for delivering a satellite ahead of schedule.
In a previous position as an integrated product team leader in El Segundo California, Cadena led a cross-functional team through assembly, integration, and test of a commercial satellite program. She managed a multimillion- dollar budget and a multiyear schedule. Before that, she was a manager supporting final assembly of 787 airplanes in the Seattle area, and prior to that, held positions as systems engineer, team leader, test engineer, and test director. Cadena holds an MBA, a master's degree in engineering systems, and a bachelor's in mechanical engineering, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.
She is executive director of the Latinas in STEM Foundation, a nonprofit organization she co-founded in 2013 to inspire and empower Latinas to pursue and thrive in STEM fields. She speaks widely about her career in engineering and her perspective as a Latina in STEM. In 2014, Cadena was named one of the Top 20 Latinos in Technology by CNET. That same year, she was a TEDx speaker in Boyle Heights, California, and a panelist at the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in New York. In 2013, she was one of five featured speakers dur- ing a Latinas Think Big™ event hosted by the ELLA Institute. In 2012, Cadena was the keynote speaker during the Adelante Mujer Latina Conference, which promotes postsecondary education and careers to nearly 2,000 young women each year. In 2008, she received a Most Promising En- gineer award from Great Minds in STEM, and a Rising Star award from Women of Color in Technology.
Cadena grew up in California's San Fernando Valley and became a mother when she was 17. She pursued her under- graduate and graduate education and her engineering career as a single mother. She lives in the Los Angeles area with her daughter and is active in STEM out- reach, Latina mentorship and professional development, and other volunteer work. She also mentors students applying to undergraduate programs at MIT.
Cadena has worked at The Boeing Company for 12 years and is currently leading process improvement strategies across large development programs and helping Boeing become service-ready with a capsule transporter for the Inter- national Space Station by 2017. As process improvement leader, Cadena draws on both her technical experience and her business training to manage profit and loss and drive improvements. She has a track record of leading by example and recognizing the contributions of all team members. Cadena has received many company awards for her successful team leadership, including the 2015 John Van Gels Award and the 2014 Team of the Month Award for delivering a satellite ahead of schedule.
In a previous position as an integrated product team leader in El Segundo California, Cadena led a cross-functional team through assembly, integration, and test of a commercial satellite program. She managed a multimillion- dollar budget and a multiyear schedule. Before that, she was a manager supporting final assembly of 787 airplanes in the Seattle area, and prior to that, held positions as systems engineer, team leader, test engineer, and test director. Cadena holds an MBA, a master's degree in engineering systems, and a bachelor's in mechanical engineering, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is a member of the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.
She is executive director of the Latinas in STEM Foundation, a nonprofit organization she co-founded in 2013 to inspire and empower Latinas to pursue and thrive in STEM fields. She speaks widely about her career in engineering and her perspective as a Latina in STEM. In 2014, Cadena was named one of the Top 20 Latinos in Technology by CNET. That same year, she was a TEDx speaker in Boyle Heights, California, and a panelist at the World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in New York. In 2013, she was one of five featured speakers dur- ing a Latinas Think Big™ event hosted by the ELLA Institute. In 2012, Cadena was the keynote speaker during the Adelante Mujer Latina Conference, which promotes postsecondary education and careers to nearly 2,000 young women each year. In 2008, she received a Most Promising En- gineer award from Great Minds in STEM, and a Rising Star award from Women of Color in Technology.
Cadena grew up in California's San Fernando Valley and became a mother when she was 17. She pursued her under- graduate and graduate education and her engineering career as a single mother. She lives in the Los Angeles area with her daughter and is active in STEM out- reach, Latina mentorship and professional development, and other volunteer work. She also mentors students applying to undergraduate programs at MIT.
Topics:
- A Conversation with Noramay Cadena
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