Women in the Workplace Part 2

This is the second part in a two part series about women in the A/E/C workforce. You can find Part 1 here.

Anonymous woman

“What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a woman in the A/E/C industry?

The fact that the majority of companies are having a hard time with a “changing of the guard” – meaning people who have been in the industry for a very long time are in leadership positions and accustomed to “knowing what’s best” or utilizing their institutional knowledge to make decisions rather than (wisely) tapping younger, new talent who may have some different or creative ideas that could be explored. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these people in leadership positions are men and white. It results in a lack of modernization and creativity, which has an impact on company culture and attracting talent.

“What do you think the biggest opportunity is for overcoming or breaking down this barrier?

More and more companies are beginning to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as guidance when continuing a company’s growth and representation in the market. By bringing in multiple different types of voices, we can break down these barriers that exist and build stronger, meaningful and more creative solutions.

Hannah Fleck, Civil Engineer and Sustainability Lead, JQOL

“What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a woman in the A/E/C industry? 

Finding opportunities where I can grow creatively. People don’t associate engineering with creativity, but there’s a lot of artistry in site design. Creative opportunities tend to go to men by default without anyone questioning this because its seen as business as usual. Receiving credit for my work and receiving good critical feedback has also been an issue.

“What do you think the biggest opportunity is for overcoming or breaking down this barrier?

 Say the barrier were a glass ceiling then I see my own voice as a hammer. When voices work in unison around an issue they become a battering ram. Women have to show up for other women and the next generation of women in their careers. It is the only way.

Anuya Sant, International Associate, LEED AP BD+C Graduate Architect, MD Architects, P.C.

 “What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a woman in the A/E/C industry? 

 I think the biggest challenge women face in our or any industry is our inability to fully own our successes. Humility and empathy in leadership is an extremely positive attribute, but sometimes it is taken for granted. We need to own our accomplishments and the value we bring.

 “What do you think the biggest opportunity is for overcoming or breaking down this barrier?

 We now have more women in the A/E/C industry than what we had a decade ago. The sheer number is our most powerful asset to educate more girls and women together to empower and be each other’s biggest champions. We need to stand together.

Brianna Wetzel, Healthcare Project Architect at American Structurepoint

What is the biggest challenge you have faced as a woman in the A/E/C industry?

The biggest challenge I have faced as a woman in the field would be unconscious bias. Truthfully we deal with it daily at varying degrees across the entire industry. It can range from people assuming our role on a project as we walk into a meeting or on the job site to small degrading side comments that most people hardly notice as they are said in a joking manner. The inequality we constantly face tends to stem from the lack of awareness that it is happening as it has been the accept norm for years.

What do you think the biggest opportunity is for overcoming or breaking down this barrier?

Awareness and mindfulness would be the biggest help in breaking down this barrier. We all need to be aware that it is happening and our role in it. By allowing or participating in bias towards others it causes barriers to be built within the industry. We all need to be mindful of our own actions so we aren’t being a hindrance to others, and speak up when we see bias occurring to help bring awareness. Changing unconscious bias to conscious bias is the first step towards change.

Cello, I miss you.

My son went to cello practice for the first time in months last week. We have opted to have him go all virtual this year so even a little bit of social time at school felt like a blessing for both of us. This time last year we were getting excited about his coming trip to Europe with his orchestra. Needless to say the trip never happened. We eventually got some of our money back and all of the memories that would have been were dashed by the global pandemic. Our parent meeting was two days before everyone was told to go home from everything. How little prepared we were. 

Music and orchestra has held a special place in our lives since my son first picked up a cello when he was 10 years old.  I remember when the first crude notes rang through the living room. I was instantly struck by how much of my son's bright voice I could hear come through in the instrument. As I've been an audience to many a string performances over the past 8 years it never ceases to amaze the amount of emotion and voice that can be conjured by the strings and their players. Its probably the thing I miss the most about pre-pandemic life (and yoga classes in yoga studios). 

My son has continued to have lessons with his tutor through the course of the pandemic. Virtual instruction seems possible and provides a source of income for his teacher who has been hard hit by her lack of performing gigs. We were blessed to meet a phenomenal cello player and teacher who has been with us since we moved out to Indy 7 years ago. I cherished the moments when he was younger and I would drop him off for that hour on a Sunday and have a bit of quiet to myself. Sometimes when waiting I would fall asleep on the teacher's couch only to wake up to tea and a snack sitting next to me. They are good moments through and through.

I also can't fathom who my son would be if he didn't have the preforming arts in his life. Its been a place of exploration and socialization for him. He's worked hard at solos and even preformed some with an orchestra accompanying him. In the moments of his development when we seemed totally at odds with each other we both agreed that the cello was worthy of our time. As we start to see the light at the end of the high school tunnel I don't know what role it will play in his life. I just know it will be there waiting for him should he ever want to play again.

 

 

Transcendental Meditation

There seems to be invitations to meditate everywhere. At the grocery store on the magazine shelves there are shiny promises of zen and present moment bliss. I tried apps and magazines and books to try to reach the promise of stillness within. Like most people I found the idea intriguing, but I was scratching the surface without really breaking through to this oasis from stress. 

One morning I was reading the IndyStar and in one of the advice columns a reader had written in that Transcendental Meditation(TM) had helped them with their sleeping issues. I must have read it after a particularly sleepless night, because I was googling it in the next breath. 

There was a training center not far from my house and a free introductory class. I signed up without hesitation. In the intro class you learn that
TM is a form of meditation that is taught through mostly one on one instruction over the course of four days. It costs several hundred dollars depending on your income level. I had picked up some extra work earlier in the year and decided to put those earnings towards the class. 

Auspiciously, I started my first TM session on Diwali, the Festival of Lights, and I have practiced twice daily since then. Its a remarkably simple technique that requires 20 minutes in the morning and evening. TM doesn't ask you to stop thinking or empty your mind which is what people mostly associate with meditation. The TM intro course likens it to the mind being like the turbulent surface of the ocean, but once we allow it to settle down it can access the deep, still calm waters of the deep. I would say it is like holding a baby that is fighting against sleep. If you rock and pat the baby for long enough it settles into a blissful, peaceful sleep (you don't actually fall asleep in TM). 

Its funny because as I've experienced more clarity with my mind I am experiencing more clarity in my body as well. I'm eating better, I'm exercising more, I'm not perfect, but I can feel the ripples of my practice through different areas of my life including sleeping better!

This isn't a paid advertisement for TM. Its a post that maybe will turn on a light for someone like that reader who wrote into the IndyStar. If interested I can recommend the teacher I trained with here in Indy. Whatever your journey, - namaste - the light in me bows to the light in you. 

 

New Age

We were swallowed by a black hole last night. By, we, I mean all of us. We were in a flurry of conversation about Michelle Obama's plum wool coat and Bernie Sander's homespun mittens. As we chattered away we got blind sided by a black hole. It didn't care about our political affiliations or what clothes we had on. No warning, no goodbyes, just gone like the dinosaurs or the Mayans or ancient romans - buh bye.

Of course it was a dream or rather a nightmare. Odd because everyone was riding high on the inauguration. Apparently, I'm scared we are going to lose all of it. Our pageantry, our history, our ceremonies, our rites of passage. The threats to our world and our democracy are very real these days.

Yet, when beauty shows itself to the world it is a tender thing. Amanda Gorman, the young poet with skin that shines like a radiant black berry dressed in yellow and red laid at our feet the world of poem. Asking us if we are brave enough to be the light we seek.

President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement in one of his first acts as president. He has an appointed a diverse group of cabinet members including the first Native American appointee, Deb Haaland, as the secretary of the interior. Its somewhat unbelievable that in addition to never having a woman in an executive leadership role before; we've never had a person of Native American descent serve in a presidential cabinet.

In my own life and work I'm feeling drawn to the ancient wisdom of indigenous people. Perhaps the answer key to the climate crisis has been here all along. It would take 3 plus earths to support everyone living the same lifestyle as me and I'm a self proclaimed treehugger. What could change if we are brave enough to see the earth not as a commodity, but as a gift that is meant to be shared. The climate crisis feels like that black hole waiting to swallow us all whether or not we have a damn mask on. 

However, I can't lose sight of the light that creates the shadows. As Gorman eloquently puts it:

"When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid,
the new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it.
If only we're brave enough to be it."

One thing is sure a new age is here. What stories will we live to tell?

Mom's Magic Toast

When I was 22 years old I started working as school bus driver. That job had a few key benefits. The pay was enough to support me and my young son and I could bring my son to work with me. I won't forget the winters when I had to get up early and get us both bundled up and out the door before 6 am. I would carry my sleeping son in a log of blankets and somehow strap him into a car seat in the back. When we got to the bus barn I would start the bus and wait for it to warm up before depositing him still in log-blanket shape in the seat behind me. 

The driving was the fun part. It was a thrill to be the biggest vehicle on the road at the earliest hour of the morning. Of course the dealing with 50 plus children was the challenging part. I had no idea how to discipline 50 students with my back to them. I still don't! 

By the time I had made all the stops and just as I was getting close to the school my son would would wake up. He would poke his little bed head hair and chubby face from the seat behind me. The school kids would get him to parrot rap lines back at them.

Once at the school the magic bag of toast would appear. This was also apart of the morning ritual. I would toast two slices of bread with butter and hippy flakes (Braggs Nutritional Yeast) for him to eat to not get too grumpy. He would happily munch away after the other kids were off the bus.

Funny thing is he is nearly 18 and I still make Mom's Magic Toast upon request. I've updated the recipe to now include "everything but the bagel" seasoning from Trader Joe's. Its the more adult version of a very simple recipe that has gotten us through many hungry moments. 

Do you have a simple go-to magic recipe that you use on the hungry bodies in your life?

Equity in Engineering

 

 

Jarvis wants me to know that he is no Barack Obama. I’m only slightly disappointed, because in preparation for our interview I had listened to vulnerability-guru Brene Brown interview our 44th president. 2020 had also brought the words of Ibram X. Kendi to my shore and one of the points Kendi makes is that not one person is responsible for speaking for their entire race. I repeat something like this to Jarvis and it seems to put him at ease. The following is a summary of our conversation we had on December 21, 2020.
​

I asked Jarvis to begin by telling us about his company, JQOL – Quality of Life, of which I am an employee, and his role on the Purdue Lyles School of Engineering admissions task force. He started JQOL in January of 2019 and it was just himself and a computer. JQOL is one of three African American owned civil engineering firms in the State of Indiana and one of the few new engineering firms started in the last 10 years. It’s a fact that is getting him noticed in spite of being shy to declare himself a leader in our industry.

The Purdue admissions task force is working towards understanding what barriers are preventing minority students from seeking an engineering degree at Purdue and what opportunities can be created to increase those numbers. The task force met from March to November on a weekly basis to develop recommendations based from a data driven approach. Historical data from Purdue and other similar universities was used to develop preliminary recommendations.

A big barrier to pursuing an engineering education is financial support targeted towards minority students. Another one is if an applicant doesn’t meet the November 1st early decision deadline they can hurt their chances of getting admitted. Then there is the matter of standardized testing which historically African American students under perform in, but admissions and scholarships are heavily geared towards.

Jarvis, a Purdue graduate himself, credits his high school education at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School as the means in which he was able to perform at a level that gained him admission to Purdue.  Brebeuf was in sharp contrast to John Marshall middle school that he attended previously. Jarvis admitted that on his first day at Brebeuf it was a culture shock, where at John Marshall black students were the majority and at Brebeuf black students were the minority.  Jarvis’s credits his mother, Lieutenant Kimberly Young of IMPD, as the single most influential person in his life and providing the support and motivation he needed through all the tough times.

Part of the task force recommendations include expanding the criteria for admissions to weigh other factors besides test scores and grade point averages. Making room for students who might not be acclimated to the standardized test method. Other recommendations include partnerships with technical high schools that could fast track admissions for high achieving students. For those minority students that have been admitted it is important to make sure they are supported to see their dreams come to reality.

As a business owner who is black he feels he has the ability to influence direct change and opportunities that may not happened if he didn’t start JQOL. As a co-chair on the task force he personally was able to challenge the admissions committee to be accountable to their goals. True to engineering form: does their work mean anything at all if it can’t be quantified?

I asked Jarvis about what his vision is for our shared profession. He hopes that it becomes more diverse and less profit driven. One of the reasons he wanted to start his own company was to create a work place atmosphere where people could be ambitious in their careers and be comfortable in their home life. Too often designers are weighed down by deadlines and profit margins, and we don’t take time to appreciate the impact we have on the lives of other people. As Jarvis’ business model suggests, civil engineering is ever present in our lives and unnoticed until it goes awry. He hopes that his business can help change the perception of engineers as pocket protector carrying nerds. His friends even call his business “Jcool”.

When asked what keeps him motivated and inspired the answer is simple – being surrounded by people who are also learning and growing in their careers. He has been humbled by the amount of support that people have shown him in his business venture. He lives his life by the golden rule to treat others how he wants to be treated. It’s a vision that is uncomplicated yet very needed inside and outside of our industry.

Click here to learn more about the task force.

Expecting

My son got into college. I pulled the letter out of the mailbox on Christmas day. We had been up early to do Santa's presents and both had gone back to bed afterwards. I got up (again) and took the dog for his walk. I stopped by the mailbox on the way back in by habit. There it was, a big envelope from Indiana State declaring itself that it belonged on the fridge. I rushed back inside tears already streaming down my face. I shouted at my son. Another present had arrived and he should come open it!!! 

As we enter into the last semester of his senior year I can't help but be drawn back to the third trimester of my pregnancy. My body was full of baby and I could feel him flipping around like a fish in a bowl. It was a sweet time we had together. It was before I had ever said his name to him or yelled his name in frustration. 

I feel that way again. I'm expecting again. This time the delivery looks a lot different. A car trip down to Terre Haute. An unloading of stuff and things. Can he bring his computer seems to be his biggest question. 

I want to hold this moment here forever. This feeling of accomplishment when we are still attached in so many ways. What will the future bring for him? For me? This dependency we have developed on each other will shift. I started mourning this last year. This year I am planning. Planning a party. Planning the trips I will take as empty nester. Planning the visits I will make to his dorm room. I'm also praying. Praying that vaccines are distributed. Praying that the death count slows. Praying that he can go unhindered. 

 What are you planning and praying for?