Champion For Girls

Posted on by Charli Matthews
Champion for girls photo

Today was a great day!

I don’t know if it is just me or if others experience this as well, but when I am about to hit a breakthrough it seems that it instantly starts to fall apart around me.  I think it’s a test, a test to see if I will just give up or actually push through to get there… You feel me? All too often however I let self-doubt and workplace frustrations creep in to my thoughts, so much so that recently I couldn’t even make a simple trip to the post office without making wrong turns…This was my morning… Thankfully, I had a Women’s Leadership luncheon planned.  Not at my best, but I thought at least I can sit and listen to the speaker on “Why Mentors Matter”, which has always been a big interest of mine.

Little did I know the treat that I would receive! First, the tables were set up with the non-sponsors in the back (now y’all know I typically never sit in the back) but I knew exactly where to sit. The ladies at my table were amazing and I instantly could tell they were driven leaders in their field! I met several ladies in finance, a grant coordinator, a marketer, and Emily Baker. Emily, who is currently working at B.F.Goodrich in Supply Chain, had a spark and excitement about her!  As you can probably guess I was drawn to her almost instantly.  When I ask her about her background and she explained she graduated as a mechanical engineer…. I am not sure I heard what was after… I was jumping up and down inside… A LADY ENGINEER!  I was so excited!  If she had been sitting right next to me I am not sure I would’ve been able to stop the endless questions I wanted to ask her!  I got her number and knew I would talk with her later… This connection was just meant to be!

As the speaker, Connie Hill, PHD and CEO of Girls Inc. of Central Alabama was introduced, I wondered what was Girls Inc.  As she spoke about her previous careers and mentors, I was really touched by her early work with the Alliance to End Homelessness and Domestic Abuse. She spoke about mentoring as a duty that we have to build a better future.  Then, she explained to group, her mission to raise awareness for Girl, Inc.!  This is the good part!

“Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold”

That one line was enough for me to want to support the organization, but then I heard more… At age 6 (my daughter’s age), girls start thinking they aren’t as smart as boys.  That stat is NOT ok with me. I immediately thought… how can we fix that?  She went on to say that Girls Inc. empowers girls to succeed by helping develop the skills and confidence they need to achieve at their highest level. They help girls reach their fullest potential by providing gender-specific, age-appropriate programming that teaches life skills and promotes healthy life choices.  They TEACH! This was the biggest takeaway for me.  As I plan to develop a Women’s program in our industry, I have been asking myself, what do we want to talk about? This was also a topic at our lunch table and I think we found the answer we needed. It’s about teaching the actual skills for the job!  It doesn’t matter the mentor or the mentee.  At the end of the day, they should both leave the session with an ‘I CAN do it’ attitude and the skills to accomplish it!

As a woman in a male dominated industry, I am excited about the opportunity to create this type of peer group for the ladies I know in engineering, marketing, and management!

Speaking of engineering, this is really what made my day… Connie explained they focus on areas where women are not. “Girls Inc.’s core areas of programming include: science, math, technology, career development, economic literacy, English & creative writing, healthy living, arts, sports and cultural enrichment.”

So for me I met a present day engineer working in a male-dominated industry and the woman who is the CEO of an organization that is focused on building the future for WOMEN engineers, scientists, and basketball players, to name but a few, in Alabama!

Stay tuned because you will be definitely be hearing more and more about this organization as I take the next step of finding out how I can be more involved. For now, make sure you check out how to be a #ChampionForGirls on their website: http://www.girlsinccentral-al.org/

 

What is Your WHY?

Posted on by Charli Matthews
Image of child dreaming

I just watched Collateral Beauty, starring some of my favorite actors Will Smith and Kate Winslet. It was one of the most emotional films I have watched in a while, but the opening scene was as if it had been picked straight out of my head.  So much so that I felt I just had to share it with you – warning mini spoiler alert!

It begins with Will being introduced as a legend in the product marketing arena … he comes in and says: 

“What is your why? Why are you here? I know it is because I would fire you if you weren’t, but really… why.. What is your WHY? We certainly aren’t here to sales s**t. We are here to CONNECT.

Life is about people. Advertising is about explaining how our products and services will IMPROVE peoples lives!”  My soul cheers…

He goes on to say we are connected by Love, Time, and Death.  We all long for love, we all wish we had more time, and we all fear death.  These are the things that connect us. 

I won’t go into these three in case you would like to watch the movie, but I felt it was related our business.

Love… You must love the industry you are in, the people you work with, AND have passion about what you do in order to love the products you create and the service you offer.  At the core of what we do everyday should be a love or passion for doing it.  So what is your love/purpose? 

Time… past, present, and future… We should learn from the past, embrace the present, and look to build a better future.  This makes me think about our past innovators, our current workforce, and the passing of knowledge to our future generations.  This… maybe our biggest challenge!

Death… Look your fear straight in the eye and walk toward it… practicing this will only build your confidence and abilities.  We often fear the things that we don’t understand.. Get in there… understand what is happening… the fear will fade and you will grow as a person.  When one dream dies… another on is created… DreamOn… adapt… change… improve…. Grow!  

What is your WHY?

I’m not an Engineer… but a Girl can Dream!

Posted on by Charli Matthews
Photo of Charli K. Matthews

Engineering wasn’t something that was even mentioned as an option when I was deciding what career path I should follow.  Now… I am surrounded by engineers each and every day and I find myself wondering… Could I have been an Engineer?

I graduated from the University of Alabama with what I thought was the hardest major I could have chosen – FINANCE. The classes I really loved were Economics, Risk Management, and GBA490 (Strategic Management). So, it’s not that I was given the option of becoming and engineer and thought – oh that’s too hard, or that’s not for me…  I just don’t think it even came up.. and Math and Science were my best subjects.

So.. This is something I want to help change! As you know I have two boys and a girl, and I talk to them on a regular basis about engineering, pumps, and making a 100 (meaning always ‘do your best’). But, is that enough?… Is it enough for us to only talk to and educate our own children? The more engineers I meet, the more I feel a sense of responsibility to spread the word about these amazing people, and the outstanding opportunities the engineering field offers to my community and network. I started Pump Person of the week 3 years ago to help showcase technical leaders, such as engineers, in the pump community – so I guess even then my need to do more was strong.

This week I went to my kid’s elementary school and lead a day of introducing children to engineering. It was one of my all-time favorite experiences!  I learned so much, had a LOT of fun, and I of course gained more respect for our amazing teachers!

I started the presentation with who I was and that I worked for a digital media company that, as part of its mission, connected engineers and helped inform and educate them about products and resources that could be used to improve their systems… And like Pumps… Engineering is everywhere and vital to life! Then we watched this really cool video: https://youtu.be/FAJGx3zP-Eo

I loved watching the kids in the class light up as the video talked about all the cool things engineers do. Its message is clear; engineer’s touch every part of our lives and without them progress would stop…wow! I think this is something we should be constantly reminded about.

After the video, I asked the question, Can you see yourself as an engineer?  I let them know that we were all going to be engineers in training and start a project to build boats out of aluminum foil. The engineering design process was on the wall in the classroom which was excellent! So, I learned that it is:

Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Communicate, Improve

And then I let them work together in teams… The best was watching the girls team win especially after the boys saying “oh that’s the girl table”.  I was so proud of them… It happened several times.  I had to hold back the words #BeThatEngineer GIRLS!  But their work spoke for itself… Plus they were able to then stand in the front of the class and communicate how they built their design and what other should do to improve theirs… I was so proud. I especially like the girl on my son’s team who told him it was her design that won.

I think it is important that we introduce our children to engineering and these possibilities it offers, otherwise, they just won’t know!

So I have a goal to promote the engineers I know and the engineering community while encouraging the little ones I know to DreamBIG! And I encourage you to do the same; y’all could start by showing your kids the engineering video and then building the aluminum boat project***. I guarantee you’ll have fun watching your children problem solve, but you also may just ignite the spark that creates another fabulous engineer that will help change the world and keep progress moving forward.

***Aluminum Penny Boat Project

In this easy science experiment you will be designing a tin foil boat that will hold the greatest number of pennies. Get your kids together with some friends and have a contest to see who can design a cargo boat that will hold the most pennies.

http://www.kids-fun-science.com/easy-science-experiment.html

More activities here: http://www.discovere.org/our-activities

Inspire an Engineer… They Create the Future!

Posted on by Charli Matthews

Inspire an Engineer

Yay, it’s finally Engineering Week! I have been looking forward to this all year!  I am planning to visit my children’s school and present “What is engineering?” and do a design/build project to show that being an engineer is a blast!

Did you know that The National Society of Professional Engineers founded Eweek in 1951 to ensure a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce!? “Today, EWeek is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. Dedicated to raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life, EWeek promotes recognition among parents, teachers, and students of the importance of a technical education and a high level of math, science, and technology literacy, and motivates youth, to pursue engineering careers in order to provide a diverse and vigorous engineering workforce.” You can learn more here: https://www.nspe.org/resources/partners-and-state-societies/national-engineers-week

The sad truth is we just don’t have enough students planning to be engineers!  I encourage my family (two boys and a girl) to study engineering and I’m hopeful they will one day post #ILookLikeAnEngineer!   I have talked about how engineering is really cool and fun and that engineers work in all industry! Opportunities are vast, the work is rewarding, and you can really make a difference in people’s lives!

This year I have signed up to be a #GirlDay role model! Karli and I have already built our Foil Boat since I will be in Chicago on the 23rd, which is the official #GirlDay. If you were wondering, this topic is very close to my heart, and I do have real concerns about pushing my daughter to be an engineer, especially when I read the stories about women who graduate in engineering but then don’t join the engineering workforce.  They are instead being offered secretarial or administrative type projects instead of “real” engineering.  This is not something I want to still be an obstacle when my daughter graduates!

So, Managers, Leaders, People… this has to be addressed, lets get involved, this link will give you some additional information on how: http://www.discovere.org/our-programs/girl-day

Let’s be honest, this problem is not just in the engineering field… I have experienced this in my own career. This is why it is so important to have a peer group to talk to, we need to share our stories and teach others based on our experiences because unfortunately we have a tendency to judge instead of encouraging one another.  I am looking for a network of women that want to build up ladies and help them know when to speak up, when to ignore, when to negotiate, when not to, and above all.. encourage other ladies they can be #WomeninIndustry!

It is easy to look around our daily lives and see where we are treated differently, but I say embrace our differences… We are women, we are smart, we are attractive, AND we can build a rocket too!  Just ask those ladies in the Hidden Figures movie!  We CAN change the way a girl is treated in the workforce! For #GIRLDAY2017, I will be encouraging my little dancing princess to also be an engineer… and that she can wear a dress and heels to work, if she wants!

This is a great article and well worth taking the time to read: https://goo.gl/1GRwCe Check it out and the hashtags within this post.  They are sure to inspire you! Also, Don’t forget to go and watch DreamBig with your family and friends!