The Life of a Survivor Girl (A Blog)
I’ve had such an interesting summer. Most people would call it tragic, and in so many ways, it was.
I’m writing about my experience because I’m in the middle of processing a lot of trauma. I won’t use this blog to talk only about the bad things in my life (there is alot of good) but there have been a lot of bad things to happen to me, so naturally, you’ll see me write through those experiences here.
I want to start with May of 2026, because thats when my life really changed.
On May 29th, 2026 I lost my job as a human resources business parter at Trend Micro. Think of Trend Micro as a bank. The bank, Trend Micro owns TrendAI, TrendLife, TXOne Networks, and VicOne. I worked across their portfolio of cybersecurity businesses, and in my 4 year tenure I’d really developed a passion for cybersecurity and technology.
Trend Micro is a taiwanese entity- they were founded in LA in the 1988, so they CAN (and do) do business with the United States government. I worked closely with their federal sales teams- My specialty as a business partner is with Go-To-Market (GTM) clients. I say this so you understand two things:
I understand SB, commercial, and enterprise sales cycles well. I understand what goes into a successful sale, and while I did not directly sell the technology, I was actively involved in nuturing a successful sale at Trend Micro. Any trade show that you’ve been to? I’ve been to, too. My network in technology is vast, and I know how to speak executive, because my in-house clients were ALL sales and marketing executives.
While Trend Micro is technically a US entity, the way they do their business has A LOT of Taiwainese influence.
Now- before the politically correct mommies come for me: With any culture, there are pros and cons.
Taiwainese culture is beautiful - I’ve seen it first hand in Chinese New Year celebrations hosted by work, the spirituality they bake into their coporate trainings, and honestly? The undying loyalty some folks employed with this bank seem to have for the very white and very asian executives in charge.
Now: Taiwainese culture also values seniority. This means, the people in charge are old, unwavering, and completely unable to sustain the mass of technology they’re working with. Their cybersecurity technology. My boss, the CHRO, Claudia Wu, was absolutely awful to work with. She was 13 hours ahead and expected that I be online when she was. Claudia was constantly critical of my work, despite the fact that I HAD to adhere to US law to remain compliant in my work as HRBP. She was retaliatory, bias, and unwavering in her quest to harm Trend Micro’s American and Canadian employees.
I can tell you more about that if you’re interested, but I want to tell you more about my time with Trend.
I started my journey with them in September of 2022 as the primary GTM Talent Acquisition Partner. I’d personally saved the organization 7.6 million dollars in agency fees in the first 12 months I was employed with them. I built and leveraged a network of power-house cybersecurity experts, and boy, did they cash in on those savings. They were paying me $80,000 dollars a year, and I’d saved them $7.6 million. Seem fair? Not totally.
Despite the fact that I was paid unfairly, I was fulfilled enough in my career: I had tanigable data to backup my skill (the amount I’d saved in agency, my 42 day times to fill rate, my 92% offer acceptance rate, etc. etc. etc.), I was friendly with my team, I was able to work from home (thank you COVID19), and my bills were paid.
Year over year, I was given a 10% raise, and was “promoted twice”: the first time to HR specialist (This was a lateral move, and I’d argue my role as lead GTM recruiter was actually of higher caliber than that of an HR specialist), and then to a business partner. I was good at my jobs, and I was good for their business, until I wasn’t.
Trend Micro rebranded to TrendAI in March of 2026, but it was announced to the employees in October of 2025.
From October to 2025 - March of 2026, I’d personally hired and onboarded more than 132 employees, and laid off an additional 70-80. I was working from 6AM to midnight, and was waking up with night terrors and cold sweats because of how panicked I was at the sudden change in AI expectations from new leadership.
I’d disclosed mental anguish to both of my direct supervisors, and was met with cold indifference and more responsibility.
When January rolled around, i’d been managing compensation planning for 2026, hiring, onboarding, enablement for new hires, employee relations cases, 2025 talent review, leadership succession planning, contingency plans for existing employees that were being shuffled to other teams, and many other “urgent” ad hoc projects that were coming up from leaders with 30 seconds notice. I was burnt out, depressed, and quite literally on the brink of a mental break. Claudia tried to give me a 3% raise, and this is where it really all goes down hill.
Here’s the thing about me: I am polite. I am kind. I was raised to be a lady. I was also raised to be someone who stands up for herself. My expectations were up, and so was the output of my work, both in quality and quantity. So I have Christelle Le (we don’t like Christelle here , that’s all I’ll say about that..) tell Claudia: “Maria wants 20% or she quits.” (She didn’t say it like this - we were very professional in our pitch and in the data presented to Claudia when requesting an additional 17%) Why did Christelle have to tell Claudia, you ask? Well, because Claudia was so insulted by my presence as a young 29 year old, that when discussing finances (AKA, business), someone more senior had to do it for me.
To be fair: I was going to quit- I was actively and successfully interviewing with CrowdStrike (CS) for the same job, and I was going to jump ship. Not surprisingly, Claudia says no to 20%, but agrees to give me the standard 10% I’d seen in the years prior.
I was enjoying working, particularly with the channel sales team as one of my primary clients and felt compelled by the work I was doing for their team, so I decided to stick with what I knew for a measly 10%.
[In hindsight, if I would’ve taken the CS job- I would’ve been just as miserable, so I am glad I stayed.]
After Christelle escalates the compensation discussion with Claudia Wu, Claudia’s behavior towards me becomes increasingly hostile. The hostility is very passive, but it does exist. You see- Claudia was mad that I, a 29 year old Latina woman, be asking someone like HER for more money. I actually told our in-house “lawyer” (we’ll call him) Brent Dyer, that I was fearful of retaliation, and I had every right to be (clearly.)
Despite Claudia’s woes, I was getting closer with my team, and none of my clients had ONE bad thing to say about the work I was doing for them, you know, because I was good at my job.
I’m not going to bore you with the details - but the story ends like this:
Ellen Thorne starts with Trend Micro (TrendAI) the week of May 20th. I met her in person this week, and we’re in each other’s good enough graces. She was referred into the organization by Sanjay Mehta, now I see, as his political HR mouth piece.
In the months prior, I’d been investigating sexual harassment complaints from employees about one of the sales leaders that Sanjay himself had referred into the organization, 7 years prior. This isn’t just ONE complaint, it was multiple complaints from multiple employees at Trend Micro, both men and women.
This man was also bad at his job- you see, he was in Dallas on a visa from Austraila as the go-to-market VP of Sales. His teams were responsible for obtaining new logos, and under his leadership, the teams all sucked at their jobs. TrendAI wasn’t selling, and we needed to make a change.
On May 28th, Sanjay asks me for data proving Ashley’s lack of new logo acquisition (Why he didn’t have this on hand, as Ashley’s boss is beyond me), but anyway, I present the data in like 2 hours, with a succession plan for Ashley’s replacement. i was intending to promote Trevor Hawn into the role, and he would’ve been good at it.
On May 29th, Ellen Thorne fires me with no severance. When I ask why I’m being fired? She tells me I have disruptive relationships with various members of the business. I have no idea what that means, or how she would be able to assert a claim given with such ignorant confidence given she met me one week prior, and none of my clients ever had a bad thing to say about me.
I was a consistent high performer on the HR team and it was my skill that hired and onboarded the people now churning a profit for this organization.
I was and still am pissed about the situation, but instead of letting it break me, I fled to Milan, Italy, for a reset on my soul, and OH BOY, does the story get good from here…
