An experience that changed my life was the death of one of my closest friends.

He had cancer, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and while I was by his side I learned something that marked my life: I needed to get the best possible training so I could provide decent treatment for patients, not only with medical excellence, but also as human beings.  This is how I decided to become a doctor.

I am Jorge Noceda, Director of NutriHana, a company focused on health and nutrition care for Mexicans.

From my childhood, I was fortunate enough to learn essential lifelong values, such as resilience, discipline, conviction, and persistence.

When I was three years old, I started practicing Karate-Do with my parents, who are both Karate instructors. As I grew up, I began competing in the Pan-American championships and international events. When I was about 15, I took an interest in basketball, participating in national and inter-school competitions while I was in high school. I then went on to form part of the representative team, while I was studying a Physician & Surgeon degree, and we won several intercampus tournaments. Given the requirements of my degree, I was soon only able to train in the evenings. I decided to switch to athletics and am a member of the representative team.

After all these years, I went back to Karate after all, and soon after I decided to co-found with my family the company KyoKai Shotokan Karate do, in which we would focus on promoting quality karate in Mexico as well as internationally. We started the program together with one of my brothers at the school where I studied healthcare-oriented high school, where we offered the students sports education and nutrition guidance.

Receiving the news that I had won the  Leaders of Tomorrow scholarship made me realize that I could study the degree of my dreams at Tecnológico de Monterrey. I am now in the sixth semester of the Physician & Surgeon degree and am working on a project called NutriHana, which is a nutrition consulting service that empowers you through your diet and healthcare. Apart from providing nutrition and sports advice, we show you healthy products from Mexican enterprises. The idea is that all products that are Mexican and healthy should be found in NutriHana. This idea originated when some friends and I won the 2020 Healthathon in Mexico City. The prize was a full scholarship for the Tec Lean Launch Mexico City program. We became aware of the nutrition gap and the high incidence of chronic-degenerative diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, among Mexicans. Therefore, we decided to come up with a solution to fight these diseases. At present, I am the CEO of NutriHana, and we have a multidisciplinary team of over 15 entrepreneurial students.

Throughout my life and my background I have learned valuable lessons because of the ups and downs I have experienced, such as when I applied to the HeroX Program. When I started, they cut back on some of the participants, and I was one of them. I think that was a key turning point, not only for the program, but also for my life, because it taught me to be honest with myself. Afterwards, I decided to enter the HeroX program again and finish it. I did it and now I am one of the Team Leaders.

We must never give up our dreams. When you are truly willing to help others and generate change in your environment, opportunities will just happen. 

I am an Outlier because my story starts at Tec and ends up changing the world.

Una experiencia que cambió mi vida fue el fallecimiento de uno de mis mejores amigos.
Tenía cáncer, un linfoma tipo hodgkins y mientras lo acompañé aprendí algo que marcó mi vida: Debía prepararme con excelencia para poderle prestar un trato digno a los pacientes, no solamente con excelencia médica, sino también como ser humano. Así fue cómo decidí convertirme en doctor.

Soy Jorge Noceda, director de NutriHana, una empresa enfocada en cuidar la salud y alimentación de los mexicanos.

Desde pequeño tuve la bendición de aprender valores súper importantes a lo largo de mi vida, como resiliencia, disciplina, convicción y persistencia.

Empecé a practicar Karate-Do desde los 3 años junto a mis padres, ambos son entrenadores de Karate. A medida en que crecía pude competir en Panamericanos y eventos internacionales. Alrededor de los 15 años empiezo a interesarme por el baloncesto, competí nacional e inter-escolarmente mientras estaba en prepa. Después pasé a formar parte del equipo representativo ya durante la carrera de Médico Cirujano, donde ganamos varios intercampus. Tiempo después, por los requerimientos de la carrera, solo podía entrenar las tardes. Decidí cambiarme a atletismo donde formo parte del equipo representativo.

Después de todos estos años siempre regresé al Karate y fue así como tiempo después decidí co-fundar junto con mi familia la empresa KyoKai Shotokan Karate do. Una empresa de karate donde nos dedicamos a promover el buen karate dentro de la República Mexicana y también internacionalmente. Iniciamos el programa junto con uno de mis hermanos en el colegio cuando estudié la preparatoria de educación para la salud, allí nosotros les enseñamos a los chicos una educación deportiva y orientación nutricional.

Recibir la noticia de que había ganado la beca de Líderes del Mañana, me abrió los ojos a que podía estudiar la carrera de mis sueños en el Tecnológico de Monterrey. Ahora soy estudiante de sexto semestre de la carrera de Médico Cirujano y el proyecto en el que me encuentro se llama NutriHana. Es una consultoría nutricional que te empodera a través de tu alimentación y cuidado de la salud. Además de que te damos asesoría nutricional y deportiva, te acercamos a los productos de emprendimientos mexicanos con un filtro saludable. La idea es que todo producto que sea mexicano y saludable esté en NutriHana. Esto nació gracias a que unos amigos y yo ganamos el Healthathon edición 2020 de la Ciudad de México y fuimos acreedores a una beca completa para el programa del Tec Lean Launch Ciudad de México. Nos dimos cuenta de la brecha de la alimentación de los mexicanos y de la alta incidencia de enfermedades crónico-degenerativas como en la obesidad y la diabetes. Por lo que nos propusimos a idear una solución para combatir estas enfermedades. Actualmente soy el director general de NutriHana y tenemos un equipo multidisciplinario de más de 15 estudiantes emprendedores.

Durante mi vida y mi trayectoria me he llevado valiosos aprendizajes porque he tenido altos y bajos, como cuando apliqué para el Programa de HeroX. Cuando entré hicieron algunos recortes de participantes, entre estos me fui yo. Creo que fue un punto de cambio clave no solamente para el programa sino para mi vida, porque me enseñó a ser sincero conmigo mismo. Después me propuse entrar de nuevo al programa de HeroX y terminarlo. Ya lo logré y ahora, soy parte de uno de los Team Leaders.

Nunca hay que desistir de nuestros sueños. Cuando estás verdaderamente dispuesto a ayudar a los demás y hacer un cambio en tu entorno, las oportunidades se presentan solas. 

Soy un Outlier porque mi historia comienza en el Tec y termina cambiando el mundo.

The day a pandemic was declared in Mexico was the last day I was able to enter an OR, the last day I went to school, and from then on I had to leave everything I loved. It was a very difficult and discouraging time, until I discovered other opportunities.

I am Ana Rodríguez and I participated in the research on new brain cancer treatments at the Ballester-Esquenazi laboratory in Texas.

My story at Tec goes back to 2016 when I started secondary school. Afterwards, I studied at PrepaTec and am currently pursuing a Physician and Surgeon degree. The reason I decided to study medicine was because doctors saved my life before I was even born. I was a was a premature baby, born three months early, then I had several accidents and blood-related issues, which is why I had a lot of contact with these people who constantly did everything in their power to save my life.

- Later on I declared that I wanted to be like those people, I wanted to save someone else's life, just as they had saved mine.

My passion grew so much that from the very first week I sought to do more. This is how I found the person who is now my mentor, Dr. Enrique Cano, who inspired me and thanks to whom I now know that I want to specialize in neurosurgery. After several attempts at contacting him at the hospital, I managed to make an appointment with him and became his pre-med intern, attending surgeries and presenting cases. I was living my dream.

When the pandemic hit, all of this ended overnight. It was a very difficult time for me because I had to stop doing everything that I am passionate about. I stopped doing the things I could only physically do in Monterrey, I felt discouraged. That is, until I decided to do something about it and that was how I came up with the “Young Neurosurgeons Committee Webinar Series,” a webinar that emerged from the idea of holding virtual workshops with the best

neurosurgeons and doctors. To achieve this, I spoke to Tec and the American Association of Neurosurgeons.

Eventually the head of the Young Neurosurgeons group contacted me to say he was interested in my idea, and, truthfully, I never imagined it would turn into what it is today, a project involving over 44 countries. Students from all over the world participate generating thousands of visits, both live and on YouTube.

As a result of this project, I came up with more ideas and I talked to one of the bosses, Dr. Moucurgi. In my mind this idea would cure cancer. He referred me to Dr. Yoshua Esquenazi in Houston. I presented my plan to him an, although he did not like it, he replied that he wanted to collaborate with me because of my initiative and he wanted me to work with them on another project. That is how I ended up in the Ballester-Esquenazi laboratory, where we are changing the way brain cancer is perceived and thinking about new treatments, which I am now convinced will cure everything.

This is the reason why in a few years I want to become a physician and surgeon who conducts research, that is to say, who also helps patients from the laboratory, developing projects that could contribute to improving what has already been established in treatments. At the same time, I want to follow the example of my mentors, I want to donate my time to operating on patients who cannot afford surgery because brain tumors do not only occur in patients who have millions of dollars.

In hindsight, I believe that I have always had to solve all the challenges I faced in a different way. I see them as a stairway, always trying to go up one, be it one centimeter or three meters high. In my mind, I always try to advance little by little to become better and better.

I am an Outlier because my story started at Tec and ended up changing the world.

El día que declararon pandemia en México fue el último día que pude entrar a un quirófano.  El último día que fui a la escuela y a partir de ahí deje todo lo que amaba, fue un momento muy difícil y sin motivación hasta que encontré otras oportunidades.

Soy Ana Rodríguez y participó en la investigación de nuevos tratamientos para el cáncer cerebral dentro del laboratorio Ballester-Esquenazi en Texas. 

Mi historia en el Tec se remonta desde el 2016 al entrar a secundaria. Después estudié en  Prepa Tec y actualmente estudio la carrera de Médico Cirujano. La razón por la que decidí estudiar medicina fue porque desde antes de que naciera los doctores salvaron mi vida. Fui un bebe de seis meses, luego tuve varios accidentes y problemas en la sangre, por los que tuve mucho contacto con estas personas que constantemente hacían todo lo que estaba en sus manos para salvarme la vida.

Más tarde decreté que yo quería ser como esas personas, yo quiero salvar la vida de alguien más, como ellos salvaron la mía.

Mi pasión creció tanto que desde la primera semana busqué hacer más. Así fue que encontré al que ahora es mi mentor; el Dr. Enrique Cano, quien me inspiró y por el cual ahora sé que mi especialidad es neurocirugía. Después de muchos intentos de contactarlo en el hospital logré hacer una cita con él y me convertí en su becaria, asistía a cirugías y presentaba casos. Vivía mi sueño. 

Cuando llegó la pandemia todo esto se terminó de un día para otro. Fue un momento muy difícil para mí pues tuve que dejar de hacer todo lo que me apasiona. Dejé de hacer lo que físicamente sólo podía hacer en Monterrey, me sentía desmotivada. Hasta que decidí hacer algo al respecto y fue como se me ocurrió “Young Neurosurgeons Committee Webinar Series”; un webinar que nació de la idea de hacer talleres virtuales con los mejores

neurocirujanos y doctores. Para lograrlo, hablé con el Tec y con la Asociación Americana de Neurocirujanos. 

Eventualmente me contactó el jefe del grupo Young Neurosurgeons diciéndome que le interesaba mi idea, y la verdad es que nunca pensé que se iba convertir en lo que se convirtió, ahora es un proyecto que tiene a más de 44 países involucrados, estudiantes de todo el mundo participan generando miles de visitas en vivo y en YouTube.

A raíz de este proyecto, se me ocurrieron más ideas y hablé con uno de los jefes, el Dr. Moucurgi, en mi mente esta idea curaría el cáncer, él me recomendó con el Dr. Yoshua Esquenazi en Houston. Le presenté mi plan y aunque no le gustó, me contestó que quería colaborar conmigo por mi iniciativa y que quería que trabajara con ellos en otro proyecto. Así llegué al laboratorio Ballester-Esquenazi, donde estamos cambiando la manera de cómo se percibe el cáncer cerebral y pensando en nuevos tratamientos, los cuales ahora sí estoy convencida que van a curarlo todo. 

Esta es la razón por la cual en unos años quiero convertirme en una médico cirujana que haga investigación, es decir,  que también ayude a los pacientes desde el laboratorio, desarrollando proyectos que puedan contribuir a mejorar lo que ya se estableció de los tratamientos. Al mismo tiempo, quiero seguir el ejemplo de mis mentores, quiero donar mi tiempo para hacer cirugías a pacientes que no pueden pagar una cirugía porque el tumor cerebral no solo se presenta en pacientes que tienen millones de dólares. 

En retrospectiva, considero que todos los retos a los que me he enfrentado siempre los he tenido que resolver de una manera diferente. Los veo como una escalera, siempre intentando ir un escalón para arriba, ya sean de un centímetro o de tres metros, en mi mente siempre trato de avanzar poco a poco para llegar a ser cada vez mejor.

Soy un Outlier porque mi historia comienza en el Tec y termina cambiando el mundo.

When I was a little girl, I experienced a great deal of violence, together with my family, in my community. I would have to throw myself on the floor because of the shootings, bombs, grenades… I was always very frightened in situations that no little girl, nor anyone, should have to live through. But soon, I found the hope that everything would be all right.

I am Montserrat Fregoso, ambassador of Rebel Girls and co-founder of SciArt Party.

I studied a degree in Business Strategy and Transformation with a scholarship awarded by Tec de Monterrey.

At present, I work on multidisciplinary projects internationally and there is nothing else I would rather be doing.

From an early age, I liked being active and involved in many projects, from learning ballet and being a cheer coach to founding projects and events. In high school, I was invited to the United Nations for the first time, to an event in New York, and even though I didn't have the budget to go at the time, I didn't let that stop me. I looked everywhere for sponsorships, and managed to raise 100% of the budget. Once I returned to Mexico, I began creating different projects around the Sustainable Development Goals. We Stand for Change emerged from a student fair where I talked about my ideas for solutions and, in the end, many more people signed up than I imagined. It is now a student group that continues to grow, managing to generate more than 17 projects in two years.

At the start of my career, I had the opportunity to participate in the UN Commission on the Status of Women, in an event where I would present the projects on which I was working. I participated as a panelist and translator, since apart from being fluent in English, French, and German, I also understand Italian and Portuguese.

After this incredible experience in which I collaborated directly with organizations such as Tech Girl International and The Girl of the USA, I returned to help an orphanage for girls where the main book we read was Rebel Girls.

This book helped me so much in a stage of my life where I had been told “No” regarding a major project I hoped to work on. So, I joined the Rebel Girls team and have been working with them for three years.  I was one of the first five people to work with them and from being a company that sells books, we became a world record holder. Our growth has been impressive, and we are now a gigantic international team. Coming into contact with these amazing women from the organization and the books allowed me to meet Merritt Moore, a U.S. dancer and quantum physicist. I invited her to participate in an event at Tec and, afterwards, we began to talk and hold meetings on a possible joint project. This led to the creation of SciArt Party. In the middle of the peak of the pandemic we decided to hold a small Zoom meeting to discuss how we could remain inspired and motivated during lockdown. In less than 12 hours more than 450 people had signed up. And this is how a project that continues to grow exponentially emerged.

My motto in life is that you must believe in your dreams with every cell in your body.

Remaining steadfast in the face of failure has been the biggest challenge because, like everyone, I have undergone major failures in my life, and it is thanks to them that I have learned and grown enormously. Thanks to these setbacks, I was able to deliver a Ted Talk, so I don’t really see them as failures, but rather as opportunities.

I am an Outlier because my story starts at Tec and ends up changing the world..