April 8, 2025 • 39 mins
Women in STEM Panel | Engineering Success & Career Advice | International Women’s Day
Celebrate International Women’s Day with an inspiring Women in STEM Panel!
Join us as we bring together incredible women from diverse engineering fields, including Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Space Systems, Data Analytics, and Metallurgical Engineering. These industry leaders share their career journeys, challenges, and success strategies to help you thrive in STEM!
What You’ll Learn in This Video:
✅ How to break into STEM careers and navigate the engineering industry
✅ Challenges and triumphs of being a woman in engineering
✅ Expert advice on career growth, leadership, and work-life balance
✅ The impact of women in Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Space Systems, Data Analytics, and Metallurgical Engineering
✅ Tips for students, early-career professionals, and aspiring engineers
Whether you're a STEM student, young professional, or looking for career motivation, this video is packed with insights to empower and inspire you! Let’s continue breaking barriers and celebrating the contributions of women in STEM.
📢 Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE on YouTube for more STEM career advice!
Follow us on Instagram: stemwithashley
Follow us on Facebook: STEM With Ashley
Follow us on tiktok: stemwithashley
Follow us on LinkedIn: All Things STEM With Ashley
🔎 Tags: #WomenInSTEM #InternationalWomensDay #EngineeringCareers #STEMPanel #WomenInEngineering #SoftwareEngineering #MechanicalEngineering #DataAnalytics #SpaceSystems #MetallurgicalEngineering #STEMSuccess #CareerAdvice #WomenInTech
Celebrate International Women’s Day with an inspiring Women in STEM Panel!
Join us as we bring together incredible women from diverse engineering fields, including Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Space Systems, Data Analytics, and Metallurgical Engineering. These industry leaders share their career journeys, challenges, and success strategies to help you thrive in STEM!
What You’ll Learn in This Video:
✅ How to break into STEM careers and navigate the engineering industry
✅ Challenges and triumphs of being a woman in engineering
✅ Expert advice on career growth, leadership, and work-life balance
✅ The impact of women in Software Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Space Systems, Data Analytics, and Metallurgical Engineering
✅ Tips for students, early-career professionals, and aspiring engineers
Whether you're a STEM student, young professional, or looking for career motivation, this video is packed with insights to empower and inspire you! Let’s continue breaking barriers and celebrating the contributions of women in STEM.
📢 Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE on YouTube for more STEM career advice!
Follow us on Instagram: stemwithashley
Follow us on Facebook: STEM With Ashley
Follow us on tiktok: stemwithashley
Follow us on LinkedIn: All Things STEM With Ashley
🔎 Tags: #WomenInSTEM #InternationalWomensDay #EngineeringCareers #STEMPanel #WomenInEngineering #SoftwareEngineering #MechanicalEngineering #DataAnalytics #SpaceSystems #MetallurgicalEngineering #STEMSuccess #CareerAdvice #WomenInTech
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Thank you everyone for coming, Thank you all for your support.
Thank This is my persident ever, so I appreciate all
of you being here. I started this platform in January
this year, so we just became two months on March lefth,
so I'm just like facing my fears and just doing
it and it will grow over time.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So thank you all for being here. Thank you for
your time.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I hope you all learned something today that you can
apply to your journeys or transitions.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So we'll get started. Hi everyone, I'm Ashley Peter.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I am the host and founder of All Things Then
with Ashley, and today we are at our international women's
networking mixer, so thank you for coming. We're gonna start
off with introductions of each our panelist and today we
fass like Normian, Sierra, Vanessa and Kirsten go ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Sorry, Hi everyone.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
My name is Ziger Sylvia and I've been in the
aerospace in the tent industry for nine years in County
and I have three different degrees. I have Aerospace engineering degree,
a Space Systems degree and at MBA and.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
I love what I do.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
So I am a private engineer and I might be
transitioning to something greater in the future, but only time
will tell.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
With that being.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Said, I'm gonna pass it on because the questions that
actually is gonna ask us, you'll find out more about
my industry than what I do going forward.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Thank you, Hi everyone. My name is Irvine.
Speaker 6 (01:44):
I graduated from the University of Connecticut with the chain
bachelor's degrees. Wanted a business, but I focused on data analytics, marketing,
and management, and the second one is urban community studies.
I figured if I'm gonna work with people, I dontwise
learn how to work with people, understanding people's different cultures
and and heritage. I've always wanted to become a pilot,
(02:05):
so that's what drive me into the aerospace industry. And
I love making my computer through my work, so that's
what I called me into the digital transformation.
Speaker 7 (02:14):
So it's kind of my laziness, this is what maybe
that's the way that's say I'll get part for you
and everyone. I am cr ORG and I have.
Speaker 8 (02:25):
Seven years professional experience in the airspace and the events industry.
I started off as a supplier quality engineer. I now
work as a software product acquisition manager.
Speaker 9 (02:36):
I have a BS and mechanical engineering from a.
Speaker 8 (02:39):
Southern University in a Battalion, Louisiana, and I am currently
personally only my master's in Engineering management as Southern Methodist
University here in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 9 (02:51):
I'm excited to be here, excited to get to know my.
Speaker 8 (02:54):
Panelist as well as I'm excited for you to hear
my journey.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Hello everyone, My my name is Jennisa Lolkins. I earned
my bachelor's in electrical engineering from Wyne State University in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Maryland in two thousand fourteen, and then earned my master's
in Electrical Engineering and from Texas A and M University
and College Station in two thousand fifteen. Upon graduating, I
went into a national laboratory out in Mexico, did a
couple of bit of years out there, and then transferred
to the Fat Company here in Dallas, Testas, where I'm
(03:29):
currently worked working.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So that is my journey into engineering at UH service level.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
So and I'm getting marner into that as we go
to Thisspana Ka. Hello everyone.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
My name is Kirsten Johnson.
Speaker 8 (03:43):
I have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Texas
Tech University and then I went on to ticket a
master's of Science and Technology and Commercialization, which is a
degree that focuses on analyzing emerging technology and creating a
bible product.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
To bring to a market.
Speaker 8 (04:03):
I've had a career building and working on innovative project projects,
you know, specializing in AI, augmented reality and also the
defense industry. I have six years experience in all of that,
and I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
To talk to you all of you guys about this.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, I'm gay, Thank you everyone. A little bit about me.
I studied level age COO engineering and materials science at
the University of oh Bam. I'm real tired. I've been
yes girl. And then I continue.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I studied at Banda About University where I studied engineering management.
And I've been in the alspace and industry for about
six years now, six years in July.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So I'm excited for you all to be here today.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So now we're gonna go down the line for everybody.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And we're gonna talk about how did you get introduced
to STEM and what inspired you to pursue a career
in STEM.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
So for me, I might have, yeah, astronaut, and so
with being astronaut, I had to use Googles and figure
out how did you actually become an astronaut and what
kind of build and degrees that you used to actually
get into your career.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
So most of the.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Time they all used aerospace or you went to the military.
And I came from a military family. My mom served,
my grandmother served, but I didn't wanna serve in the military,
and I need for myself that I can go into
the aerospace in the fence and create products to serve
(05:36):
and give back to the people that created military products
that brought someone home to m me that I loved.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
But I didn't wanna do that.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
For myself, but for me to keep going to be
doing my journey to becoming an astronaut, I did aerospace engineering,
and then that's how come I this space system is
to engineering, and that's how time I'm might not stay
at my job very much longer if I can become
an astronaut. So NASA, if you're hearing me local mathic, Like.
Speaker 6 (06:07):
I said earlier, I always wanted to become a pilot,
so that century into the aerospace industry, and so I
just kind of found doing more and more research. I
loved helicopters and started working on helicopters for.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
About three years and just you know, just.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Learning a little bit more and more and hopefully in
the future I can go get my pilot's license, but
first I have to understand how they operate, so it
can help me become a better pilot, hopefully in the future.
Speaker 8 (06:43):
So for me myself, I was always a curious person
in trying to understand how things were, and I really
excelled in science and math throughout elementary middle going into
high school.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
A part of that.
Speaker 9 (06:55):
I also had engineering women in my family, so.
Speaker 8 (06:58):
They kind of gave me a slight introduction to hey,
I can be a woman and an engineer. So I
was afforded the opportunity.
Speaker 10 (07:06):
And high suit high school to be a part of
a pilot program where you can follow an engineering track,
and there it taught me stillable engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical architecture.
Speaker 8 (07:18):
So I just continued really my journey from high school
into college to become a or study mechanical engineering.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So that's an excellent.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
So my engineering journey started in high school as well.
So originally I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
What I wanted to do in college, but I I
wanted to make a lot of money, and so my
invest friend was like well, usually I did at math
and science hod of naturally, so I think you should
look at an engineering because that's what my brother does
at his school. He went to Virginia Tech at the time.
So I said, okay, I'll do some research into it,
and so I did a lot of research and an
(07:55):
ironically the first engineering school in the in the nation
was about ten fifteen menage from my house and that's
ra mentally probably Technical Institute, and they had a program
for high school students to come and learn about engineering.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
So that summer I applied.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I got into the program and learned a lot more
UH classroom work and kind of the hands going stuff
that engineering is still in a different discipline with their engineering,
and that really helped push me to start my career
in engineering.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Once I started applying to college.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Programs and UH universities that I had engineering programs at them,
so and I ended up picking electrical as my discipline
because I really never really raped. I really raptated toward
some of the electrical engineering programs that they had at
that summer program. So my journey, I guess, like everyone
(08:45):
else is it kind of started in high school, but
I didn't have anyone around me that had an engineering
career or anything like that. I just knew that calculus
and physics were my favorite subfense and I figured, oh, okay,
I can do engineering. Also, my calculus teacher took us
on a field trip to a local engineering company and
(09:07):
like the city that we grew up in, and so
I was able to see people who have these real jobs,
solving real world problems and doing everything.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That kind of inspired inspired me to pursue.
Speaker 8 (09:19):
Engineering opposed to like physics or math or something. And
also I I was driven by wanting a high paying job.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Thank you everyone, Thank you for explaining that to us
about how you got involved in STEM. Next, we're gonna
ask Nirmine and Genessa have you had any mentors who
helped shape your journey in STEM.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
If so, who are they and how did they impact you?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Yah can uh When I have to greatest mentors that
I had was a.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Previous leader who really helped me.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
Understand what curiosity can actually do for you. And networking
and also emotional intelligence. It's not just talking to people,
it's really understanding the room, understanding what you're doing and
how it impacts others. And there are a lot of
times where I didn't pay attention to that or just said, hey,
there's something that needs to get done, and he really
(10:16):
taught me how to take that step back. And you know,
I grew up in a very very strict Moroccan household
where everything had to be perfect, and so he just
helped me understand just taking those additional steps.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Just breathe, breathe.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
And I think having someone who's a big advocate for
you whether you're there or not, and just constantly trying
to find opportunities for you and make sure you're compensated properly.
And those are those those are the amazing leaders that
I'm very thankful for.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
He really made sure that he.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
Was supportive of me at all times and just helped
me understand where I went wrong and not just say hey,
this is wrong, wrong, wrong, but more providing a solution
and how I can be a better person.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So for me, my mentorship came from uh, well, well wells.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
In high school, it came from my friends, my best
friend's brother.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Who was going through his matriculation at Virginia Tech as
a engineer, and then also my guidance counselor. She was
the one that you know which it was me helping
me kind of do my SATs, really helping me focus
more so on like the math section of the SAT.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Given the program that I was trying to get into.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
She was a big push also at the time, my
physics teacher, she really worked with me because she thought
it was really cool that I was actually pursuing engineering
once I graduated high school, so she played a big
part in that. And then when I left, I went
to school, you know, very far away from where I
grew up, so I kind of lost touch with those people.
But when I arrived at college, some of my professors
(11:54):
as well as a few peers for more so, my
professors were really the ones that helped kind of guide
me and gave me that mentorship through my matriculation. Have
more in State, specifically my Digital logshis confessor because I
was one of the classes. At this point, I was
a junior in my degree and I was feeling, like, doll,
I still want to do engineering. I don't know if
nothing's calling to me, And.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
That was probably the first class I actually caught my
interests in engineering.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
It took a while for me to actually like something
within the electrical engineering curriculum and so I asked her.
I was like, what do I have to do to
do this industry wise? Like, once I get out of
this class and graduate, what do you know what a
past am I supposed to take? So I could keep
doing this and you know, stay in love.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
With with this degree is giving me. So she's the
one that.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Really helped coach me and really helped me understand, you know,
what to look for when I graduated from college, and
she really helped push the recommendations for me to go
to grad school and you know, write my recommendation letter
and stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
So she was a great help for that. That makes
your on me.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So like thinking I mention and that's a did anyone
wanna ad anything before we move forward?
Speaker 11 (13:07):
All right?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So next for Sierra, and it's out here we have
for those.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Seeking mentorship, how should you go about finding a mentor?
Speaker 8 (13:18):
My advice I'll giving people is and not even give myself,
is first, understand what your goals are in the first
in the first five or ten years, where do you
see yourself? And the thing that helped me was like,
if I wanted to be in leadership, I loved for
people who exemplified those qualities whether they were a good
speaker or.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Very technically advanced.
Speaker 8 (13:38):
Knew how to explain it to the people who didn't
have understanding of technical ideas. So I really honed in on, Hey,
what do I wanna be in the next five years
and who can help me get me? Who can help
me get there? And I think that's important. Know where
you wanna be and then find people who exemplify what
you wanna be.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
And and also it's not all about the numbers, so
you don't wanna have too many mentors. It's about the
value you're getting from your mentors. So having too many
mentors can be bad sometimes, so looking for the value
and not strong mentors. So sometimes having two mentors that
(14:19):
can actually help you review your resume, also help with
like interviewing you and give you constructive feedback is really helpful,
and like moving you down your career path as well,
and then also just being really honest with you, cause
if you have someone that's just kind of giving you
just a little bit of like cheesy feedback and not
(14:42):
really telling you the hard truth, you're not gonna grow
as an individual.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So next we have a question for Kirsten and then
mean what key skills both critical and both technical and
soft do you think are critical for women in STEM
to develop early in their careers.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yeah, I'll start off with the technical piece.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
Especially in STEM, it's it's constantly changing, so you really
have to be open to change, learning new tools. I
would say start off with like just the basics, learning
the MICROSOFTIER sixty five products, just understanding how you can automate.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Some of your tedious day to day tasks. And I
would also you know there's like table, there's.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
All of these different tools, but Microsoftire sixty five tools
are something that most companies have, and just understanding the
technology that your field uses so you can get a
better understand of how you can apply it, and especially
when you're a problem solving and first off skills, so
I would say communication and emotional intelligence. If you're not
(15:47):
able to communicate what you're going through, what solution you need,
it's going to be difficult for someone to understand what
you needed. That's something that I learned, especially being a
foreigner to l like having to learn English, it was
very difficult for me to communicate what I needed. And
I'm very thankful for tools like chat ept and cause
(16:10):
they do help you know, there's things that I I
thought I wrote properly, but when I put it into
chat GPT, it shows that while I didn't communicate exactly,
what I was looking for is just giving that direct
question or giving that direct request and getting that back.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
So I think a lot of people don't work.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
On their communication right away, but I think that's a kr
UH critical soft skill in SEM, especially when you're looking
at requirements UH and technical requirements and understanding how you're
able to communicate to someone who doesn't understand a a product.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
So I think, I mean that's very important.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 8 (16:56):
A lot of what I have to say is very
similar to what you just mentioned. On the technical aspect,
I think it's important to look at where times or
how times are changing, where industries are going, and I
feel like programming and data.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Analysis skills are increasingly.
Speaker 8 (17:14):
Important even in traditional engineering rules today. So being able
to be a agile engineer technical UH person and using
different tools that are coming out today can keep you
ahead and allow you to keep bringing value to you know,
the companies that you work for, or what your discipline
(17:37):
is all being able to automate certain processes of your
job so that you can focus on the more important things.
AI is obviously important. You can even just know how
to prompt chat GBT in a better way to give you, you know,
the best responses that you need. I think that's very important.
(17:57):
And on the soft skills side, again, communication is very important.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
If you can't clearly explain like a.
Speaker 8 (18:06):
Technical concept, that's just as important as understanding it. So
being able to communicate the granular details of like what
you're doing is critical to excelling in your job.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And I think I would.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
Also add social engineering.
Speaker 8 (18:23):
So understanding the people that you work with, how do
they respond to certain methods of communication? How do you
ask this person for help or maybe you have to
explain a little bit more to this person, like why
you need it versus the fact that you needed and
that kind of helps you get what you need from people.
(18:45):
Just knowing like their personality, how to work with them,
you know, how to team up with them.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So those are very important things. Thank you, Thank you everyone.
So this question is for everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
It is what has been your proudest achievement in your
careers so far?
Speaker 11 (19:02):
So any order anybody? Well, since you got the mic,
what an else?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Okay for me?
Speaker 6 (19:16):
You can go first, uh, product's career achievement or any
any achievement.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
In your still journey.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Oh, I would.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
I would definitely say it's it's not fully achieved yet,
but still working out the emotional intelligence piece in the communication.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
It's still something that I'm struggling with.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
I've that's something that I've been putting more and more
effort about and speaking of at work.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Sometimes not a lot of people want to talk.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
More about it or or th you know, they feel
like you're offending them or why are you asking? And
so just coming out of my shell and just being
someone who's gonna actually speak up, and that's that's been
very difficult for me. So I I to me, that's
one of my probably just achievements is being able to
speak up more excellently.
Speaker 8 (20:05):
I would say my product achievement will be first getting
my master's degree. I will be the first to my
family to get a master's degree. So I'm very proud that. Additionally,
being that I have a background and mechanical engineering, I
was able to switch to.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Software product acquisition.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
So I that's my product achievement cause even though I
did not study software, I was able to still you know,
be who I am be curious asks for help do
the things I need to do to still be a
a good candidate.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
For the role I currently have.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So I'm very proud of being.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
Able to switch lines and being successful at it.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Okay, very similarly to her. When I graduated undergrad, I
got picked up by the National Laboratory that I talked
about earlier in New Mexico.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
They picked me up for a fellowship program.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
So I was able to earn my best to do
that program and graduate without any debt, which is I
graduated underground without debt as well, which is a lot
in twenty you know this century. Yeah, and then so
very pid of that.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And then also I was one of the I was the.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
First person that they actually hired from my university, which
actually helped them bridge a gap in going directly to
that university, you know, moving forward to.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Recruit and actually get engineers.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
From the engineering program at my university. So I was
pretty tried out, like the pioneer of them, you know,
going and networking with my old university.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
So that's so what I have to talk about. It's
like a specific project.
Speaker 8 (21:39):
That I did a few years ago, back when I
was doing augmented reality offering those services to different people.
I did an ar like art mural for UH a
board that was in Houston. So the guy he had
a mural that was sort of like a monopoly board
and third board, which was this representative of the growing
(22:03):
gentrification going on in the area for those historically like
black neighborhoods, and the idea was to show like the
different generic town homes that they're building in those neighborhoods
were like different pieces on the board, and we were
able to animate the monopoly board and show like the
pieces going across everything. And I thought that was really
(22:26):
nice and significant because it played like UH a different
piece and spoke to.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Social issues that are going on in the area.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
I thought it was really nice to be able to
bring someone's idea to life through like ar so.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
And now the years, I thought it's something. Okay, so
this is an interesting story. It's not really interesting, it's
my story. But so in ninth grade I had this lexia.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So ninth grade I went to high school with a
second grade rating level but extremely smart. I tried to
sign up for a preap chemistry that they didn't want
me to take preap chemistry because they said that it
was gonna be too hard for me. So I had
a meeting with my duynance counselor, the principal, my Beliely,
(23:21):
my basketball coach, Twister, and then my parents and my teacher,
and I had to convince them why I had needed
to take that class. And I told them that I
was capable of taking that class, and like fast forward,
I was able to get all of these degrees. But
the thing is with the Space System's degree, I was
(23:42):
number three. So that was the third African American to
graduate from that program.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
And so that's what I thought about that.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm like, the happiest and proudest moment and my career
about is that thinking about that word your old girls
sitting in that principal's office when they said that this
is too hard for you, And I'm like, I'm doing
rocket science. Now you're telling me, pretty pe chemistry is
(24:11):
too hard for me.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
So you can do whatever you wanna do, just you
gotta do put your mind up to it.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
At the point of time.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's a fag things to make you sharing.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
That's so next we have for Namine and Sierra, how
do you balance being authentic well maintaining professionals professionalism in
STEM spaces like p m.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Oh, anybody can have it. See it, let's start to
see you.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I was always going first.
Speaker 8 (24:41):
I was just like, oh, okay, I would say, I
will say first. They'll remember it is a place of business,
so there are policies in place to make sure we
adhere to. However, when we think of being authentic, you
have your core values, your entegrity, your honesty, your kindness.
(25:01):
So how you show up in your day to day
should also reflect and how you show up with who
you work with, whether it's a group of asianeers or
some when maybe younger than you that needs help. I
think your core values and who you are as a
person will ultimately show up. So that's my advice.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
It's nice, yes, yeah, it's it's it's hard to keep
up an act for a very long time. I would
just say be yourself, like you know I I and
I don't keep on going back to it. But my
the way I was raised is like we're very family oriented.
People will sometimes say, oh, why are you being nice,
or like do you have an agenda or or something,
(25:41):
but it's like no, that's just how we grew up.
Like I would bake and bring sweets in to work
and people would say, like, why why are you doing it?
It's like, it's cause we love sharing food from our
country and so a lot of people don't you should
stop doing that. You don't don't do that because people
think you'll.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Have a hit an agenda.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
So and and people said, adult will be kind because
you don't want people to use you. And I said,
I'm not gonna sit there and maybe and uh, I'm
gonna be who I am.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
And the people who.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Truly respect you and respect who you are will always
be there and be an advocate for you. Even if
you're someone who's this kind and constantly feel like you're
being used and not being respected, I would say, just
continue to be yourself.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Is you can only keep an act.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
For for so long. So thank you ladies. Next for
Kirsten Genessa, Oh Tennis, do you wanna ask.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Someone that last time you don't love it?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okays?
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And Genessa, we have Can you please share some s
effective strategies for networking with instant fields and how is
networking played a role in your career growth?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Also how do you find networking opportunities?
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So for me A big part of networking is well,
engineers as a whole kind of have this uh stereotype
of you're kind of anti social and not really communicated.
I guess I guess a lot of people heard it,
so yeah, I think for us it's like putting being
able to push yourself out there.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
It takes a lot out of us.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
We tend to be a little more introverted and a
little more to ourselves, and that's fine, that's a personality trait.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
But when you get into these spaces where people.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Can have a great influence on your career, you know,
your matriculation through college, et cetera, it's important to kind
of break out of that shell, even just for a moment.
And it's that's practicing, you know, just day and day
conversations Hi Hawaii.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You cause at one point I was even bad at that.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
You know, it's really important. Those skills are really really important.
And being able to be rememberable when you walk out
of a room, it's really important.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
For me.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
It probably started when I went to started going to
conferences like Nesby Conference, Women Engineering Conference, et cetera. When
I was an undergrad. I never really had to be
in a space where I sold myself. You know, in
high school you kind of have these little like McDonald's,
Walmart type of jobs. You don't really have careers, and
so you're in the space and you're competing against thousands
(28:06):
of other students, and so just being able to navigate
a conversation and being able to be you know, polite
and formal but also you know, personable is really really important.
So going up and talking to recruiters and also keeping
that cadence even like outside.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Of the career fair For example, you know, you could
run into somebody in.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
The elevator having a conversation, cause sometimes opportunities come from
those interactions that she don't really you know, think too
hard on. You know, you're not in the suit, you're
not you know, whatever the case may be. Maybe going
down for breakfast in your hotel and you know, one
of the recruiters from microsoftice in the elevator, which she
was the perfect time to have a conversation and you know,
(28:50):
really make an impact and then that sometimes can turn
into something else. I've gotten business cards and things like
that from those really small social interactions. So really just
learning those skills, and I know it's kind of tough
and painful for some engineers and like draining cause it
you know, I have the conferences, I'm.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Like, I need a weekend, so I need.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's really raining to talk to you know, dozens and
dozens of people and stuff like that, but it's really
impactful and it can really help propel you into your career.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
So that's my little two cents.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I know, I agree with everything she has to say.
Speaker 8 (29:26):
Like me myself, naturally, I was integrated as well, but
I knew that eventually I couldn't like go along my
career continuing to be like that. I needed to be
able to go up to someone and talk to them
and start a conversation, or like when you're walking in
the hallway, actually look at them in their eye and
smile or a way instead of just trying to look
(29:48):
the other way. And once you do those small steps,
you gain more confidence. You're able to, you know, be
more resilient in having like those long career day interviews
and talks with UH recruiters and stuff like that. So
obviously going to conferences like as the Society when Women
(30:10):
Engineers and different things. Career pair on your campus is
really good. Just try to utilize student organizations as often
as possible. You can even get on event fight and
find an event and stuff like that. So I think
those are all things that are very important for you
to you know, find your way to network and get
(30:32):
with people. Again with being able to uh articulate like
your experience and how valuable you are. I would even
go as far as saying it would be valuable to
have like experience in sales and being able to know,
like you look at a topic or concepts, you know
(30:52):
how to sell it to someone who can sell these
recruiters on your experience and how it's.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Applicable to the job that they're trying uh hire for.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
So oh, thank you ladies.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
We're on our last two questions. So for Kristen ands
a year, what resources would you recommend to the pursuing
STEM careers.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Or we can skip them?
Speaker 8 (31:19):
Okay, resources again the org student organizations that I mentioned before,
But also you can't look into different hackathons that companies have,
Like a Goal and death Post is a good website
where they have different hackathons and they're centered around like
(31:40):
a common problem.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
That they want people to.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Try and solve.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
So doing that, you can spend a weekend with a
team of people or do it by yourself. You can
you know, develop problem solving skills even if you don't
have like a background in coding, software.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And engineering or anything like that.
Speaker 8 (31:59):
I think those are different methods to you know, kind
of give you all that type of experience.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Thank you camp right.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
For me, I also did engineering camps, so I attended
like Texas A and M's they had U S Engineering
Camp over the summer when I was in middle school,
and then being here in Texas, they had like a
Project Lead and I'm actually no they liked the I
don't know what it was called, but it was Stumpia
and Texas. They had like uh academy program and you
(32:32):
got to go to like the state capitol, Houston and
some other places and then that was like engineering based
and then there was like Project Lead the way, and
there was multiple areas in the country and I got
to go to.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Like Berkeley and got to do engineering.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
For like two weeks.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
So there's multiple resources out there, and you just kind
of used Google Machine.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
It's really easy.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Just Google. And at this point in time, we have
chat GPT. If you don't wanna Google, just as chat
chiet and it will provide do a list of resources
that count going in high school.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
So use the resources at your hands. Be smart, but
be lazy at the same time smart.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
So this last question is or anybody.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
It's just a type of advice you would give to
people thinking about majoring in a stent field.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
So it can be too redigitio for you.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
I don't think.
Speaker 9 (33:28):
My advice would be to believe in yourself and believe
in your.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
Capabilities, and also be honest with yourself if you know
you may not be the best at something.
Speaker 9 (33:36):
You know, like they said, if find the resources to grow.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
In that and outside of that believing in yourself. I
would say, be dedicated to what you choose to do.
Speaker 8 (33:46):
I'm a firm believer and when I say I'm going
to do it, I'm going to even if I cry
and stress all these things, I'm gonna do it because
that's what I I've said by mind too, I'm just
a big believer in that. To build up of what
she said, I would also say it's very very important
to network engineering.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
A lot of it is not necessarily what you know,
but who you know.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So many opportunities come from just general uh relationships with
people and just meeting people and not necessarily what's on
that resume paper, so you know, your impact is a
big deal.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
And also find a mentor if you can s.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You know, and I think it's important if I weren't
for engineering, like your career, your school, but also just
in life in general, being an adult. It's hard and
sometimes it's just kind of catapulted at.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
The age of eighteen into it.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
So just having somebody there that could kind of help
you or balance you or keep s you know, one
top of your game is really really important.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
So so another thing if you're in college too, it's
important to have like a community of people that's also
pursuing the same degree or the same classes as you.
You guys can help each other out with homework or
you can rely on each other for extra resources, study
guides and everything. And it's very important to learn how
(35:08):
to learn. It's so common to listen to a lecture
or read a chapter and you don't even.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
Know what you just read.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
And at the time you have to take the test,
like you're basically trying to relearn everything you did in
this semester. So understand like how to learn the concept
of what your professor is teaching you. Over, you know,
just being able to solve all the homework problems. It
will get you very profitable.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
I think another thing that helped me was intersests. Try
to get as many internships as possible. There are a
lot of high school internships that people aren't aware of,
and especially if you're just curious and I throughout those internships,
most companies provide mentors as well that can actually guide
you to what you need.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
And there's, uh, there's an organization called in.
Speaker 12 (36:02):
Roads that helps a lot of like college students with
their internships and it really helps guide them to a
path of whatever, like engineering business.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
So I just think doing internships is one of the
most amazing things. You actually get to do the work
and you're learning it, and you have a lot of
amazing mentors that will guide you and be there and
they open up a lot of opportunities for you that
you probably weren't even aware of.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
And finally, just to make sure that you have a
support system, because at the end of the day, what
we all kind of talked about is that there's three
times that you're gonna cry. There's gonna be times that
you might not necessarily know what to do, and you
want to have your support system.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
That could be your.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
Family, it could be your community at.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
College, it might be a professor, it could be somebody
at work. But you need to have your supports. Some
have someone that you trust in any stage of your
life and make sure that they are trustworthy, because.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's right. Well, thank you, ladies, and thank you everyone
for coming out.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
We appreciate all of you. We appreciate women in stant
our allies. Here are men in STEM here, we are
having a men and STEM panel and June, so look
out for them.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And I learned everything that I gotta do with this.
Let you know now, I know now. So we just
want to thank everybody.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Special shout out to Warren helping set up, thank you
to Doug for helping.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
With videography, and just thank you all for your support.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I do appreciate you all believing in this journey with
me and coming out and using your Saturday really to
spend us time with us.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
I hope you enjoyed it, and I really appreciate you. Guys,
Like I can't believe this, So I'm like time, do
you have any mess you don't have to offer people?
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Y'all know, my episode is coming soon.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
But they I will say is everybody had amazing advice.
Definitely believe in yourself, know that you can do anything
you put your mind to.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Just research, you know, get those resources, utilize those resources,
and just believing yourself then and it can happen.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
So yeah, that's all for me. So thank you for
those watching on YouTube. Make sure you like subscribe, to comment.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
And follow us by.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. It was wonderful, filled
with so many tips for success, learning about people's journeys,
learning their wisdom and knowledge. So thank you again to
all of my panelists. A special shout out to Mister
for photography, Warren Doug and Tommy for helping set up
and break down. We thank you for our men and
STEM and our allies of women in STEM for helping
make today happen as well. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
(38:48):
Make sure you like, subscribe and comment.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
Thank you, Hi m
Thank you everyone for coming, Thank you all for your support.
Thank This is my persident ever, so I appreciate all
of you being here. I started this platform in January
this year, so we just became two months on March lefth,
so I'm just like facing my fears and just doing
it and it will grow over time.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So thank you all for being here. Thank you for
your time.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
I hope you all learned something today that you can
apply to your journeys or transitions.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So we'll get started. Hi everyone, I'm Ashley Peter.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I am the host and founder of All Things Then
with Ashley, and today we are at our international women's
networking mixer, so thank you for coming. We're gonna start
off with introductions of each our panelist and today we
fass like Normian, Sierra, Vanessa and Kirsten go ahead.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Sorry, Hi everyone.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
My name is Ziger Sylvia and I've been in the
aerospace in the tent industry for nine years in County
and I have three different degrees. I have Aerospace engineering degree,
a Space Systems degree and at MBA and.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
I love what I do.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
So I am a private engineer and I might be
transitioning to something greater in the future, but only time
will tell.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
With that being.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Said, I'm gonna pass it on because the questions that
actually is gonna ask us, you'll find out more about
my industry than what I do going forward.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Thank you, Hi everyone. My name is Irvine.
Speaker 6 (01:44):
I graduated from the University of Connecticut with the chain
bachelor's degrees. Wanted a business, but I focused on data analytics, marketing,
and management, and the second one is urban community studies.
I figured if I'm gonna work with people, I dontwise
learn how to work with people, understanding people's different cultures
and and heritage. I've always wanted to become a pilot,
(02:05):
so that's what drive me into the aerospace industry. And
I love making my computer through my work, so that's
what I called me into the digital transformation.
Speaker 7 (02:14):
So it's kind of my laziness, this is what maybe
that's the way that's say I'll get part for you
and everyone. I am cr ORG and I have.
Speaker 8 (02:25):
Seven years professional experience in the airspace and the events industry.
I started off as a supplier quality engineer. I now
work as a software product acquisition manager.
Speaker 9 (02:36):
I have a BS and mechanical engineering from a.
Speaker 8 (02:39):
Southern University in a Battalion, Louisiana, and I am currently
personally only my master's in Engineering management as Southern Methodist
University here in Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 9 (02:51):
I'm excited to be here, excited to get to know my.
Speaker 8 (02:54):
Panelist as well as I'm excited for you to hear
my journey.
Speaker 5 (02:59):
Hello everyone, My my name is Jennisa Lolkins. I earned
my bachelor's in electrical engineering from Wyne State University in Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
Maryland in two thousand fourteen, and then earned my master's
in Electrical Engineering and from Texas A and M University
and College Station in two thousand fifteen. Upon graduating, I
went into a national laboratory out in Mexico, did a
couple of bit of years out there, and then transferred
to the Fat Company here in Dallas, Testas, where I'm
(03:29):
currently worked working.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
Excuse me.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So that is my journey into engineering at UH service level.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
So and I'm getting marner into that as we go
to Thisspana Ka. Hello everyone.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
My name is Kirsten Johnson.
Speaker 8 (03:43):
I have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Texas
Tech University and then I went on to ticket a
master's of Science and Technology and Commercialization, which is a
degree that focuses on analyzing emerging technology and creating a
bible product.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
To bring to a market.
Speaker 8 (04:03):
I've had a career building and working on innovative project projects,
you know, specializing in AI, augmented reality and also the
defense industry. I have six years experience in all of that,
and I'm excited.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
To talk to you all of you guys about this.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Okay, I'm gay, Thank you everyone. A little bit about me.
I studied level age COO engineering and materials science at
the University of oh Bam. I'm real tired. I've been
yes girl. And then I continue.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I studied at Banda About University where I studied engineering management.
And I've been in the alspace and industry for about
six years now, six years in July.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So I'm excited for you all to be here today.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
So now we're gonna go down the line for everybody.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
And we're gonna talk about how did you get introduced
to STEM and what inspired you to pursue a career
in STEM.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
So for me, I might have, yeah, astronaut, and so
with being astronaut, I had to use Googles and figure
out how did you actually become an astronaut and what
kind of build and degrees that you used to actually
get into your career.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
So most of the.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Time they all used aerospace or you went to the military.
And I came from a military family. My mom served,
my grandmother served, but I didn't wanna serve in the military,
and I need for myself that I can go into
the aerospace in the fence and create products to serve
(05:36):
and give back to the people that created military products
that brought someone home to m me that I loved.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
But I didn't wanna do that.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
For myself, but for me to keep going to be
doing my journey to becoming an astronaut, I did aerospace engineering,
and then that's how come I this space system is
to engineering, and that's how time I'm might not stay
at my job very much longer if I can become
an astronaut. So NASA, if you're hearing me local mathic, Like.
Speaker 6 (06:07):
I said earlier, I always wanted to become a pilot,
so that century into the aerospace industry, and so I
just kind of found doing more and more research. I
loved helicopters and started working on helicopters for.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
About three years and just you know, just.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Learning a little bit more and more and hopefully in
the future I can go get my pilot's license, but
first I have to understand how they operate, so it
can help me become a better pilot, hopefully in the future.
Speaker 8 (06:43):
So for me myself, I was always a curious person
in trying to understand how things were, and I really
excelled in science and math throughout elementary middle going into
high school.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
A part of that.
Speaker 9 (06:55):
I also had engineering women in my family, so.
Speaker 8 (06:58):
They kind of gave me a slight introduction to hey,
I can be a woman and an engineer. So I
was afforded the opportunity.
Speaker 10 (07:06):
And high suit high school to be a part of
a pilot program where you can follow an engineering track,
and there it taught me stillable engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical architecture.
Speaker 8 (07:18):
So I just continued really my journey from high school
into college to become a or study mechanical engineering.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So that's an excellent.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
So my engineering journey started in high school as well.
So originally I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
What I wanted to do in college, but I I
wanted to make a lot of money, and so my
invest friend was like well, usually I did at math
and science hod of naturally, so I think you should
look at an engineering because that's what my brother does
at his school. He went to Virginia Tech at the time.
So I said, okay, I'll do some research into it,
and so I did a lot of research and an
(07:55):
ironically the first engineering school in the in the nation
was about ten fifteen menage from my house and that's
ra mentally probably Technical Institute, and they had a program
for high school students to come and learn about engineering.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
So that summer I applied.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I got into the program and learned a lot more
UH classroom work and kind of the hands going stuff
that engineering is still in a different discipline with their engineering,
and that really helped push me to start my career
in engineering.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Once I started applying to college.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Programs and UH universities that I had engineering programs at them,
so and I ended up picking electrical as my discipline
because I really never really raped. I really raptated toward
some of the electrical engineering programs that they had at
that summer program. So my journey, I guess, like everyone
(08:45):
else is it kind of started in high school, but
I didn't have anyone around me that had an engineering
career or anything like that. I just knew that calculus
and physics were my favorite subfense and I figured, oh, okay,
I can do engineering. Also, my calculus teacher took us
on a field trip to a local engineering company and
(09:07):
like the city that we grew up in, and so
I was able to see people who have these real jobs,
solving real world problems and doing everything.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
That kind of inspired inspired me to pursue.
Speaker 8 (09:19):
Engineering opposed to like physics or math or something. And
also I I was driven by wanting a high paying job.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Thank you everyone, Thank you for explaining that to us
about how you got involved in STEM. Next, we're gonna
ask Nirmine and Genessa have you had any mentors who
helped shape your journey in STEM.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
If so, who are they and how did they impact you?
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Thank you?
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Yah can uh When I have to greatest mentors that
I had was a.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Previous leader who really helped me.
Speaker 6 (09:54):
Understand what curiosity can actually do for you. And networking
and also emotional intelligence. It's not just talking to people,
it's really understanding the room, understanding what you're doing and
how it impacts others. And there are a lot of
times where I didn't pay attention to that or just said, hey,
there's something that needs to get done, and he really
(10:16):
taught me how to take that step back. And you know,
I grew up in a very very strict Moroccan household
where everything had to be perfect, and so he just
helped me understand just taking those additional steps.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Just breathe, breathe.
Speaker 6 (10:31):
And I think having someone who's a big advocate for
you whether you're there or not, and just constantly trying
to find opportunities for you and make sure you're compensated properly.
And those are those those are the amazing leaders that
I'm very thankful for.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
He really made sure that he.
Speaker 6 (10:49):
Was supportive of me at all times and just helped
me understand where I went wrong and not just say hey,
this is wrong, wrong, wrong, but more providing a solution
and how I can be a better person.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
So for me, my mentorship came from uh, well, well wells.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
In high school, it came from my friends, my best
friend's brother.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Who was going through his matriculation at Virginia Tech as
a engineer, and then also my guidance counselor. She was
the one that you know which it was me helping
me kind of do my SATs, really helping me focus
more so on like the math section of the SAT.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Given the program that I was trying to get into.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
She was a big push also at the time, my
physics teacher, she really worked with me because she thought
it was really cool that I was actually pursuing engineering
once I graduated high school, so she played a big
part in that. And then when I left, I went
to school, you know, very far away from where I
grew up, so I kind of lost touch with those people.
But when I arrived at college, some of my professors
(11:54):
as well as a few peers for more so, my
professors were really the ones that helped kind of guide
me and gave me that mentorship through my matriculation. Have
more in State, specifically my Digital logshis confessor because I
was one of the classes. At this point, I was
a junior in my degree and I was feeling, like, doll,
I still want to do engineering. I don't know if
nothing's calling to me, And.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
That was probably the first class I actually caught my
interests in engineering.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
It took a while for me to actually like something
within the electrical engineering curriculum and so I asked her.
I was like, what do I have to do to
do this industry wise? Like, once I get out of
this class and graduate, what do you know what a
past am I supposed to take? So I could keep
doing this and you know, stay in love.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
With with this degree is giving me. So she's the
one that.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Really helped coach me and really helped me understand, you know,
what to look for when I graduated from college, and
she really helped push the recommendations for me to go
to grad school and you know, write my recommendation letter
and stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
So she was a great help for that. That makes
your on me.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
So like thinking I mention and that's a did anyone
wanna ad anything before we move forward?
Speaker 11 (13:07):
All right?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So next for Sierra, and it's out here we have
for those.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Seeking mentorship, how should you go about finding a mentor?
Speaker 8 (13:18):
My advice I'll giving people is and not even give myself,
is first, understand what your goals are in the first
in the first five or ten years, where do you
see yourself? And the thing that helped me was like,
if I wanted to be in leadership, I loved for
people who exemplified those qualities whether they were a good
speaker or.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Very technically advanced.
Speaker 8 (13:38):
Knew how to explain it to the people who didn't
have understanding of technical ideas. So I really honed in on, Hey,
what do I wanna be in the next five years
and who can help me get me? Who can help
me get there? And I think that's important. Know where
you wanna be and then find people who exemplify what
you wanna be.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
And and also it's not all about the numbers, so
you don't wanna have too many mentors. It's about the
value you're getting from your mentors. So having too many
mentors can be bad sometimes, so looking for the value
and not strong mentors. So sometimes having two mentors that
(14:19):
can actually help you review your resume, also help with
like interviewing you and give you constructive feedback is really helpful,
and like moving you down your career path as well,
and then also just being really honest with you, cause
if you have someone that's just kind of giving you
just a little bit of like cheesy feedback and not
(14:42):
really telling you the hard truth, you're not gonna grow
as an individual.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So next we have a question for Kirsten and then
mean what key skills both critical and both technical and
soft do you think are critical for women in STEM
to develop early in their careers.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yeah, I'll start off with the technical piece.
Speaker 6 (15:05):
Especially in STEM, it's it's constantly changing, so you really
have to be open to change, learning new tools. I
would say start off with like just the basics, learning
the MICROSOFTIER sixty five products, just understanding how you can automate.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Some of your tedious day to day tasks. And I
would also you know there's like table, there's.
Speaker 6 (15:26):
All of these different tools, but Microsoftire sixty five tools
are something that most companies have, and just understanding the
technology that your field uses so you can get a
better understand of how you can apply it, and especially
when you're a problem solving and first off skills, so
I would say communication and emotional intelligence. If you're not
(15:47):
able to communicate what you're going through, what solution you need,
it's going to be difficult for someone to understand what
you needed. That's something that I learned, especially being a
foreigner to l like having to learn English, it was
very difficult for me to communicate what I needed. And
I'm very thankful for tools like chat ept and cause
(16:10):
they do help you know, there's things that I I
thought I wrote properly, but when I put it into
chat GPT, it shows that while I didn't communicate exactly,
what I was looking for is just giving that direct
question or giving that direct request and getting that back.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
So I think a lot of people don't work.
Speaker 6 (16:31):
On their communication right away, but I think that's a kr
UH critical soft skill in SEM, especially when you're looking
at requirements UH and technical requirements and understanding how you're
able to communicate to someone who doesn't understand a a product.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
So I think, I mean that's very important.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 8 (16:56):
A lot of what I have to say is very
similar to what you just mentioned. On the technical aspect,
I think it's important to look at where times or
how times are changing, where industries are going, and I
feel like programming and data.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Analysis skills are increasingly.
Speaker 8 (17:14):
Important even in traditional engineering rules today. So being able
to be a agile engineer technical UH person and using
different tools that are coming out today can keep you
ahead and allow you to keep bringing value to you know,
the companies that you work for, or what your discipline
(17:37):
is all being able to automate certain processes of your
job so that you can focus on the more important things.
AI is obviously important. You can even just know how
to prompt chat GBT in a better way to give you, you know,
the best responses that you need. I think that's very important.
(17:57):
And on the soft skills side, again, communication is very important.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
If you can't clearly explain like a.
Speaker 8 (18:06):
Technical concept, that's just as important as understanding it. So
being able to communicate the granular details of like what
you're doing is critical to excelling in your job.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
And I think I would.
Speaker 5 (18:21):
Also add social engineering.
Speaker 8 (18:23):
So understanding the people that you work with, how do
they respond to certain methods of communication? How do you
ask this person for help or maybe you have to
explain a little bit more to this person, like why
you need it versus the fact that you needed and
that kind of helps you get what you need from people.
(18:45):
Just knowing like their personality, how to work with them,
you know, how to team up with them.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So those are very important things. Thank you, Thank you everyone.
So this question is for everybody.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
It is what has been your proudest achievement in your
careers so far?
Speaker 11 (19:02):
So any order anybody? Well, since you got the mic,
what an else?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Okay for me?
Speaker 6 (19:16):
You can go first, uh, product's career achievement or any
any achievement.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
In your still journey.
Speaker 4 (19:25):
Oh, I would.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
I would definitely say it's it's not fully achieved yet,
but still working out the emotional intelligence piece in the communication.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
It's still something that I'm struggling with.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
I've that's something that I've been putting more and more
effort about and speaking of at work.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Sometimes not a lot of people want to talk.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
More about it or or th you know, they feel
like you're offending them or why are you asking? And
so just coming out of my shell and just being
someone who's gonna actually speak up, and that's that's been
very difficult for me. So I I to me, that's
one of my probably just achievements is being able to
speak up more excellently.
Speaker 8 (20:05):
I would say my product achievement will be first getting
my master's degree. I will be the first to my
family to get a master's degree. So I'm very proud that. Additionally,
being that I have a background and mechanical engineering, I
was able to switch to.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Software product acquisition.
Speaker 8 (20:22):
So I that's my product achievement cause even though I
did not study software, I was able to still you know,
be who I am be curious asks for help do
the things I need to do to still be a
a good candidate.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
For the role I currently have.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
So I'm very proud of being.
Speaker 8 (20:41):
Able to switch lines and being successful at it.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Okay, very similarly to her. When I graduated undergrad, I
got picked up by the National Laboratory that I talked
about earlier in New Mexico.
Speaker 5 (20:56):
They picked me up for a fellowship program.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
So I was able to earn my best to do
that program and graduate without any debt, which is I
graduated underground without debt as well, which is a lot
in twenty you know this century. Yeah, and then so
very pid of that.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
And then also I was one of the I was the.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
First person that they actually hired from my university, which
actually helped them bridge a gap in going directly to
that university, you know, moving forward to.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Recruit and actually get engineers.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
From the engineering program at my university. So I was
pretty tried out, like the pioneer of them, you know,
going and networking with my old university.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
So that's so what I have to talk about. It's
like a specific project.
Speaker 8 (21:39):
That I did a few years ago, back when I
was doing augmented reality offering those services to different people.
I did an ar like art mural for UH a
board that was in Houston. So the guy he had
a mural that was sort of like a monopoly board
and third board, which was this representative of the growing
(22:03):
gentrification going on in the area for those historically like
black neighborhoods, and the idea was to show like the
different generic town homes that they're building in those neighborhoods
were like different pieces on the board, and we were
able to animate the monopoly board and show like the
pieces going across everything. And I thought that was really
(22:26):
nice and significant because it played like UH a different
piece and spoke to.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Social issues that are going on in the area.
Speaker 8 (22:34):
I thought it was really nice to be able to
bring someone's idea to life through like ar so.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
And now the years, I thought it's something. Okay, so
this is an interesting story. It's not really interesting, it's
my story. But so in ninth grade I had this lexia.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
So ninth grade I went to high school with a
second grade rating level but extremely smart. I tried to
sign up for a preap chemistry that they didn't want
me to take preap chemistry because they said that it
was gonna be too hard for me. So I had
a meeting with my duynance counselor, the principal, my Beliely,
(23:21):
my basketball coach, Twister, and then my parents and my teacher,
and I had to convince them why I had needed
to take that class. And I told them that I
was capable of taking that class, and like fast forward,
I was able to get all of these degrees. But
the thing is with the Space System's degree, I was
(23:42):
number three. So that was the third African American to
graduate from that program.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
And so that's what I thought about that.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm like, the happiest and proudest moment and my career
about is that thinking about that word your old girls
sitting in that principal's office when they said that this
is too hard for you, And I'm like, I'm doing
rocket science. Now you're telling me, pretty pe chemistry is
(24:11):
too hard for me.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
No, it's not.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
So you can do whatever you wanna do, just you
gotta do put your mind up to it.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
At the point of time.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
It's a fag things to make you sharing.
Speaker 8 (24:22):
That's so next we have for Namine and Sierra, how
do you balance being authentic well maintaining professionals professionalism in
STEM spaces like p m.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Oh, anybody can have it. See it, let's start to
see you.
Speaker 4 (24:39):
I was always going first.
Speaker 8 (24:41):
I was just like, oh, okay, I would say, I
will say first. They'll remember it is a place of business,
so there are policies in place to make sure we
adhere to. However, when we think of being authentic, you
have your core values, your entegrity, your honesty, your kindness.
(25:01):
So how you show up in your day to day
should also reflect and how you show up with who
you work with, whether it's a group of asianeers or
some when maybe younger than you that needs help. I
think your core values and who you are as a
person will ultimately show up. So that's my advice.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
It's nice, yes, yeah, it's it's it's hard to keep
up an act for a very long time. I would
just say be yourself, like you know I I and
I don't keep on going back to it. But my
the way I was raised is like we're very family oriented.
People will sometimes say, oh, why are you being nice,
or like do you have an agenda or or something,
(25:41):
but it's like no, that's just how we grew up.
Like I would bake and bring sweets in to work
and people would say, like, why why are you doing it?
It's like, it's cause we love sharing food from our
country and so a lot of people don't you should
stop doing that. You don't don't do that because people
think you'll.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Have a hit an agenda.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
So and and people said, adult will be kind because
you don't want people to use you. And I said,
I'm not gonna sit there and maybe and uh, I'm
gonna be who I am.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
And the people who.
Speaker 6 (26:10):
Truly respect you and respect who you are will always
be there and be an advocate for you. Even if
you're someone who's this kind and constantly feel like you're
being used and not being respected, I would say, just
continue to be yourself.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Is you can only keep an act.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
For for so long. So thank you ladies. Next for
Kirsten Genessa, Oh Tennis, do you wanna ask.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Someone that last time you don't love it?
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Okays?
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And Genessa, we have Can you please share some s
effective strategies for networking with instant fields and how is
networking played a role in your career growth?
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Also how do you find networking opportunities?
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (26:52):
So for me A big part of networking is well,
engineers as a whole kind of have this uh stereotype
of you're kind of anti social and not really communicated.
I guess I guess a lot of people heard it,
so yeah, I think for us it's like putting being
able to push yourself out there.
Speaker 5 (27:08):
It takes a lot out of us.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
We tend to be a little more introverted and a
little more to ourselves, and that's fine, that's a personality trait.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
But when you get into these spaces where people.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Can have a great influence on your career, you know,
your matriculation through college, et cetera, it's important to kind
of break out of that shell, even just for a moment.
And it's that's practicing, you know, just day and day
conversations Hi Hawaii.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You cause at one point I was even bad at that.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
You know, it's really important. Those skills are really really important.
And being able to be rememberable when you walk out
of a room, it's really important.
Speaker 5 (27:44):
For me.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
It probably started when I went to started going to
conferences like Nesby Conference, Women Engineering Conference, et cetera. When
I was an undergrad. I never really had to be
in a space where I sold myself. You know, in
high school you kind of have these little like McDonald's,
Walmart type of jobs. You don't really have careers, and
so you're in the space and you're competing against thousands
(28:06):
of other students, and so just being able to navigate
a conversation and being able to be you know, polite
and formal but also you know, personable is really really important.
So going up and talking to recruiters and also keeping
that cadence even like outside.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Of the career fair For example, you know, you could
run into somebody in.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
The elevator having a conversation, cause sometimes opportunities come from
those interactions that she don't really you know, think too
hard on. You know, you're not in the suit, you're
not you know, whatever the case may be. Maybe going
down for breakfast in your hotel and you know, one
of the recruiters from microsoftice in the elevator, which she
was the perfect time to have a conversation and you know,
(28:50):
really make an impact and then that sometimes can turn
into something else. I've gotten business cards and things like
that from those really small social interactions. So really just
learning those skills, and I know it's kind of tough
and painful for some engineers and like draining cause it
you know, I have the conferences, I'm.
Speaker 5 (29:10):
Like, I need a weekend, so I need.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's really raining to talk to you know, dozens and
dozens of people and stuff like that, but it's really
impactful and it can really help propel you into your career.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
So that's my little two cents.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
I know, I agree with everything she has to say.
Speaker 8 (29:26):
Like me myself, naturally, I was integrated as well, but
I knew that eventually I couldn't like go along my
career continuing to be like that. I needed to be
able to go up to someone and talk to them
and start a conversation, or like when you're walking in
the hallway, actually look at them in their eye and
smile or a way instead of just trying to look
(29:48):
the other way. And once you do those small steps,
you gain more confidence. You're able to, you know, be
more resilient in having like those long career day interviews
and talks with UH recruiters and stuff like that. So
obviously going to conferences like as the Society when Women
(30:10):
Engineers and different things. Career pair on your campus is
really good. Just try to utilize student organizations as often
as possible. You can even get on event fight and
find an event and stuff like that. So I think
those are all things that are very important for you
to you know, find your way to network and get
(30:32):
with people. Again with being able to uh articulate like
your experience and how valuable you are. I would even
go as far as saying it would be valuable to
have like experience in sales and being able to know,
like you look at a topic or concepts, you know
(30:52):
how to sell it to someone who can sell these
recruiters on your experience and how it's.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Applicable to the job that they're trying uh hire for.
Speaker 5 (31:00):
So oh, thank you ladies.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
We're on our last two questions. So for Kristen ands
a year, what resources would you recommend to the pursuing
STEM careers.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Or we can skip them?
Speaker 8 (31:19):
Okay, resources again the org student organizations that I mentioned before,
But also you can't look into different hackathons that companies have,
Like a Goal and death Post is a good website
where they have different hackathons and they're centered around like
(31:40):
a common problem.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
That they want people to.
Speaker 5 (31:43):
Try and solve.
Speaker 8 (31:43):
So doing that, you can spend a weekend with a
team of people or do it by yourself. You can
you know, develop problem solving skills even if you don't
have like a background in coding, software.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And engineering or anything like that.
Speaker 8 (31:59):
I think those are different methods to you know, kind
of give you all that type of experience.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
Thank you camp right.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
For me, I also did engineering camps, so I attended
like Texas A and M's they had U S Engineering
Camp over the summer when I was in middle school,
and then being here in Texas, they had like a
Project Lead and I'm actually no they liked the I
don't know what it was called, but it was Stumpia
and Texas. They had like uh academy program and you
(32:32):
got to go to like the state capitol, Houston and
some other places and then that was like engineering based
and then there was like Project Lead the way, and
there was multiple areas in the country and I got
to go to.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Like Berkeley and got to do engineering.
Speaker 4 (32:47):
For like two weeks.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
So there's multiple resources out there, and you just kind
of used Google Machine.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
It's really easy.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
Just Google. And at this point in time, we have
chat GPT. If you don't wanna Google, just as chat
chiet and it will provide do a list of resources
that count going in high school.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
So use the resources at your hands. Be smart, but
be lazy at the same time smart.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
So this last question is or anybody.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
It's just a type of advice you would give to
people thinking about majoring in a stent field.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
So it can be too redigitio for you.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
I don't think.
Speaker 9 (33:28):
My advice would be to believe in yourself and believe
in your.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
Capabilities, and also be honest with yourself if you know
you may not be the best at something.
Speaker 9 (33:36):
You know, like they said, if find the resources to grow.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
In that and outside of that believing in yourself. I
would say, be dedicated to what you choose to do.
Speaker 8 (33:46):
I'm a firm believer and when I say I'm going
to do it, I'm going to even if I cry
and stress all these things, I'm gonna do it because
that's what I I've said by mind too, I'm just
a big believer in that. To build up of what
she said, I would also say it's very very important
to network engineering.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
A lot of it is not necessarily what you know,
but who you know.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So many opportunities come from just general uh relationships with
people and just meeting people and not necessarily what's on
that resume paper, so you know, your impact is a
big deal.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
And also find a mentor if you can s.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You know, and I think it's important if I weren't
for engineering, like your career, your school, but also just
in life in general, being an adult. It's hard and
sometimes it's just kind of catapulted at.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
The age of eighteen into it.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
So just having somebody there that could kind of help
you or balance you or keep s you know, one
top of your game is really really important.
Speaker 8 (34:45):
So so another thing if you're in college too, it's
important to have like a community of people that's also
pursuing the same degree or the same classes as you.
You guys can help each other out with homework or
you can rely on each other for extra resources, study
guides and everything. And it's very important to learn how
(35:08):
to learn. It's so common to listen to a lecture
or read a chapter and you don't even.
Speaker 5 (35:15):
Know what you just read.
Speaker 8 (35:16):
And at the time you have to take the test,
like you're basically trying to relearn everything you did in
this semester. So understand like how to learn the concept
of what your professor is teaching you. Over, you know,
just being able to solve all the homework problems. It
will get you very profitable.
Speaker 4 (35:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:38):
I think another thing that helped me was intersests. Try
to get as many internships as possible. There are a
lot of high school internships that people aren't aware of,
and especially if you're just curious and I throughout those internships,
most companies provide mentors as well that can actually guide
you to what you need.
Speaker 4 (35:58):
And there's, uh, there's an organization called in.
Speaker 12 (36:02):
Roads that helps a lot of like college students with
their internships and it really helps guide them to a
path of whatever, like engineering business.
Speaker 6 (36:16):
So I just think doing internships is one of the
most amazing things. You actually get to do the work
and you're learning it, and you have a lot of
amazing mentors that will guide you and be there and
they open up a lot of opportunities for you that
you probably weren't even aware of.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
And finally, just to make sure that you have a
support system, because at the end of the day, what
we all kind of talked about is that there's three
times that you're gonna cry. There's gonna be times that
you might not necessarily know what to do, and you
want to have your support system.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
That could be your.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
Family, it could be your community at.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
College, it might be a professor, it could be somebody
at work. But you need to have your supports. Some
have someone that you trust in any stage of your
life and make sure that they are trustworthy, because.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
That's right. Well, thank you, ladies, and thank you everyone
for coming out.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
We appreciate all of you. We appreciate women in stant
our allies. Here are men in STEM here, we are
having a men and STEM panel and June, so look
out for them.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
And I learned everything that I gotta do with this.
Let you know now, I know now. So we just
want to thank everybody.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
Special shout out to Warren helping set up, thank you
to Doug for helping.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
With videography, and just thank you all for your support.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
I do appreciate you all believing in this journey with
me and coming out and using your Saturday really to
spend us time with us.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
So thank you.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
I hope you enjoyed it, and I really appreciate you. Guys,
Like I can't believe this, So I'm like time, do
you have any mess you don't have to offer people?
Speaker 2 (37:55):
Y'all know, my episode is coming soon.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
But they I will say is everybody had amazing advice.
Definitely believe in yourself, know that you can do anything
you put your mind to.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
Just research, you know, get those resources, utilize those resources,
and just believing yourself then and it can happen.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
So yeah, that's all for me. So thank you for
those watching on YouTube. Make sure you like subscribe, to comment.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
And follow us by.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
I hope you enjoyed today's episode. It was wonderful, filled
with so many tips for success, learning about people's journeys,
learning their wisdom and knowledge. So thank you again to
all of my panelists. A special shout out to Mister
for photography, Warren Doug and Tommy for helping set up
and break down. We thank you for our men and
STEM and our allies of women in STEM for helping
make today happen as well. I hope you enjoyed the episode.
(38:48):
Make sure you like, subscribe and comment.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
Thank you, Hi m
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.