Mariana Perez Barco

Role: Consultant 

Team: Mighty Chondrias

In this month’s #TeamKC Spotlight, we showcase Mariana Perez Barco, Consultant on the Mighty Chondrias team at Karchem. Mariana talks about her love of the intersection of science and technology, how adaptability and teamwork ensure client success, and how she brings her team together with food.

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Mariana Perez Barco has always loved the combination of science and technology, taking pride in a busy schedule with multiple tasks. Before joining Karchem, she was deeply immersed in academia, earning her Master’s in Bioinformatics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte while working as a teaching assistant, assisting in a COVID monitoring lab, and taking on a role at Apple.

After graduating, she was drawn to Karchem for its unique blend of science and technology, as well as the opportunity to take on a wide range of work

“One thing that really stood out to me was the variety of different types of tasks… and that training and teaching were part of the role,” she said. “In bioinformatics, we’re melding our science backgrounds with our technology backgrounds, so it was really exciting to see that that was also a focus for Karchem.”

Mariana immediately got to work upon starting at Karchem in 2022, focusing on data modeling and project management for clients before expanding to help with automation solutions. In that time, she’s watched the company and the team grow with enthusiasm.  

“There’s an effort we all put forward to ensure we’re working together across the pod or team,” she said. “I think it harnesses a great environment of collaboration and learning.” 

But Mariana said the thing that really makes her team and Karchem special is adaptability with every client. If they encounter a request that’s outside of their typical operations, they get creative to adjust and customize solutions. That ability to pivot has helped Mariana and her team build trusting relationships with clients, and ensure their success. 

“It’s always a priority to make sure what we’re delivering is not a Band-Aid fix, but a solution they can keep using into the future,” she said. 

When Mariana isn’t working with her team to support a client, she keeps the camaraderie going with shared recipes. 

“I love to experiment with new recipes, and we will often share recipes and new desserts around the pod.” 

From culinary creations to client work, Mariana is always experimenting, learning, and bringing people together along the way.

Learn more about the Karchem Consulting team here.