“The Santander Open Academy gave me the break I needed.” Angélica Partida-Hanon, Risk Analyst and Data Scientist at Banco Santander

Angélica Partida-Hanon is a Risk Analyst and Data Scientist at Banco Santander. Thanks to Santander Scholarships, she managed to get ahead and reach new goals. For Angélica, the support of Santander Scholarships allowed her to value her full potential and discover all that she can offer to the world.

When she was just 12 years old, Angélica stopped being a girl starting out in secondary education to become a university student, where she started her studies in Industrial Engineering and, a year later, she combined it with studies in Telecommunications Engineering, which led her to move from her home country, Mexico, to Spain, where she worked alongside her studies to be able to continue her education.

The support of Santander Scholarships allowed Angélica to become an industrial and telecommunications engineer, as well as to obtain a PhD in biology. Now, she is a member of the most important sections of Banco Santander: risk management models and credit risk.

If there is one word that defines Angelica, it’s ambition. She came to Spain alone from Mexico to begin her university studies in a new country where, with hardly any resources, she managed to carve out a successful university career with the little help she got from fixing computers in her free time. Without the possibility of applying for public scholarships, since she was without Spanish nationality, she discovered Santander Scholarships, which helped her get the support she needed and it ended up changed her life forever.

Angélica's PhD focused on studying the applications of nuclear magnetic resonance to obtain information on interactions of molecules, something that, in theory, doesn’t have a direct link with risk analysis. “I realised that I was interested in business, especially in seeing results directly or more quickly”, explains Angélica. At that moment, she discovered that everything she had learned at a scientific and technological level could be applied to the business world.

Angelica's story is one of ambition and of not closing doors. If you are a student looking for support to continue developing your career at the undergraduate, master's or PhD level, Angélica has a message for you: “It’s okay to be afraid, cry or think that you’re going to sink, but you always have to try and you don't always get what you are looking for. I wasn’t looking to be in Banco Santander. I was looking for a minor position in biotech, and I ended up winning the lottery without even buying a ticket. It is important not to be too narrow-focused, and at the same time to let yourself go, but using your head.”

Do you want to improve your job competitiveness and progress in your career through training? If you need a boost, Santander Scholarships offer you many options so that you can achieve your goals. Visit Santander Open Academy and sign up for the one that best suits you. Seize the opportunity!