Building a Career from the Ground Up: Estela’s Last Mile to a New Life
First-Generation, Fearless, and Figuring It Out
When Estela Bobadilla-Cruz arrived at NYU, she didn’t have a tidy five-year plan—she had grit, curiosity, and a determination to build a different future for her family.
A first-generation student navigating financial uncertainty, she explored multiple majors while supporting herself as a babysitter, tutor, Spanish teacher, help-desk assistant, and by doing volunteer work.
“I began in psychology because I’ve always been drawn to helping people,” she says. “But the courses that truly captivated me—statistics, math, and other STEM subjects—were the ones that challenged me the most. People warned me it would be difficult, but that only fueled my determination.”
When Time and Tuition Collided
Pursuing computer science meant taking summer courses to stay on track for graduation. But scholarships didn’t stretch to summer—and Estela was already working full-time as a summer assistant at NYU Tandon putting in 40 hours a week.
Because of that schedule, she couldn’t take on another job. Her only free hours were late at night, from 10 p.m. to early morning, before her 8 a.m. math classes. Between long shifts, coursework, and homework, there simply weren’t enough hours in the day to earn extra income to cover tuition.
The equation didn’t balance: either delay her degree or find money that wasn’t there.
Then her friend told her about Last Mile Education Fund.
“Honestly, it looked like one of those one-in-a-million applications you never hear back from,” she laughs. Days later, she did hear back.
A rapid-response award from Last Mile covered the tuition and housing she needed to take those summer courses—an intervention measured in days, with a payoff measured in years.
“That single act of trust changed everything,” Estela says.
A Community That Builds Confidence
With her degree on track, Estela stepped into a new kind of community. Last Mile brought her to CSforALL in Tennessee and later supported her at the Grace Hopper Celebration, where she met mentors who role-played interviews, demystified salary negotiations, and reminded her that she belonged.
Beyond financial aid, Estela says the most powerful part of Last Mile was the sense of trust and belonging it created.
“I am very appreciative of Last Mile—especially Ruthe (Farmer)—because she saw something in me that I couldn’t yet see for myself. Now I feel completely comfortable reaching out to Ruthe or anyone in the alumni network,” she says. “It’s a safe space to ask, What am I supposed to do?—and to be honest when I don’t know.”
That openness didn’t come naturally.
“I used to feel ashamed to admit I couldn’t afford something,” Estela reflects. “I didn’t even know what I was allowed to ask for—or why I deserved to ask for more. But my Last Mile community helped me realize: confidence isn’t arrogance. It’s self-worth.”
Through mentorship and community, she learned to replace shame with self-advocacy, finding her voice not just as an engineer, but as a woman who belongs in the room.
“It’s about believing that I deserve to be here,” she says. “That my work, my story, my perspective—they all matter.”
Estela on graduation day
Crossing the Finish Line—and Then Soaring Past It
That newfound confidence mattered when multiple job offers arrived.
“Ruthe literally walked me through the numbers,” Estela remembers. “I was scared to ask for more. She said, ‘This is what the market pays. Ask for it—say the number out loud.’”
Estela ultimately chose to join Wells Fargo, where she now works as an Engineering Associate.
“Life-transforming” is how she describes her new career.
“I make four times what my mom made when I was growing up,” she says.
With her first paychecks and sign-on bonus, she bought a reliable car, paid off her student loans, built her credit in a year, and—quietly, joyfully—bought her mom a new car too. She then moved into a sunlit studio—“the first woman in my family to live on her own.”
Independence is no longer a dream; it’s a lease with her name on it.
Growing Fast—and Giving Back
At work, Estela’s curiosity keeps opening doors.
In just two years, she has made contributions across the engineering stack—building backend and frontend features as well as creating engineering specifications and technical diagrams. This year, Estela helped lead a platform migration that deepened her understanding of system architecture and infrastructure.
Empowered by a team that encourages exploration, Estela has been able to tap into every facet of the engineering process—from coding and testing to design reviews and deployment—growing into a versatile developer with a holistic perspective on building and scaling systems.
Ask—then give back.
That’s Estela’s rhythm. She mentors a first-gen high-school student in New York City, keeps up with Last Mile alumni, and evangelizes the communities that lifted her—Last Mile, ColorStack, Rewriting the Code—whenever she meets students at conferences.
She also shares the financial literacy she’s learning at work.
“401(k)s, brokerage accounts, recurring investments—no one in my family talked about that,” she says. “Now I’m teaching my mom how itemized donations work. The wealth-building piece is real.”
Belonging Without Compromise
“I believe Gen Z has the power to redefine what corporate America looks like—and I’m proud to be part of that shift,” she says.
“I want to speak confidently, own my expertise, and do it in a pink blouse if I feel like it—without wondering if people see me as credible, or just the ‘diversity hire.’”
In 2023, Estela helped pitch Last Mile at a Blackstone event, where the team won a top award—funding that now helps more students cross their own finish lines. She still swaps messages with people she met there and in the Last Mile community, the kind of relationships that make a big, intimidating industry feel human.
Her next frontier? Either deepening her expertise in cloud infrastructure or making the leap into data science and machine learning.
“AI is calling me,” she says with a grin. “It’s so girl-boss.”
Advice for Students—and for Those Who Invest in Them
If you’re a student reading this, Estela has advice:
“Reach out. If a job posting lists a hiring manager, email them. Ask for a 15-minute chat. People can’t help you if they don’t know you. And stay true to who you are—your story is your advantage.”
If you’re an employer or donor, her message is simple:
“It doesn’t take much to change everything—a few hundred dollars can shift the future of a life, a career, and a family.”
Even on hard days, she keeps perspective.
“If I failed tomorrow, I’d still be proud of what I’ve built,” she says. “This journey meant something. And it started because someone believed I could finish.”
The Power of a Single Bridge
Estela’s story is Last Mile in motion: swift, flexible support at the exact moment it matters, amplified by community, and carried forward through generosity.
One rapid award helped a determined student take summer classes. That student became an engineer. That engineer paid off debt, stabilized her household, invested for the future, mentored the next generation, and strengthened a company and a community.
This is what it looks like when opportunity flows through higher education and into the economy—when we treat financially vulnerable students as investable talent, not risky bets.
Estela didn’t need a miracle; she needed a bridge. Last Mile helped her cross it. And now she’s holding the door for those coming behind her.