Recognition Is Not the Goal, Building Systems Is
Reflections after receiving the Merito EXATEC Award
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When I was told I had received the Mérito EXATEC Award from my alma mater in Mexico, the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, a private research university with one of the most influential alumni networks in Latin America, my first thought wasn’t pride or celebration. What I felt first was surprise. And then, almost immediately, gratitude.
The Mérito EXATEC Award honors graduates who have become exemplary agents of change through their professional work and social impact, rooted in values like responsibility, innovation, and leadership. It celebrates alumni whose careers reflect significant contributions beyond their communities with tangible societal impact.
For those who are new here: I am an industrial engineer and environmental scientist, trained at KAUST, and the cofounder and CEO of WAYAKIT, a women-led biotechnology company building sustainable cleaning and water-saving solutions across Latin America and the Middle East. Over the past decade, my work has lived at the intersection of science, entrepreneurship, and impact, translating research into businesses that operate in real markets, not just laboratories.
What the award really represents
I’ve been thinking a lot about what this recognition actually means. Not as validation, but as a checkpoint. A moment to look back and realize that the systems I’ve been building, both in business and in life, are actually working. Because here’s what I believe:
Awards are moments. Systems are decades.
When people ask me how I manage a biotech company across two continents, raise my son, meditate, exercise, and still show up fully in my work, they expect some secret about balance or time management. The real answer is less glamorous: I design systems. Not technological systems, life systems.
I am obsessed with structure. With creating processes that support what matters most so I don’t have to reinvent my day every morning. This didn’t come from business school. It came from necessity. From being a student who wanted to do everything: work full time, take Hawaiian dance classes, teach, and still graduate.
I learned early that if I wanted to be in a million things, I could not rely on willpower. I had to build infrastructure around my priorities. That’s what I have carried into WAYAKIT. Into motherhood. Into leadership.
When Mission Emerged from Conflict
The interview that followed asked me something I had not fully articulated to myself: When did your work stop being just a business and become a mission? I didn’t have a clean answer ready. Because the truth is, it wasn’t a single moment. It was a slow burn. A conflict, really.
After my master’s degree at KAUST, I felt this tension between technical achievement and purpose. Engineering had always come easily to me. Results, grades, problem solving. None of it required much struggle. And maybe that is why I took it all so seriously without actually enjoying the process.
But when I returned to Mexico and started my first company, Sin Acqua, everything shifted. Entering the entrepreneurship world felt scary and unknown, especially after swearing to myself in high school that I would never go into entrepreneurship. I hated that class.
I began asking myself uncomfortable questions. Why am I doing this? Why did I leave a stable path? Why build something from scratch when I could have stayed in academia, following a clear trajectory where everything was predictable? That questioning didn’t weaken me. It clarified me.
Mission isn’t born from success. It’s born from friction.
The question that stayed with me
During the interview, they asked what I would tell my younger self walking the corridors of campus. I would tell her: Relax. Enjoy the process. The difference between a 99 and an 85 won’t matter. The mission will.
Because I was so focused on results. On being the best. On not failing. And while that drive got me far, it also made me miss the point for a long time. The point isn’t the grade. It isn’t the title. It isn’t even the award. The point is building something that outlasts you. Something that creates real impact. Something that, when you wake up in the morning, doesn’t feel like work anymore.
Even on the hard days. Even when things go wrong. Even after personal storms. When your mission becomes clear, you stop feeling like you are working.
What comes next
WAYAKIT was born from research. But the intention behind it was always impact. We didn’t just want to create better cleaning products. We wanted to shift how people think about hygiene, sustainability, and the ingredients they bring into their homes and workplaces.
This year, we’re expanding that mission. Making our products accessible to more households, pet owners, vehicle owners. Not just industries. Because sustainable solutions shouldn’t be a luxury.
And personally, I’m committing to something I paused for too long: writing more consistently about what I’m learning. About sustainable systems. About building in emerging markets. About the messy, human side of leadership that doesn’t fit neatly into LinkedIn posts.
This award didn’t give me a mission. It reminded me I already have one. And I’m just getting started. If you’re building something that matters, if you’re in that uncomfortable space between what you know and what you’re becoming, you’re not lost. You’re exactly where you need to be. The friction is part of it. The systems will come. And the mission will clarify itself.
Trust the process. Trust the friction. And most importantly, trust that you’re building exactly what the world needs from you.
— Luisa Javier
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing more deeply about sustainable systems, emerging markets, and execution behind scaling impact. Some of these reflections will be reserved for members building their own systems.
The real gratitude
This award means more to me than recognition. It represents every person who supported me when I needed it most.
To Monterrey Tec: When my family went through a deeply difficult time, the university didn’t just teach me engineering, they gave me a scholarship that allowed me to continue. That support changed the trajectory of my life. Not all institutions do this. Tec did. And I carry that with me.
To my parents and family: For believing in education even when everything else felt uncertain. For making sacrifices I only now understand as a mother myself.
To my son: Who teaches me daily what it means to build systems that actually serve life. Who reminds me why the work matters. Who shows me that legacy isn’t about awards, it’s about what you model for the next generation.
To my professors: Who saw potential I hadn’t yet claimed. Who challenged me not just academically, but to think beyond results and toward purpose.
To my classmates: Who became lifelong collaborators, friends, and mirrors. The international community at Tec taught me how to navigate different worlds, a skill I use every single day.
To my partners at WAYAKIT: Who took the leap with me. Who believed in building something sustainable, even when the path wasn’t clear. Who continue to push the mission forward across continents.
This award doesn’t belong to me alone. It belongs to everyone who invested in a young woman who didn’t always know where she was going, but was determined to figure it out.
Thank you.
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