Secondhand Spotlight: Catarina

‍In honor of Women's History Month, we're profiling some of the many brilliant women who drive ThredUp's mission of personal expression through sustainable fashion. This week, we talked with Catarina, Director of Industrial Engineering, and how she goes all out for impact in her demanding role.

ThredUp: What’s your professional background?
Catarina: Industrial Engineering with a heavy focus on automation and process optimization. Before ThredUp, I worked in automotive with VW, Audi, Porsche, and Tesla—fast-moving, high-stakes environments where efficiency is everything.

What’s your role at ThredUp?
Director of Industrial Engineering. I lead automation and process improvement initiatives, making operations faster, smarter, and more scalable. Our team drives projects that reduce costs, improve efficiency, and keep things running smoothly behind the scenes.

What’s challenging about it?
Things come out of nowhere—fires to put out, last-minute pivots, and shifting priorities. Decisions go through careful consideration since they have a major impact on the business—but just when you think things are set, priorities shift, and you have to pivot quickly. It’s a constant balancing act between strategy and speed.

What do you love about it?
The autonomy, the impact, and the challenge of making things better. I love seeing automation and process changes actually make a difference—whether it’s cutting costs, increasing efficiency, or just making life easier or more ergonomic for the team.

What’s the most important thing to you about working at ThredUp?
Pushing innovation. Bringing automation and process improvements that don’t just work for today but scale for the future. Also, working with smart, driven people who want to make things better.

Describe your personal style:
Natural and pragmatic. I stick to earthy tones, muted greens, and always some black. My style is effortless and functional—linen, wool, and loose-fitting pieces that move with me. Day to day, my "work uniform" is simple: jeans and a t-shirt, always ready to get my hands dirty and dive into whatever needs to get done.

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