“She came into the room with her chef’s apron on covered in pesto sauce,” Sean said. “I remember noticing that and her eyes – they were dark black. I thought she was as cute as a button.”

And, ambitious. Sean recalls her asking a lot of questions and approaching him after the presentation to get more information. Erin, on the other hand, probably didn’t notice the color of his eyes at all.

“I wasn’t focused on anything other than getting an internship at that point,” Erin admitted.

Sean passed her name along to company recruiters, and sure enough, she later landed an internship in Albuquerque that, eventually, turned into a management position after she graduated.

Time passed, and Sean didn’t see Erin again until their careers crossed paths in Santa Fe. Both still working for Enterprise but at different locations, Erin called Sean to request help staging cars for a VIP guest at the airport.

“I had to take my personal vehicle to help, and she followed me,” Sean said. “When we got out of our cars, she noticed my Yankees license plate.”

“I’ll be honest,” Erin said. “I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was probably some smart remark about him not being so bad after all if he was a Yankees fan.”

And, so it began. Erin, in the months to follow, would drop hints to let Sean know she was interested. She even brought pizza and coffee to him and his team. Yet, Sean couldn’t get the message.

“I was very career-driven and focused,” he said. “And, I was six years older than her. Why would she be interested in me?”

Eventually, with the help of more “in-tune” colleagues, Sean found the sense to ask Erin out on a date. Three years later, they married at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, and welcomed their son, Christopher Ray.

Now, after almost five happy years of marriage, Sean and Erin’s careers have landed them in Fort Worth. Erin works for Verizon on the Global Supply Chain team where she partners with third party logistics teams on various projects and system management.

“The internship program at NMSU was bar-none the best I’ve seen,” Erin said. “Having that early training and management experience on my resume has made all the difference in my career.”

Sean works for Starbucks as a store manager for one of the highest volume stores in the area.

“Everything at NMSU prepared me for this career,” Sean said. “I hold a high respect for the practicum and professors in HRTM. My approach, my hiring practices – it all comes from them, and I can’t thank them enough.”

It’s a win-win for the Trujillo family who, as Aggies, gained a world-class education and a lifelong partner.

“Obviously, if I wasn’t an Aggie, I wouldn’t have met my husband or had my son,” Erin said.

“She healed me,” Sean said. “She fought very hard for me, and together we have God at the center of our relationship. She’s my best friend.”

Any takers on a bet that five-year-old Christopher Ray has a Crimson twinkle in his eye?