In this episode of Así las Cosas, Maristella Collazo-Soto steps out of the host seat and shares the defining choices behind her journey as Capital Partner at Ferraiuoli LLC. From following an early calling to law, pivoting into intellectual property, trusting her intuition, and making partner while nine months pregnant, her story is one of purpose, resilience, courage, and community impact. Her message is clear: it can be done, with the right tribe, in the right place, and with the right attitude.
Maristella Collazo-Soto is a Capital Partner at Ferraiuoli LLC in Puerto Rico and the host of the firm’s podcast Así las Cosas. Her practice focuses on some of the most dynamic and fast-changing areas of law: intellectual property, advertising, technology, and innovation. She serves on the firm’s executive committee and Co-Chairs one of Ferraiuoli’s original departments. In this episode, she steps out of the host chair and is interviewed by Eugenio J. Torres-Oyola, the firm’s Capital Member and Managing Partner.
Why did she decide to become a lawyer?
She wanted to be a lawyer for as long as she can remember. Her father and paternal grandfather were both attorneys, and she grew up in their offices. She recalls hiding under their desks and asking her father to buy her mini suits at JCPenney so she could dress up and go to court with him.
The intellectual property angle came from the other side of her family. Her mother is an author and her stepfather works in media, so the world of copyrights and music surrounded her from childhood. Though her mother and stepfather actually tried to steer her away from law, warning her it was a hard profession, they also inspired the path she ultimately combined: law plus creativity.
How did she end up at Ferraiuoli?
She calls it a story of destiny. Working as a lawyer at another firm in a completely different practice area, she arrived early one morning, sat down, and realized she did not want to do that work for the next 35 years. That moment of clarity sent her back to her roots in intellectual property.
She decided to pursue a master’s degree in IP, looked for universities still accepting applications, and chose Fordham in New York, a deliberate pivot to change the direction of her professional life. During that year, a mentor named Nanette Berríos suggested she meet “these young guys” who were starting out and doing intellectual property work. Maristella’s résumé was sent over, she interviewed with nine people, and the offer reached her while she was at the Bronx Zoo in New York.
She took it against a competing offer from a New York fashion startup, choosing to return to the firm life she had sworn off, because her intuition told her it was the right path. That was about 15 years ago.
Why did she stay when she only planned to stay three or four years?
She stayed because she discovered purpose, not just a profession. When she walked through Ferraiuoli’s door, her plan was to stay three or four years, then move in-house or do other things. She even has a theory she calls the “four-year itch”, the idea that an associate’s fourth year is a pivotal point where you decide whether to stay long-term or leave.
During that itch (when she nearly left) conversations with Eugenio and with Fernando reminded her of the future she could build at the firm. That was when she began to discover that the legal profession was more than reading contracts and drafting motions. She found impact, client development, philanthropy, community, and mentorship. That discovery of purpose is why she stayed.
What mistakes and lessons does she share for people starting out?
Her most honest lesson is about managing pressure and perfectionism. As a self-described perfectionist and highly driven person, she found herself leading from her own standard of perfection and expecting everyone to work the same way, which she calls a mistake, because everyone has different styles and ways of performing.
Her advice to people beginning their careers is to keep an open mind about what others can teach them, and to accept that their own way of doing things is not the only correct way. There can be two right ways to reach the same point. Her second lesson is resilience.
What is Maristella Collazo-Soto’s definition of resilience?
She defines resilience as more than resisting or enduring, it is the art of continuing even when you don’t feel like it: getting up every day, facing the mistake you made or the challenge in front of you, and moving forward in the same place rather than fleeing. She emphasizes that not everything is solved by running away.
What challenges did she face as a woman in the legal profession?
She points to unconscious bias, microaggressions, and the mental load of motherhood as the defining challenges. When a man and a woman of the same age stand side by side, she observes, people tend to gravitate toward the man an unconscious default that is the first challenge. Early in her career (and still, though less often), men would be addressed as “licenciado” while she was called “linda,” “amor,” “cariño,” “the young girl.”
She recalls a meeting with an older woman on the opposing side who let slip, “Oh, sweetie, you just don’t understand.” These seem small, she says, but they are microaggressions a woman has to manage, and part of the skill is discerning which battles to fight and which to let pass.
Motherhood changes everything, she explains, because it adds a mental and emotional load that cannot simply be transferred, even with a supportive spouse who shares responsibilities. Wanting to meet your work at an exceptional level while meeting your children, your partner, and yourself at that same level is, she says, almost impossible. She considers herself an outlier and credits her “village,” her tribe: Eugenio’s support at the firm, a believing husband at home, her faith, and her own drive.
How did she become partner during early motherhood?
She was named partner while nine months pregnant, with a 22-month-old son at home, a convergence few women in Puerto Rico can claim. She keeps a photograph of the day she learned the partners had accepted her nomination: hugely pregnant, with her toddler and her husband, who had made her a “welcome home” sign that read “partner.” She was 36.
Was Maristella Collazo-Soto named partner on her first nomination?
No. Her first partner nomination did not pass, she did not receive the majority of partner votes that year. After a period of introspection, her intuition told her to persist, and she was nominated and accepted the following year, while nine months pregnant. She describes the timing as “a perfect work of God.”
How does she think about career stages?
She divides professional growth into a learning stage and an execution stage. When she made partner, she deliberately programmed her first three years as years of adjustment, not years to break records or shatter existing paradigms, but years to learn, listen, observe, learn to be a mother of two, and learn to relate to her partners in a new category.
She tells the firm’s associates the same thing: don’t try to run when you are just learning to crawl. Learn your stage, enjoy your stage, and everything will come. Beginning her fourth year as partner, she started contributing from a place of security, knowing who she was as a mother and as a partner, what strengths she brought, and what she could offer. That is when the execution stage began, and with it the podcast and her presence in social media.
What are Maristella Collazo-Soto’s three principles for professional success?
Believe in yourself, resilience, and courage. She frames them as the foundation beneath technical skill: bet on yourself with commitment, keep your eyes on your goal whether that means finding a new door or replanting your feet, and act with courage even when you are not ready and voices around you say no.
Why does she prioritize community and philanthropy?
She learned philanthropy from Eugenio, and it became part of the purpose she discovered in her fourth year at the firm. It began when she started teaching at law school, an experience she fell in love with, describing how she would leave class exhausted but revitalized by the students’ youth, a feeling day-to-day work did not give her.
That opening led to Girl Scouts of Puerto Rico. Although she does not have daughters, the cause of developing and empowering women and girls was close to her heart, so she accepted a seat on the board. Three years later, past president approached her about becoming president. She hesitated, in 2021 her younger son was two and her older son, Joaquín, was four, and the presidency of any organization is a major commitment of time and mental space.
She accepted anyway, following the same inner voice, because she wants her children to one day say their mother made sure her life had purpose beyond herself. During her presidency she led a brand-revitalization campaign, created an annual fundraising event, and established a scholarship fund so girls without financial resources could be Girl Scouts. Her term concluded in October 2025, and she left, in her words, with a full heart.
What does Maristella Collazo-Soto mean by “the right tribe”?
Her “tribe” or “village” is the support network that made her career possible: her mentor and sponsor Eugenio Torres-Oyola at the firm, a supportive husband who shares responsibilities at home, her faith, and her own determination. Her central message is that success as a working mother in a demanding profession is possible “with the right tribe, in the right place, and with the right attitude.”
What is the one line that captures her story?
It can be done: with the right tribe, in the right place, and with the right attitude. That is how Maristella Collazo-Soto sums up building a demanding legal career alongside motherhood and community. Her decisions were rarely the ones she planned; they were the ones she discovered along the way, guided by intuition, sustained by her tribe, and carried out with courage.
Watch the Full Episode
This episode of Así las Cosas, with Maristella Collazo-Soto interviewed by Managing Partner Eugenio Torres-Oyola explores career stages, the challenges of being a woman in the legal profession, motherhood and partnership, resilience, and the role of community.
Subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss the conversations behind Ferraiuoli’s people, clients, and friends.
What has been an unexpected decision that changed your professional life?
About Así las Cosas by Ferraiuoli
Así las Cosas is a podcast series by Ferraiuoli LLC, normally hosted by Maristella Collazo-Soto, featuring conversations with Puerto Rican leaders, professionals, and change-makers. In this special episode, the host becomes the guest.
Host: Eugenio J. Torres-Oyola, Capital Member & Managing Partner, Ferraiuoli LLC Guest: Maristella Collazo-Soto, Capital Partner, Ferraiuoli LLC
