We Are, We Are, We Are the Engineers
Often people ask what life event has most significantly changed me. The life event that has significantly impacted me has been choosing to be an engineer in a male-dominated industry where the typical worker is white. This event has made me a leader who advocates for diversity and champions visible minorities in all areas of the business.
A child of first generation Chinese immigrants, I was born into traditional Chinese values and customs based on family and balance. My mother and for generations, all females in my family worked at home. However, I was raised in North America where independence and success is often stressed.
My father, a traditional man with 4 daughters, struggled with my choice to go into engineering being an engineer himself know of the struggles of freshman week (“Frosh week”) and also about his personal struggle to leave behind his traditional family values. This cultural struggle has taught me to be respectful and sensitive to the differences between western and eastern cultures and apply my learning to all professional and social environments.
Early in my career, in the late 1990’s, I drove width-wise across Texas and length-wise across Alberta and stayed in the small rural towns in between. My racial background drew looks and being female drew sexist remarks. This experience cemented my leadership style to be intolerant towards verbal abuse. As the manager of the emergency call center for my province’s largest natural gas distributor, I implemented systemic changes that no longer tolerated abuse from customers where in some cases, the police were called when the calls escalate.
My experiences as an engineer have driven me to be an active member of women advocacy groups and served as guest speaker and mentors on industry associations such as WomenInRenewableEnergy.ca (Canada); Women in Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (wrisenergy.org — US based) and also in employee resource groups within my company targeted females in STEM.
As the strategic advisor for my company’s cross-cultural resource group, we review performance metrics that inform diversity goals leading to gender and racial parity and influence policies. As the HR Committee Lead on the board of directors for the non-profit Canadian Training Institute that I serve on, we established an inclusivity group of employees whose mission is to be part of the solution to eliminating racism, bigotry and discrimination; creating positive change, equity and inclusivity.
My experience is not uncommon, my portion is to present my voice of the strength that I drew and soften the ground so that others may follow.
