Equivalent Too

Grazia Vittadini is a magnificent women and completely in her power. She's smart beyond comprehension speaking five languages with a penchant for the arts as well as the sciences. Yet her most alluring quality is her emotional intelligence. She knows exactly how to maintain her superiority when others are trying to drag her down - and she does this in the most humble, kind and fairest of ways. She is also a ballet-dancing engineer and one of my favourite role models to date. This episode can't be missed.

This conversation was more of a mentoring session for me! Judith is so accomplished yet so wise and chilled. Often as intelligent women, we want to prove our intelligence to the world and get angry when not acknowledged for our brains - Judith knows exactly how to handle such circumstances, having been in many male dominated situations with her research and them with grace, power and laughs! She is truly empowered.

Becky's journey into engineering hasn't been conventional! She didn't follow the classic maths physics route. However, she caught the F1 racing bug, ever since attending the UK Grand Prix - and now she's a design engineer working on the cars themselves! Find out how she fell into her dream job, her story is inspiring for anyone wanting to follow their own career dreams, despite the odds...

In this conversation, Dawn Bonfield, MBE and I get extremely honest about the problems that still exist in engineering. We are a long way off from being diverse and inclusive in this industry and there are still many things that need to change. We discuss why change is necessary and the small steps that can be taken to breakdown the bias that exists in the development of future technologies.

Talking to Claire Rose was up-lifting. Civil engineering finally seems to be changing for the better, to be more inclusive. Companies realise the positive impact of diverse teams on their success. Homogenous groups of engineers simply cannot not effectively design infrastructure for an entire population. Women and other underrepresented groups are essential for broadening design scopes. Claire Rose talks to us about her decade-long career in the industry and why now has been a good time to balance her career with recently becoming a first time mum.

Zainab Adigun, a structural engineer and mother of twin boys can do anything she puts her mind towards.  After our conversation, it was clear that very little holds us back, other than what is between our ears.  She has been through trails and challenges juggling motherhood and career, and what got her through all of it was her resilient attitude and strong and supportive inner circle.  Its women like her that makes you realise, it is possible to ‘have it all’.

Dr. Leanne Armitage was recognised by HM Queen Elizabeth II for her charity, The Armitage Foundation, which aims to increase the diversity and inclusivity in medicine. She is also a very inspiring young woman who owns her underprivileged background, knowing that it gave her empathy and compassion towards others. Her work is crucial and her story is uplifting.

When Whitney Udigwe (a STEM A'Level student) reached out to me via my website asking for mentorship, she got me thinking about how mentorship might help others too. In the first of its kind, I aim to answer all questions that Whitney has about her own career direction and I'm sharing this conversation with you. Around the age of 16-18 we usually have to make big decisions about our careers. In this episode of eSTEAMd people, I aim to share my experiences so that we can be a little wiser about our own life decisions!

After we have laid our HM Queen Elizabeth II to rest, time seems to be revealing what she meant to me. She was a symbol of duty, service and purpose. I edited this conversation with Computer Engineer, Sanskriti Devi with this in mind and what I have learned from our Queen and see from Sanskriti is that knowing one’s purpose in life is key. Knowing what you were put on this Earth to do, allows you to focus and surrender to your role. It seems that Sanskriti is unravelling and following her true purpose in STEM and it’s working out for her.

Women in Innovation and Technology share their experiences and what they have learned in order to survive and thrive in a male-dominated world. In this episode, we hear from sisters Abigail (scientists) and Donna (Engineer) about the network of STEM sisters they are trying to create. 

This conversation is so heart-warming because you feel the actual sisterhood between a biomedical scientist and mechanical engineer, who genuinely want to share this support and encouragement with other women in STEM.  

Check out this podcast by Dr. Shini Somara, a mechanical engineer and media broadcaster, who aims to have honest and raw conversations about what it's really like being an empowered woman in today's world.