Gissel Villalobos, Morgan Polymer Seals | Women Breaking the Mold 2024

Gissel Villalobos is a communicator, a problem-solver. And it's those traits that allow her to thrive at Morgan Polymer Seals.

Villalobos serves as a supply chain manager for the family-owned automotive supplier. And she's a big reason the company has been recognized for its quality service and on-time delivery.

Her strengths, she noted, play a big role in the success she has had in her position.

"I believe that effective communication has been key to solving problems and visualizing opportunities for improvement," Villalobos told Rubber News. "It is one of my greatest strengths since this has helped me to provide real and achievable solutions within the company and for the client."

Villobos, who came to San Diego-based, family-owned Morgan Polymer Seals in 2016, has found a second home at the company. And it feels like home, in part because of the opportunities to collaborate with colleagues across the firm.

"I have always found great satisfaction in working with different departments and coordinating teamwork to achieve the company's objectives and therefore those of our clients," Villalobos said. "Professionally I have always had leaders within the company who inspire me, each one contributing something to my training.

While she may find inspiration from the leaders across the company, Villalobos is inspiring others through her own personal and professional journeys.

Villalobos was the first in her family to finish college, and while doing so put a lot of weight on her, she drew her strength and inspiration from here family.

She still does.

And as she continues to shape her career, she finds fulfillment in the successes along the way.

"I have always thought that by example, studying, working and being a mother at the same time is something complicated, but little by little you can visualize the rewards," Villalobos said. "The sacrifice is temporary and many times the satisfaction is permanent. I think that many women, when we become mothers, have the sense that we have to put aside or that we are less capable, but I think that on the contrary, day by day there are many women who can handle household responsibilities and professional responsibilities."

Years with company: 8

Years in the rubber industry: 8

The precision with which the tools and compounds are manufactured to be able to transform them into a part that will be used in a car, an airplane or in other applications.

I think that with change, change makes us leave our comfort zones, we cannot be doing the same thing and want to obtain different results.

By example and by empowering employees, I am not in favor of micromanagement, I believe that we should let people develop and present their own ideas.

Atomic Habits is a small book but I think it can be used, sometimes we believe that small changes do not have an impact but they impact more than doing nothing.

I have had many professional and personal failures, in all of them I have learned things that I no longer want to repeat and things that I consider that perhaps could have been the right thing to do but that it was not the right time.

I like outdoor activities, so I try to take advantage of them, go for a walk, run, I have participated in some half marathons so I think those some of the personal activities that I like.

Full of learning. Both on the days when things go as planned and when they are the opposite.