“From food and buses to team crises, you have to be ready for everything.”

What if your MUN passion didn’t end after the closing ceremony? What if it became your job, your purpose? That’s the life Nathalie Urrutia is building. A Panamanian MUN organiser and logistics consultant, Nathalie is living what many MUNers would call a dream: turning her love for Model UN into a full-time career. But her path wasn’t always obvious, and it definitely wasn’t easy.

Since January 2024, Nathalie has served as Head of Logistics at World Debate Consulting and as Administrative Coordinator at ASPADE (Asociación Panameña de Debate). Her mission? To make debate accessible to everyone by connecting schools, training students, and creating spaces where young people can find their voice in civic life. She’s not the one speaking on the podium; she’s the one making sure the podium arrives on time.

Nathalie’s story started in university. Like many first-time delegates, she researched and wrote a detailed position paper. But when it was her turn to speak, she froze. The moment was so overwhelming that she stepped away from MUN for years.

Her return came unexpectedly in 2018, while doing social service during WorldMUN in Panama. She wasn’t a delegate this time, she joined the logistics team. That shift changed everything. She discovered that her real strengths weren’t in speeches, but in strategy: coordinating transport, solving crises, managing budgets, and leading backstage teams that make the magic happen.

After that, doors opened: PIMUN, Harvard National Model United Nations - Latin America, and more. Each conference brought new problems to solve, from health emergencies to financial shortfalls, but Nathalie thrived under pressure. She built teams that felt like family, driven not by spotlight moments, but by shared purpose.

One of her proudest memories? Coordinating a social event for 1,500 people during WorldMUN in Panama’s historic Casco Viejo (Old Quarter). Volunteers formed a human chain across the city while Nathalie worked with police, medics, and city officials to keep everyone safe.

Today, Nathalie leads logistics for major conferences across Latin America, often running on little sleep. It’s not glamorous, but it’s meaningful. “I’ve learned to prioritize my health,” she says. “Balance matters.” What fuels her isn’t applause, it’s impact. “When a student says thank you, or a parent sees their child grow through MUN, that’s everything. We’re not just organizing events, we’re changing lives.”

And yet, she’s often behind the curtain. In a field still dominated by flashy speakers and visible leaders, Nathalie represents a quieter form of leadership, steady, compassionate, deeply effective. As a woman in operations, she’s helping redefine what it means to lead in the MUN world, and she’s inspiring others to see the power in logistical excellence.

Her long-term dream? To work with the United Nations on migration and humanitarian logistics. With Panama now playing a key role in UN repatriation efforts, Nathalie sees a real opportunity to apply her experience to global systems. “Migration is a human issue, not a criminal one,” she says. “It’s about dignity, about stories, about seeing people.”

Nathalie’s journey reminds us that leadership doesn’t always look like holding a mic or writing resolutions. Sometimes it’s showing up early, staying late, solving problems nobody sees, and doing it all with heart. Her story is for every MUNer who’s ever felt like they didn’t quite fit the delegate mold. You don’t have to lead loudly. You just have to lead with purpose.