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Celia Ruiz Tomlinson is the President of Rhombus Professional Associates (RHOMBUS), a rare 24-year-old American engineering firm that was founded and is owned and operated by an immigrant female Asian engineer. Celia became the first female member of the Philippine Association of Civil Engineers in 1965. Coming to the United States in 1968 by herself with only $300 and a civil engineer's diploma, this remarkable woman had to overcome nearly insurmountable obstacles of absolute poverty, gender bias, racial discrimination, and a language barrier to achieve success. In 1970, she became New Mexico's first registered female Asian professional engineer. In 1983, she became the first female professional engineer to serve in the U.S. National Council of Engineering Examiners. Her firm, which was founded with $2000, rented surveying equipment, and a laborer plucked from the state unemployment line, has been in continuous operation for 24 years and has completed projects in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming.

Topic Categories

Motivation, Inspiration
Executive Insights
Ethnically Diverse Speakers

Accomplishments

In 1992, Celia was named Minority Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Park Service.
In 2002, she received the Asian Women in Business Entrepreneurial Leadership National Award in New York.
In June 2004, she received the Filipinas Magazine/Wells Fargo Entrepreneurial Leadership Award in San Francisco.
Celia is the author of A Woman's Guide to a Successful Career in Construction (PPI Publications) and a house inspection program called Computerized Evaluation of Lived-In Areas (CELIA), which has been used by Native American housing authorities and government agencies.
She has published articles and was profiled in magazines including People on Parade, Woman Engineer, and Civil Engineering.
Her inspirational autobiography Don't Ever Tell Me YOU CAN'T was published in 2002 by Virtualbookworm Publishing, and in 2005, a second edition by De La Salle University Press. The latter edition became one of five finalists in the 2005 Philippine National Book of the Year Award.
The recipient of New Mexico's Outstanding Woman and Trailblazer Awards, Celia is a woman of many interests and pursuits. She serves on the Board of Share Your Care, Inc., a non-profit organization.
She is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.
Celia was the keynote speaker at the Georgia Tech Women's Leadership Conference 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia.

In Her Words

"Be armed for life. Get a degree, learn a trade or a craft, or learn how to be a salesperson. Do whatever it takes to acquire self-confidence then get out of the crowd; find your niche."

Key Notes

Fee Range: 4,500 to 4,500 USD Lives In: Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

Presentation Titles

A Female Engineer's Success Story
A Technical Woman's Success Story
An American Success Story
Don't Ever Tell me You Can't!
Overcoming Poverty

Testimonials