Iliana Herndandez: L’Oréal

If you forget any of your safety equipment, you’re likely to get a firm nudge before you pass the first production line. The workers tromp around in steel-toed boots, goggles and hairnets while automated machines whir to life about them. This isn’t exactly the glamorous image an outsider would expect from a global cosmetics company, but L’Oréal has to attend to the serious business of cranking out 250 million units a year.

Iliana Hernandez, a senior chemical engineering major from Siloam Springs, helped keep the ship running smoothly at this L’Oréal plant in North Little Rock. During her summer internship, she looked to improve efficiency in the UP1 production unit, which makes 65 percent of all mascaras sold in the U.S.—that’s a tube produced every two seconds.

Sometimes the best ideas came from visiting with workers on the floor. Julie Halford, who has been working at L’Oréal for 39 years, helped Hernandez come up with a strategy to cut down the use of Isopar, an expensive cleaning chemical. “She’s the expert,” said Hernandez. She found that the chemical drums weren’t being lined after cleaning, causing them to be washed twice. The liners cost $13 a pop so as part of her strategy she looked for a cheaper way to mark clean drums.

“I told her we’re not giving you projects just to keep you busy. There definitely is a need and a problem that can be solved here. By putting in her problem-solving skills, creativity and hard work, she can help drive business results,” said her supervisor Danny Canady, manufacturing controller.

At first Hernandez was intimidated by the higher-ups, but that didn’t last long: “I didn’t think I would be working with the highest people in this campus so actually reaching out to them and making one-on-one appointments with the directors was definitely out of my comfort zone. I am typically shy, but I think this internship has changed that.”

Hernandez was born in El Salvador but moved to the United States when she was young, her parents sacrificing promising careers in telecommunication and law in an effort to keep their daughter safe from the violence in their home country. She’s making the most of her opportunity: She served as the president for the University of Arkansas Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and a full scholarship with the Engineering Career Awareness program allowed her to attend a national conference where she first met L’Oréal representatives. More recently Hernandez interned with Frito-Lay in Jonesboro, selecting it from several offers.