Sylia Gallegos runs operations for Crimson Advantage, and her strong orientation towards organizations and management is innate. Since a young age, she was always interested in organizing initiatives to benefit her local community and finding ways to tie in her work to a larger purpose. This served her as her career evolved to law school, a career at Google, and now, to Crimson Advantage, where she focuses on relationship building, client management, and the overall infrastructure of operations.
A Lifelong Leader Who Leads by Passion
Sylia traces her desire for impact back to her high school days when she was President of the Student Council and led many charitable initiatives through this position, such as a school supply drive for the Democratic Republic of Congo. “When I learned that they didn’t even have the proper school supplies or houses for their students, I knew I had to do something to make accessible to them what has always been so accessible to me,” she shared.
This helped her leadership skills immensely, and she went on to apply to host the annual meeting for student councils across the nation - the National Convention. After her presentation to the board, her school was selected to host the annual national convention.
As host of the convention, Sylia had to select a charity to benefit and get schools around the nation involved in the charity project. She chose building a house for Habitat for Humanity. “Seeing the recipient cry onstage with her kids is a memory I’ll never forget,” she reflected. This strong urge to uplift others compelled her original career goal: law.
College and Law School in Texas
For her college years, she attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where she studied engineering, management, and information systems. “This degree path essentially created a hybrid between engineering and business,” she explained.
Her plan throughout college was to attend law school after graduation, so she oriented all of her internships in the legal field. This included working for a Texas state representative and in two law firms. She then attended law school at South Texas College of Law in Houston.
After law school, she worked for two different law firms, excited to see how law and the justice system could have an impact on people’s lives. But then, she became interested in how a different industry could improve people’s lives: technology.
Her Google Years
Excited about the potential to make an impact through technology, Sylia joined Google - first in their Austin, Texas office helping them lead legal strategy for a new product called Google Fiber, or Google’s high speed internet offering. She loved this position because of its service-based core. She and her Google team put Fiber to use by installing it in low income housing for kids. “Since so much homework is given on the Internet now, it can be challenging for kids who don’t have WiFi to access the internet and stay ahead in school,” she explained.
While still at Google, Sylia then transferred to the Mountain View office to help them with a new product called Google Assistant, or Google’s AI powered virtual assistant. In Mountain View, she led a global team in defining and refining the “personality” of Google Assistant as well as the speech based initiatives, making the Assistant available in 40+ languages.
It was in that Mountain View office where she met Crimson Advantage co-founder Louis Amira.
Sylia at Crimson Advantage
She first ‘moonlighted’ as a Crimson Advantage team member, then several months later, left Google to work for us full time. Initially, her job included account management with specific clients, and has since expanded to include overseeing operations which includes onboarding new clients, helping to develop the product and service offerings, risk management, and developing relationships with the clients. She now works remotely for the team from Dallas.
Sylia Outside Work
As far as her hobbies go, she loves anything outdoors - namely, hiking. She also enjoys going to live performances such as concerts, sporting events, the symphony, or theatrical productions. Her favorite is Hamilton.
Rooted in her lifelong desire to serve, her favorite quote and life’s guiding principle is:
“I hope that while man exists, it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but in ameliorating mankind.”
She’ll never stop working to do just that.
