Global Voices in Engineering

Why does hard work translate into advancement for some engineers but not others?

Telecom engineer turned somatic leadership coach Myah Payel Mitra experienced that disconnect firsthand. After years of meeting performance goals without seeing the career progression she expected, she began examining the patterns holding women back at work.

In conversation with host Sam East, Myah shares the “S.T.A.L.L” framework that she presented at WE Local Bengaluru: five forces shaping women’s careers, from structural bias and toxic visibility to age-based assumptions, inflexible workplace dynamics, and a lack of support.

Hear how to distinguish being visible from being sponsored, recognize when workplace pressure shows up in your body, and neutralize high-stress moments. Plus, Myah discusses what leaders can do to change these dynamics at the structural level.

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The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a powerful, global force uniting nearly 45,000 members of all genders spanning 90+ countries. We are the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology.

To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

This episode is sponsored by Endeavour.

How can the infrastructure we build support life rather than work against it?

For Beth Rattner, senior director of impact at Endeavour, that question has taken her from law and technology to sustainability, biomimicry, circularity, and infrastructure, where she’s now exploring how data centers could become vehicles for solving community challenges rather than creating new ones.

In this conversation with Larry Guthrie, director of content strategy at the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Beth shares examples of what engineers can learn from nature, from quieter fans inspired by owl wings to carbon-negative cement modeled on how coral reefs form. She explains how companies can use waste heat to purify contaminated water, turn waste streams into useful materials, and even restore the soil.

Hear why cross-disciplinary collaboration matters, how biomimicry can open up new design possibilities, and how forward-thinking engineers can connect with the Endeavour team at WE26 in Boston.

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The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a powerful, global force uniting nearly 45,000 members of all genders spanning 90+ countries. We are the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology.

To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

Earlier in her career, Ankita Gupta, director of digital IP at Infineon Technologies in Germany, described her accomplishments by listing the code she wrote, the scripts she built, and the tasks she executed.

Ultimately, a manager challenged her to think differently: Did her engineering work save the company hours, days, or weeks? That shift helped connect her technical contributions to business outcomes, and ultimately opened the door to leadership opportunities.

In this conversation with host Sam East, Ankita shares practical ways for engineers to develop a more business-minded perspective and understand how their daily work drives profitability and strategic goals.

Hear how to articulate the financial impact of your contributions, why women engineers should practice saying “I” instead of defaulting to “we,” and a framework for confidently communicating the value of your work — without feeling like you’re bragging.

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The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a powerful, global force uniting nearly 45,000 members of all genders spanning 90+ countries. We are the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology.

To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

Speaking more or louder does not automatically make you more influential. So how do you know when your voice can truly make a difference in STEM?

For Rita Munarwi, semiconductor industry leader and director technical program manager at Microsoft, the answer is to “speak like a circuit breaker”: an engineering-based model that identifies when using your voice can protect your team, add clarity, or challenge an assumption.

In conversation with Karen Horting, executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers, Rita explains the circuit breaker framework and shares practical ways to make your input more impactful — from replacing “maybe I’m wrong” with “here’s what I’m seeing,” to avoiding over-explaining, to strategically using pauses.

Hear how to be part of the solution when tensions rise on a team, plus her #1 tip for engineers who want to pursue public speaking opportunities but feel nervous to start.

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The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a powerful, global force uniting nearly 45,000 members of all genders spanning 90+ countries. We are the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology.

To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

Ali Forsyth, Ph.D., vice president and general manager of Stack Forging thermal solutions at Johnson Controls, had already become a vice president of engineering twice when she started wondering what was on the other side of the glass ceiling. She found the answer when she stopped building within other companies and started her own instead.

In this conversation with FY27 SWE President Kerrie Greenfelder, Ali shares the experiences that shaped her approach to engineering and entrepreneurship, from repairing equipment on her family’s farm in western Canada, to working her way through technical leadership at hard-tech startups, to co-founding Alloy Enterprises.

Hear the most difficult part of taking the leap into entrepreneurship, the lessons Ali learned around growing into the leader her company needed and the importance of sponsorship — including a personal story of how a sponsor led to a career-changing opportunity.

Ali also previews her upcoming keynote fireside chat at WE26, the world's largest conference for women and allies in engineering, taking place Nov. 5-7 in Boston. Find the full conference schedule and register at we26.swe.org

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The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering!

With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story.

SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

When searching for a new job, how can engineers use applicant tracking systems and AI to their advantage instead of feeling like they’re applying into a black hole?

In this episode, engineers and SWE leaders Kathryn Chamberlin and Claire Mulford explain what happens between clicking “apply” and getting a job interview — and how to make your résumé easier for automated systems to analyze.

In conversation with host Sam East, Kathryn reflects on her experience applying for jobs and landing roles at top organizations, including how she uses AI to compare her résumé with job descriptions, identify gaps, and tailor her applications. Claire offers insight into how applicant tracking systems review résumés and where seemingly small choices, like formatting and keywords, can make a difference.

Hear how to use AI in your job search without losing your authentic voice, why LinkedIn is more than just a place to apply for new opportunities, and the mindset shifts to keep going after long waiting periods and rejections.

Learn more about using AI in the job search and hiring process in SWE Magazine:

Using AI to Find Your Next Job: https://swe.org/magazine/using-ai-to-find-your-next-job/

Using AI to Find Your Next Great Hire: https://swe.org/magazine/using-ai-to-find-your-next-great-hire/

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The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering!

With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story.

SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

What happens when the STEM career you’ve worked so hard to build collides with a family crisis?

When her mother was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, Francesca Holmes-Walker, supplier quality engineering leader for Unison, a GE Aerospace division, suddenly found herself balancing caregiving, family responsibilities, and an engineering career.

In this conversation with host Sam East, Francesca offers a candid look at the unexpected costs and complexities of elder care — from finding caregivers, to navigating a challenging diagnosis, to making a career change to find the flexibility she needed.

Hear practical advice on finding local resources, preparing legal plans, preventing burnout, and recognizing when you need to slow down and cherish time with your loved ones.

Plus, she explores a lesson she now gives to the engineers she mentors: you may not be able to get an A everywhere at once, and that’s okay.

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The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering!

With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story.

SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

As AI becomes part of everyday engineering workflows, knowing when to use it — and when to rely on your human expertise — is becoming a crucial skill.

Deepika Devarajan, vice president of product and technology at Industrial Scientific, has worked with AI for more than a decade and has seen the focus shift from “How do we build AI responsibly?” to “How do we use AI responsibly?”

In conversation with host Sam East, Deepika shares a practical framework for deciding when to delegate a task to AI, when to use it as a thought partner, and when to keep the work human.

Hear how to protect your critical thinking skills (and your data), a nuanced perspective on what engineering expertise will look like in the AI-powered future, and the most common misconceptions and myths around AI.

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The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering!

With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story.

SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

How can you determine what kind of mentor will help you the most at each stage of your engineering career?

In this episode, Priyanka Ganesh, cloud software engineering manager at Intel, identifies three mentor archetypes that can help women and allies in STEM grow in distinct ways: the connector, the architect, and the visionary.

In discussion with host Sam East, Priyanka breaks down the characteristics of each archetype and shares how a connector helped raise her visibility, an architect taught her to prioritize the problems that mattered most, and a visionary challenged her to connect technical work to long-term impact.

Hear how to identify the gaps that are holding you back from advancing, how to find the right mentor for your unique career stage, and how to become a connector, architect, or visionary for someone else — even without a leadership title.

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The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering!

With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story.

SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org

How can engineers create spaces where people feel comfortable bringing their whole selves to class and work?

In this episode, Emma Craig, FY27 lead of the SWE LGBTQ+ and Allies Affinity Group, and Mikayla Moody, FY27 lead-elect of the SWE LGBTQ+ and Allies Affinity Group, share how their experiences as engineers in the LGBTQ+ community have shaped their paths through academia and industry.

Mikayla explains how feeling like an outsider in STEM shapes their teaching style now as a professor — including the simple steps they take at the start of each semester to help students feel a sense of belonging. Emma reflects on how finding supportive communities in college and graduate school, including in Greek Life, gave her the confidence to grow as an engineer, advocate, and leader.

In conversation with Karen Horting, executive director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), they share practical advice for becoming a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community, including why asking questions, listening carefully, and being willing to learn from mistakes can matter more than getting everything right.

Get involved with the SWE LGBTQ+ and Allies Affinity Group at https://affinitygroups.swe.org/lgbtq-and-allies/

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The award-winning Diverse podcast from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is now Global Voices in Engineering!

With nearly 45,000 members in 90+ countries around the world (and growing), we wanted a new name that perfectly captures what both SWE and the podcast are all about: bringing together engineering stories from around the world, because every engineer has a story.

SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women and allies in engineering and technology. To join and access all the exclusive benefits to elevate your professional journey, visit https://membership.swe.org