Equivalent Too

This week on Scilence, my guest comes from a man’s world, as a construction engineer, yet she is responsible for many jobs.  As a result, it took her much longer to earn resect from her team.  She ignored any nasty comments, which helped her to gain resilience.  

Her first job involved engineering railways, despite never having seen a train before.  Originally, she came from a very patriarchal culture, yet the men in her life were extremely supportive and encouraging - which positively influenced her adult life.  Its so important to have someone in your corner.  

My guest describes the difficulty in balancing motherhood, especially if you’ve been really successful in your career.  She talks of the self-care she has had to sacrifice for the sake of getting everything done and meeting the expectations of family and others. 

My guest believes that men can be agents of change, by being there for their families.  Men are shunned for putting their families before their work.  Women are judged for going to work instead of staying with the family. 

She feels lucky to have the support of her partner.  Usually, women feel that is it their responsibility to keep a home together.  She’s worked extremely hard to get to where she is career-wise, she now doesn't wan to throw it all away for motherhood - its a juggle and a struggle, and often something has to give. 

She hasn’t give up on changing the corporate mentality at work.  She loves challenging the naysayers.  She makes the change happen, but it hasn't been  smooth ride.  She’ll never ever give up on what she wants.  She really fights for what she believes in. 

Her advice:  Consider the perspectives of the majority.  Listen to others and have compassion for others; and learn a lot from your mistakes.  And lastly, but by no means least:  Be who you are, don’t try to be anybody else..

This week on Scilence, my guest, a student in Biomedical Engineering, discusses developing confidence when you’re a new graduate.  She stresses the importance of making mistakes and describes her efforts in becoming comfortable with failure.  She is not so comfortable with the fact she feels that she represents all women in her field, therefore representing 20% of her class.  It poses additional pressure and stress, that she doesn't enjoy.  Ultimately, her answer to associate with people who are supportive. 

My guest defines engineering, admitting that she struggles to know exactly what engineers do, considering that it is such a broadly defined field.  Lets face it, anyone can call themselves an engineer, these days.  But to her, engineering is about problem solving and getting creative. 

This week we talk about wanting to be perfect, and the constant battle that it presents in terms of constantly having to prove oneself to others and to oneself. The best thing about my guest, is that she is determined to break the vague stereotype of what engineers are, just by proudly being herself and focusing on her passion of helping people with their health.  

This week on scilence, a group of five mechanical engineering students, talk about their experiences in a typically unfeminine industry.  We bust the myths and stereotypes about this career and confirm that the key to success in this field is genuine passion, interest and self-confidence.

My guests are early on in their Bachelors degrees and none of them willingly chose to study MechEng, but through realising that they love problem solving, creativity and found mathematics fun, they admitted that engineering was the best course to study.  

Surprisingly, they seem to be in a generation, where the gender gap is closing, but there are still issues in the minds of these young women, about how to assert themselves, speak up and be heard and believe in what they can bring to the table.  In an attempt to achieve this - mansplaining has never been so entertaining!  

This week on Scilence, my guest has been determined to be her own self.  To her, following convention would mean death.  She has always followed her heart and in doing so has been true to herself.  She's fought too hard and worked too hard to pander to the opinions of others, yet she has also been able to function in a corporate structure to deliver successful results.  This female engineer knows how to achieve and accomplish, but does so by aligning her own passions with what is expected of her from others.  This episode is packed full of wisdom and inspiration, and always a badass attitude for surviving and thriving in a male dominate world.

Its clear from my guest this week on Scilence, that she's hugely successful in cyber security because she has an abundance of inner security.  She has always been oblivious to being in a minority, as a female in a male dominated world.  As a result, discrimination went straight over her head and she was able to stay strong through challenges and struggle.  This women has an attitude of steel, her own business and three children.  She's unstoppable.  Find out how her attitude made all the difference to 'having it all'.  

This week on Scilence my guest has always been concerned about sustainability and regeneration, which oddly led her into a career in chemical engineering.  For someone so young, she is making a big impact in the beauty industry and most recently, she has finally found the stability and strength to explore her heritage.  Being mixed race, she has never felt a strong identification with either her mother's nor father's cultural heritage.  Now she is starting to embrace her uniqueness, by learning about her origins. 

We discuss her sources of inspiration, hope and support, and they are not STEM-related.  She shares that the key to your dream job is to work in a field that you love.  She's had her fair share of discrimination, but has it stopped her from pursuing her dreams?  Hell, no.  Its only made her fight harder.  

English is not my guests first language, yet she still manages to communicate the importance of using education to escape her difficult childhood.  Driven by the need to make her oppressed mother proud, she left home at 10 years old to find greener pastures.  

This week, my guest, a software engineer is so super-chill for someone so young.  She takes everything in her stride, having gone through the challenges of being a black women coder.  She definitely feels the discrimination in her industry, but that doesn't stop her for striving for what she wants.  In actual fact, it makes her fight harder.  

In this episode we talk about self-acceptance, imposter-syndrome and the significant effects of our behaviour towards others.  It's true that even our tone of voice can make people defensive towards us.  

Its not easy being popular and successful when you are a minority.  But we conclude that its much better to be following our passions, than following others.   

This week on Scilence, my guest fell into her career thanks to curiosity and interest in physics and maths.  Her path hasn't been straight, but thanks to internships and a couple of rock bottoms, she found her way to a greater self-acceptance and inner security.  She speaks of the snobbery between physicists and engineers and warns that physics can be very exclusive rather than inclusive. 

Unwelcoming environments stem from insecurity.  In her experience it can be difficult to report the subtle harassment we receive as women in physics.  But, ultimately, the anxiety of unassertiveness pushed her into letting go of what other people  thought of her.  She had to accept herself for who she is and believe in herself; learning to trust herself above others. 

Unfortunately, women are taught to not trust themselves; not listen to their gut and ignore their intuition.   But, through the power of meditation she has found an inner peace, where she embraces her imperfection and failures, rather than fearing them.  

Her advice for women who are curious about STEM is to follow their interests rather than follow a person.  Rolemodels are useful, but not essential for finding one's own way in life, if you truly believe in your pwn abilities.  

Love yourself, be proud of who you are and blaze the trail you've always dreamed of, with or without the support of others.  

Although my guest this week studied mechical engineering, she believes that there is no one set path into tech strategy.  She actually works in a very diverse team, where all members share a passion and genuine interest for tech.  What she has observed is that women fundamentally don’t see themselves as technologists, and therefore don’t see themselves as being in tech.