Q: Please describe your educational/training background.
Materials Science, Engineering, and Project Management.
Q: Please describe where you work & your occupation.
Ichor Systems, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility
Q: Career-wise, what have been your proudest moments/highlights/accomplishments so far?
I am so proud of my versatile career. I’ve been so fortunate to have a vast career history. I’ve worked in Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and Program Management. I even ran a corporation-wide leadership development program and I now lead my company in Corporate Social Responsibility. I am so grateful for the opportunities that were available to me and for the confidence that led me to accept them.
Q: What are some of your future goals or things you would like to accomplish?
I’d like to continue my pursuit to diversify the corporate technology world and use my influence on corporate and non-profit boards.
Q: What have been some of your biggest career challenges?
Proving that I was a competent engineer, I was unsure whether my peers thought I was competent. I was a Black woman (and for a long time, the only Black woman) in the White male engineering world. I received the microaggression and microinequity messages well before I knew there was a term for them. On the days when I felt alone and defeated, I had to remind myself that I earned my place there and I deserved to be there. It also helped to be supported by my network of other women and people of color who shared similar experiences to mine in their respective work cultures. I’ve even had women managers who, by just being in their roles, inspired me to persevere.
Q: Many young women might not be aware of the career available in STEM fields. What do you think can be done to spread the word to women about career options in these fields?
Increase exposure to STEM occupations and to women and people of color in STEM occupations in elementary and middle schools. Perceptions of what we are supposed to be and do are formed very early in our lives. When children can see people who look like them in action in STEM roles, the vision can be created with greater ease.
Q: Do you have any advice for women who are looking to follow in a similar career path?
Take risks. Say yes to new assignments and opportunities. You never know, you just might enjoy them!
Q: What do you like to do for fun in your spare time?
International Traveling, Real Estate Investing
Listen on:
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