This is the last in a series on Women in Manufacturing.
By Sydney Murray
BE NKY Growth Partnership
Vitoria Rezende, a third-year student at the University of Cincinnati, is in her second co-op with Safran Landing Systems Kentucky in Walton. She started in August and will end her internship in December.
Globally, Safran is a high-technology group, operating in the aviation, defense and space markets. The company is based in France, with more than 92,000 employees in 27 countries.
In Walton, the company produces and refurbishes advanced carbon composite brake disks and produces aluminum alloy wheels and brakes for large commercial and military aircraft. Safran Landing Systems Kentucky recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and, in September 2023, announced an expansion that will create 92 well-paying jobs.
Safran’s international presence was very important to Rezende when she first began looking for a co-op experience. In 2022, she traveled more than 4,000 miles from her home in Brasília, Brazil, to attend UC to study aerospace engineering.

During her first semester as a co-op, Rezende helped lead a global ergonomic project focused on efficiency and improving worker safety as they package disks into boxes. This project was ongoing before Rezende joined the team, and she is continuing to work on it during her second semester co-op with Safran.
“I achieved so much in my first semester, and I feel more recognized in the second,” said Rezende. “People know my name and that gave me confidence and momentum to keep going.”
Rezende said she has developed a prototype, and the company is working to implement it through adaptation of the production process.
“I became very fascinated by the whole challenge,” said Rezende. “It sparked something in me, and I really want to take it to the finish line. I worked really hard to present a new design, not only to our leadership team in Walton, but in France and Malaysia, too.”
Rezende has also worked on projects involving data and risk analysis, improving documentation for productions processes, and analyzing budgets and productivity of machines. Along with studying aerospace engineering, she is also minoring in astrophysics.
Rezende said this career path started to develop in high school, where she excelled in math and physics. She said she has always been STEM driven, but didn’t want to pursue a heavily research-based career.
“I am a very proactive and extroverted person, which drove me to identify opportunities that are more hands on,” said Rezende. “I like innovating and making things more efficient.”
She always had a passion for airplanes, rockets, and studying the universe, and knew the United States provided many opportunities in the aerospace industry. She was drawn to UC because of the school’s co-op program, which was ranked #5 in the nation in 2024 by U.S. News and World Report.
Throughout her life, Rezende said she’s been supported by family and friends. She has had many great mentors and teachers, and her parents helped instill the confidence to go after her dreams.
“They always encouraged me to be my own person, think for myself, and question things,” she said. “They taught me that every experience is different, and I should pursue what I am passionate about.”
Rezende said there is a severe underrepresentation of women in manufacturing, including in Brazil, and at UC, her classes are about 20-30 percent female. According to the Society of Women Engineers and the U.S. Census Bureau, women made up 14 percent of the aerospace engineering workforce in 2022.
Safran is committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment that enhances their capacity for innovation. The company partners with local colleges and universities such as Gateway Community and Technical College and UC, offering career opportunities and trainings while actively encouraging the appointment of women to leadership positions. At the Safran Landing Systems Kentucky site, women currently represent 23 percent of engineers, and this number continues to grow.
Rezende hopes she can inspire women, and others in minority groups, to pursue what they are passionate about. She is a big proponent of diversity when working on projects, including from an age, race, and gender standpoint.
“I am definitely inspired by all the women I see in the office, or professors in the field,” said Rezende. “Seeing more women in the field is so important for the next generations.”
Rezende said she is especially inspired by astronaut and activist Amanda Nguyen. Nguyen was raped in 2013 during her final year at Harvard University, but was determined not to let this assault get in the way of her dreams.
Subsequently, not only did Nguyen create Rise, a nonprofit organization that protects the civil rights of sexual assault and rape survivors, she will also become the first Vietnamese woman to go to space when she flies on an upcoming Blue Origin launch on the New Shepard Rocket.
“It’s beautiful to see women taking space in the field while being conscious of the gender disparity and actively working to support younger generations,” said Rezende. “You feel seen when such important people finally talk about it, and still make it to the top nonetheless.”
For her future, Rezende said she is open minded as to where she will end up but can see herself working in project management and leading a team. She has also developed a passion for sustainability and sees this as an area where there is much room for improvement and innovation.
She has been learning French since high school and is also an Italian citizen, so she hopes to spend some time living in Europe.
“I am super open-minded and optimistic and embrace every opportunity that comes my way,” she said. “I want to make something impactful and leave the world a little better than I found it.”