This Bogota citizen is a formative metallurgical engineer and currently coordinates the Ternium Industrial Center Laboratory Palmar de Varela, a challenge that she accepted with determination and a fresh spirit, the kind the helps you share and create knowledge with others.
Even though Bibiana assumes a new role in the company, her path in Ternium has been extensive, going through different formative processes that allowed her to grow professionally with the clarity that her passion gives her and the gratification on what she does and builds day by day.
Santoyo finished high school in Colombia’s capital city. But then she traveled to Venezuela to study for her bachelor’s degree at university. Close to concluding her university studies, she made her internship in the cold rolling area at Sidor in the year 2000, then the company invited her to make her thesis in that same area and even opened the door for her to start a professional career, working until 2008 when Ternium left the country. She stayed at Sidor until 2017 when she decided to go back to Colombia, her home country to start a new era alongside her family.
She lives with her husband Rafael Osuna in Barranquilla, alongside their daughter Maria Jose (Majo) and their son Jose Angel (Jota). Nowadays, Bibiana and her husband work in the Ternium Industrial Center in Palmar de Varela.
Bibiana returned to the company in 2019 as a Product Engineer while living a very meaningful experience because after all her family having resided in Colombia, her husband told her “you look for a job first, you are Colombian. I went to Ternium and that same day I was called back and they helped me out with city relocation. I was in Bogota at my parent's house so in May 2019 I went back to Ternium Colombia.”
Afterward, all the family moved to Barranquilla. At that moment, after settling, Bibiana told her husband to apply to work in Palmar de Varela. That is how, in August 2021, he started as Rolling Technician in the industrial facility.
Professional development
“To be honest, my whole career has been at Ternium. I have always felt enormous support from the company. I’ve been a Young Professional, Professional Junior, and Professional Senior. Also, the company has supported me in my training as a professional and taken me to international courses, technical talks in countries like Argentina and Mexico”, Santoyo said.
Nowadays, Bibiana acknowledges that she has great professional challenges, “I hadn’t worked before in laboratory, my area has always been the technical area regarding products development. Right now, it’s a different perspective, someone had always provided me the services to make my analysis, now I’m on the other side, with the commitment to satisfy the need of the client.” Bibiana said.
This production engineer recognizes on a personal level her passion for swimming has contributed to her discipline. Ever since she was four years old when her mom took her to Comfenalco in Bogota every day to swim at 6:00 p.m. to get ready for competitions and by being constant on her training, which later she continued in Venezuela with the Sidor swimming team in the Caroni Sailing Club. That same passion and sports mentality is transmitted to her children which whom she spends some family quality time and is one of the things she enjoys the most. As well as reading, an early morning everyday space for her. When her family sleeps, she enjoys her morning readings.
Mixing family and work
Bibiana and Rafael share not only the family roles but also their professional camaraderie, “I love it, we leave in one car talking about what we do, him from an operational point of view and me from a quality point of view. We really complement each other. The experience of both of us working is wonderful, we share the same passion. It is not monotonous, nor boring, it has been very nurturing”, says Bibiana.
A perspective from Palmar de Varela
“The truth is that Ternium has always been a company focused in production, but always by the hand of communities where it has a presence. And here in Palmar, you see it, it is clear how it has changed the town, we see how people have grown. You perceive it when in a few months their face has changed into a different way to face and fix problems. I think that’s what Ternium is, it has always been seen by the growth of its people, by its growth, they are guided on support and transformation.”