“When it comes to your college experience, your personal growth and development are just as important as your educational growth and development.”
That’s what Erica Bruno-Martin ’09 told current members of ADPi, UVM’s Alpha Delta Pi sorority, where she was a sister, while on campus during a recent visit.
“You’re going to experience a lot of opportunities here, academically, professionally, personally, and you’ve got to look at those opportunities as a whole person does and ask yourself: what does your heart want and then what does your head want?” She says that it was her UVM education that gave her the confidence to do that.
Pride and Courage Came First With Her Family
Erica came from a family of automotive trailblazers. Her grandfather, Jack Barboza, was the first Portuguese car dealer in the United States. Her mother, Denise Bruno, was one of the first female Toyota principals in New England.
She knew that she wanted to pursue a career in the automotive industry, and she briefly considered passing on college because of that clarity.
Jack would absolutely not tolerate the idea that his granddaughter would skip a college education. He said, “I never want you to be denied access to any space, told you’re not qualified, especially as a woman, especially as a Portuguese and Italian woman.”
Her mother had heard enough about UVM to suspect it would be the perfect fit for her social, creative, academically driven daughter. Erica applied and was readily accepted to UVM. Once she arrived, she quickly found herself at home, drawn to the extremely caring faculty, the beauty of Burlington and Lake Champlain, and a lineup of course and social offerings that perfectly matched her loves and her ambitions.
She made the most of her time on campus, in and out of the classroom. She majored in history, pursued a broad range of classes, and found herself entering and winning the UVM Idol vocal competition in her first semester. She was part of the Mosaic Center for Students of Color community, worked at UVM’s Davis Center as one of its first student managers, and became an ADPi sister in her sophomore year. When health concerns arose in her junior year, she was supported by caring faculty who helped complete her work and stay on track.
UVM Celebrated Her as a Whole Person
She also points to the way UVM prepared her to make her way in a diverse and dynamic world. “UVM was very good about learning about differences and how to address bias,” she remembers.
She drew on that learning as she partnered with other prominent leaders in the automotive industry to launch the Women of Color Automotive Network (WOCAN), an organization that exists “to attract, connect and empower women of color in the automotive industry.”
“Even now, in WOCAN, we’ll talk about things like unconscious bias and I remember that I learned this at UVM. Because it’s such a forward-thinking institution, you might get some of those lessons earlier than someone else.”
Those lessons matter.
“I do believe I can make this industry better for women,” she told us. “I do believe that I have the power of my voice to be able to convey why someone should never give up. And I think that’s the most powerful thing we can do as humans.”
That’s a power that was nurtured at UVM
