Lead Talent Acquisition Partner @ Royal Caribbean Group | Empowering candidates to Job Hunt Like A Recruiter

As a Lead Talent Acquisition Partner at Royal Caribbean Group, I am passionate about helping people find the next piece of the puzzle in their career journey. I lead the recruitment for leadership roles in various business groups, such as HR, Finance, Legal, Supply Chain, IT, Medical, and Newbuild. I leverage data analytics, employer branding, and diversity and inclusion strategies to attract and retain top talent in the cruise industry. 

I hold a Master of Science in Management from the University of Florida, where I also completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. I have also obtained a Certificate of HR Data Analytics from Cornell University and participated in business and Spanish exchange programs at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and Universidad de Salamanca. I am fluent in English and Spanish and have a Bloomberg Certification and a Certified Gator Professional credential. 

Outside of work, I create content on here to help empower candidates to "Job Hunt Like A Recruiter". I host live webinars, coaching sessions, and provide templates for folks to recharge their search. Check out the link in my bio to learn more!

Nicole Fernandez-Valle

Probably the ONLY University Recruiter creating kinda funny kinda serious content.

Fun Facts:
- I have over 30 Funko Pops
- I one wheel (NOT a unicycle I promise)
- I Love Anime
- Love to read poetry
- Retired festival goer
- Love Halloween

MY STORY
I struggled with being alone during college.

As a first-generation college graduate, I went from being homeless to landing my dream job in tech—but the journey was isolating. 

Moving from city to city, I often found myself completely alone, trying to build a new life while feeling disconnected from those around me. I didn’t have mentors, friends, or a community to lean on. I worked multiple jobs, doubted my abilities, and missed out on opportunities like internships because I thought I wasn’t good enough. 

Social isolation weighed heavily on me, and it’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

That’s why I created The Intern Ship. It’s more than just events—it’s about getting students and early-career professionals out of their routines and into the world, exploring new places and meeting new people. Whether it’s a hike, a community dinner, or a rooftop gathering, these events are designed to break down barriers and build vibrant, supportive communities. 

The Intern Ship is about fighting isolation with connection, replacing loneliness with laughter, and creating opportunities to explore the world around you in ways that are fun and unforgettable. 

My motto, Lift While You Climb, drives me to ensure no one feels left out, because everyone deserves to feel like they belong.

🔥 Highlights
-I've built communities with 80k+ across LinkedIn, Clubhouse, newsletters, and more
-50+ Speaking engagements/ professional development events
-30k+ attendees at my in person and virtual events
-Collaborated with 150+ recruiters, career coaches and hiring managers
-Helped 10+ job seekers land jobs through audio events

manny ️

I’m super happy to announce…



I’ve decided to launch the best talent community the world has ever seen!

Welcome to the 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤!

Join to get access to a hidden job market and more human first IRL hiring experiences.

This is personal for me.

When I started the Intern Ship, I was a University Recruiter at Intuit helping students land jobs there.

Which meant every time someone walked up to me at one of my Intern Ship events asking me to help them find a job - I had to tell them

“Oh sorry I can only hire for Intuit.” Which often times wasn’t even hiring yet.

That happened A LOT. It was literally one of the biggest reasons people kept coming to my events - they wanted to meet recruiters.

I heard them loud and clear. I just couldn’t do anything about it.

UNTIL I LEFT.

Now that I’m free from corporate and any conflicts of interest I’m locked in to helping my community find more opportunities.

Drop a 🛳️ in the comments, like and I'll send you the link to join.

Follow me so I can send you a DM!

manny duenas 🛳️

If you’re a new grad or early career right now, you know jobs are hard to get.

That’s why I’m co hosting my third hiring experience with Colton Kaplan - Founder Social Club, Steph Minaya and Jhillika Kumar - Mentra to help people find opportunities. (Link to register in the comments)

This isn’t a traditional job fair.
Smaller room.
Founders introducing themselves.
Human conversations.

And I’ll say it clearly:

Startups are one of the most powerful pathways into a career right now.

When you join early, you get proximity, ownership, speed, and real reps.

Here are the teams pitching and hiring today:

🚀 Trillboards  
CEO: Sneh Dhruv 
Building interactive real-world advertising experiences that connect physical spaces with digital engagement.

Currently Hiring:
• Account Executive
• Software Engineering Intern

🎧 SUN (a16z Speedrun)

Co-founder & CEO: Artin Bogdanov
AI-powered audio learning app. AI podcasts and book summaries from a single prompt.

Currently Hiring:
• Founding Full-Stack Mobile Engineer (Flutter/Dart)
• Founding Back-End Engineer (Python, AWS, Supabase, LLMs)
• Social Media Content Creator

🧩 JigsawStack 

Founder: Yoeven D Khemlani
Developer platform helping teams integrate AI workflows and automation into real products faster.

Currently Hiring:
• Founding Growth
• GTM Engineer

🤖 Azentic AI

Pradeep Padala & Aashish Parikh  
Building AI agents that automate sales execution across CRM, meetings, and workflows.

Currently Hiring:
• Software Engineer
• AI/ML Engineer

🏥 FUSE HEALTH INC  
Currently Hiring:
• CTO / Founding Engineer

🧠 Mentra  
A San Francisco–based neurodivergent hiring platform and network building a future where neurodivergent talent is valued and supported.

Hiring for Microsoft roles:
• Data Center Technician
• Critical Data Technician

🔎 GitHired – Krishna Oza 
Sourcing early engineers and builders for high-signal startups working on frontier AI and developer tools.

Currently Hiring For Roam, Caddy, and The Token Company:

Roam – Applied AI lab building world models for real time 3D environments (SF)
• Member of Technical Staff — Agents & Diffusion
• Applied AI/ML Developer

​Caddy (YC F25) – Agentic productivity platform working directly with founders (NYC, in person)
• Software Engineer — Core Systems

The Token Company (YC W26) – ML lab focused on state of the art LLM input optimization (SF, pre seed)
• ML Engineer — Early Team

(See the rest of the companies hiring in the comments.)

Smaller sessions.
Deeper conversations.
Space to engage at your pace.

We’re creating human first hirng experiences.

Let’s get people hired 🚀

To celebrate my first SF Game Night, here’s a quick secret behind one of my most successful events.

I was 2,902 miles away.

I wasn’t even there.

One of our strongest nights was the NYC Intern Game Night, and it worked because of a few simple things:

• Free space
• Free food
• Clear zones for games + mingling
• And most importantly… the right people in the room

That night:
• 194 RSVPs
• 140+ showed up
• ~72% turnout for a free event (rare)

But the real win wasn’t the numbers.

It was founders swapping ideas mid-game.

Creators meeting collaborators by accident.

Students and new grads realizing they were suddenly in very good rooms.

That’s the energy I’m bringing to SF.

My first SF Game Night is Feb 20.
Founders, engineers, creators — if you’re building or creating, you’ll want to be here.

Check the comments for the link to join.

Want to meet up with interns, early career professionals from companies like Amazon, OpenAI, Google, Anthropic?

Today, I’m relaunching my flagship event - SF Tech Connect. 

This was never meant to be “just another networking mixer.”

It started because I kept seeing the same thing every summer:

Hundreds of interns move to the Bay. Work at dream companies. Live 10 minutes from each other.

And somehow… never meet.

Everyone siloed. Everyone busy. Everyone in group chats saying “we should all hang soon.”

But never actually meeting up.

So I created SF Tech Connect to become the antidote.

A safe space for students, interns, new grads, and young builders to step away from the grind — and just vibe.

Not to compete

To connect.

Now I’m bringing back the magic — and leveling it up.

- Food, Drinks, Music
- I may add in an attendee matching element to maximize the social experience
- I’m casually adding a fire side chat with university recruiters asking them the questions you’re too afraid to ask. Like why did you ghost me? JK JK

But I may ask…

“What actually makes someone stand out?” “Are referrals overrated?” “What do you really look for?”

Quick. Honest. A little uncomfortable.

Then we get back to what SF Tech Connect has always done best:

Putting high-agency young people in the same room and letting chemistry do the rest.

You’ll meet someone who just moved here. Someone building something on the side. Someone who feels the exact same way you do.

And suddenly the city feels smaller.

Side note —

🍫 CPG + consumer brands: if you’re looking to get in front of one of the most ambitious students + early-career audiences in the Bay…
DM me.

We’re calling it:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐠 𝐎𝐟𝐟.
(I didn’t coin that)

If you’ve been meaning to get out more this year…

This is your sign.

📍 San Francisco 📅 February 26, 2026 🕕 6–9PM

🔗 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬?
✅ Like + share this post (spread the word!)
✅ Check the comments for the RSVP link (spots are limited!)

Tag someone who needs to log off and pull up.

No alternative text description for this image

Stop saying you’re happy to announce on here

You’re not that happy.

You’re just happy when others are happy for you.

Well I’m happy that you’re happy when others are happy for you!
.
.
.
.
Tomorrow I’m making a happy to announce post.

I’m very happy about it.

Comment “Happy” and I’ll be so much more happy about it.

📣 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓: Want to meet the founders, engineers, and builders making waves in SF? Intern Ship x Supercell AI Lab are teaming up for an ICONIC game night! Pull up!

🎮 Builders & Gamers Meet & Play – SF Edition

You've probably gone to a game night at a friend's house.

But when was the last time you had a game night at one of the most iconic gaming companies in the world? NEVER.

Whether you’re a founder building a startup, an engineer at Google or OpenAI, a designer shipping products, a die-hard Clash Royale player, or a student chasing your next big idea — this is your Friday night.

Board games, great food, and a Clash Royale competition — because the best conversations happen when you’re having fun... and winning 😎

💡 Why you should pull up:

🚀 Meet potential co-founders, collaborators, and mentors across tech
🤝 Network with founders actively building, top-tier engineers, and hungry students
🏢 Exclusive access to Supercell’s SF office (yes, THE Supercell office)
🎮 Learn about Supercell’s AI Innovation Lab (9-week program, $50k in credits, $0 equity taken, Finnish Lapland bootcamp)
🕹️ Play games with people who love a little competition + free food

Who should come:
✨ Founders building startups
✨ Engineers/designers at tech companies
✨ Students obsessed with building and shipping
✨ Gamers who love Supercell games (Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans, etc.)
✨ Anyone who thinks networking over games > awkward mixer small talk

📅 Date: 2/20/26 (Friday Game Night)
🕠 Time: 6pm
📍 Location: Supercell SF AI Lab 
🎟️ Cost: FREE ofc (limited spots)

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧:
✅ Like + share this post
✅ RSVP link in comments
✅ Tag a founder, engineer, gamer, or student who needs to be here

The best ideas start with good conversations (and maybe a game of Catan) 🎮

🗣️ Calling all AI builders, game developers, founders, and creative technologists 👀🎮🤖

If you’ve ever wanted to build something entirely new at the intersection of AI + games, this is one you should not sleep on.

Supercell's application deadline for their Spring 2026 cohort of the AI Innovation Lab is officially a little over a week away! Apply here: https://lnkd.in/grrzSbgE ASAP.

This is a fully funded, equity-free program designed to help small teams turn bold AI-native ideas into real prototypes.

💡 Here’s everything you need to know:

🔥 WHAT IS IT?

The Supercell AI Innovation Lab is a ~9-week, in-person innovation program for individuals or small teams (up to ~3 people) building AI-first products for games and interactive entertainment.

This is not a traditional accelerator — it’s closer to a creator fund + incubator backed by one of the most successful game companies in the world (Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, Hay Day).

💸 WHAT YOU GET (THIS IS THE WILD PART):
→ $50,000+ in compute & tooling credits
→ Up to $20,000 for real user testing
→ Housing + meal stipends (~$2K–$6K/month depending on location)
→ Workspace + hands-on mentorship from Supercell devs & AI experts
→ Zero equity taken. You keep 100% of your IP.

🌍 PROGRAM FORMAT
→ ~9 weeks (Spring 2026)
→ Arctic Bootcamp kickoff in Finnish Lapland ❄️
→ Work from San Francisco, Helsinki, or Tokyo
→ Final demo & showcase at Supercell HQ in Finland

🚀 WHAT HAPPENS AFTER?
Exceptional teams may be invited to continue with Supercell’s incubator, enter investment conversations, or explore long-term partnerships or roles. No pressure — just real opportunities if there’s mutual fit.

👀 WHO SHOULD APPLY?
→ AI engineers, game devs, designers, founders, or creative technologists
→ Individuals or small teams with AI-native ideas (not just “AI as a feature”)
→ Must be able to participate in person
(No finished product required — strong ideas + ability to build matter most.)

🎮 WANT TO LEARN MORE IN PERSON? (SF ONLY 👀)
If you’re in the Bay Area, we’re hosting a Game Night in San Francisco where you can meet Jessica Jung 🔜 DICE, the leader of Supercell’s AI Innovation Lab, in person.

It’s a fun, low-pressure way to ask real questions, learn what Supercell looks for in applicants, and connect with other AI + game builders before applying.
👉 Link/details in comments or DM me.

🎯 WHY THIS MATTERS
Supercell is betting that AI will fundamentally change how games and interactive experiences are created. If you want to be early to that shift with real backing, resources, and freedom, this is one of the strongest programs out there globally.

⭐ APPLY HERE: https://lnkd.in/grrzSbgE

⁉️ Know someone building something wild in AI + games? Tag them.
🔁 Share this with your builder friends.
🗣️ If you’re applying or attending Game Night, drop questions below!

I’m going to share my winter series of events if that’s ok with you?



This winter series includes three unique experiences:

𝐅𝐞𝐛 19 – 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞
Companies pitching and networking with ambitious talent.

Apply here: https://luma.com/s396by7m

𝐅𝐞𝐛 20 – 𝐒𝐅 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 @ 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥
Students, founders, early career builders and gamers coming together for a high-energy, social night.

Apply here: https://luma.com/xftmrv6a

𝐅𝐞𝐛 26 – 𝐒𝐅 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐱𝐞𝐫 + 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥
Our signature mixer bringing interns and early-career professionals together for meaningful, low-pressure networking. All industries welcome not just tech!

Apply here: https://luma.com/pg91rn85

Each event does require approval and space is limited.

📣 I’m looking for sponsors for each event so if you’re looking to reach a community of 80k+ students, and early career in tech DM me.

🚀 University recruiters: I have one seat left on our SF Tech Connect panel. DM me if you wanna meet the brightest in SF.

If you don’t like IRL events comment “I love IRL events.”

Most meaningful opportunities don’t come from submitting applications.

They come from conversations that happen naturally, often unexpectedly.

A quick exchange.
A follow-up that feels human.
Someone remembering how you made them feel.

2026 shouldn’t be the year you optimize for that online only.

2026 should be the year you also practice it in real life.

We’re about to enter an era of overwhelming content.


AI-generated posts.
AI-generated opinions.
AI-generated confidence.

It’s already happening.

As that increases, attention will shift toward what feels real.

People who can show up with clarity, humility, and presence will stand out — not because they’re louder, but because they’re trustworthy.

taplio

The Battle

Nicole Fernandez-Valle

manny ️

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The Battle

Nicole Fernandez-Valle

manny ️

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}manny ️'s LinkedIn Performance

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