Mathilde Patmon ’13, ‘14 insists that University of the Pacific was just the right place to begin her professional path.

Born in France and raised in Thailand, Patmon was attracted to Pacific because of small class sizes and campus location. Not only is Stockton within driving distance to the beach and great skiing, but it's also centrally located in the heart of Northern California near Silicon Valley, the global center for technology and innovation.

“I decided to attend Pacific without visiting the campus,” recalled Patmon. “I knew that I wanted to attend school in California and I’m really happy I ended here.”

When Patmon arrived on campus, she took advantage of all the opportunities the university could provide by working three jobs. She worked as a student caller for the Pacific Fund, a grading assistant for Willard Price at the Eberhardt School of Business and as an English tutor for the International Programs and Services department.

“My job as a student caller at Pacific Fund helped me build confidence and resilience,” said Patmon. “That experience is what led me to my first job in tech, which was at Yelp as an account executive.”

Following graduation, the Eberhardt alum began her career in Silicon Valley working at tech companies such as Yelp and Base CRM, which was later acquired by Zendesk. For the past two years, Patmon has worked at Smartcar as head of recruiting. Founded in 2014, Smartcar is the leading software platform for mobility services. From auto insurance and car charging to EV charging and fleet management, businesses of all kinds use Smartcar’s APIs to read data from cars, send commands to vehicles, and scale their mobility services. The company has received $12 million in Seed and Series A funding from the venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and New Enterprise Associates.

"My professors and work experience at Pacific have really set me up for success for the roles that I’ve had the opportunity to work in," said Patmon.

Patmon stays closely involved with Pacific. She still meets with current Eberhardt students to provide advice and guidance. Last spring, she hosted a group of students at Smartcar’s office in Mountain View.

“I’m always happy to be a sounding board for UOP students,” said Patmon.” I have such fond memories of my time at Pacific. I made incredible friends and even met my husband there. My college experience really helped propel me to where I am now, so I hope to share some of the lessons I learned and help current students with their own professional goals.”