Name: Erin Sawyer
Job / Title: Sr. Purchasing Manager of Core Technologies
Company: Tesla Motors
Industry: Automotive, High-Tech, Clean-Tech

Q: What have been the hallmarks of your success?

Erin: One of the hallmarks of success in my roles is frequent feedback.  I believe that being a good people manager is giving and receiving frequent feedback among your team so that you are all on the same page with priorities, responsibilities, opportunities for improvement and celebrating wins.  It’s super important to have frequent, real-time dialogue with your team and your boss, so that you know what’s working well, and what to refine.

Q: If you can share one piece of advice that you know now about navigating your career, what would that be?

Erin: My one piece of advice is to own your career.  You need to take ownership of the direction you want your career path to go.  Do not be afraid to ask for more responsibility, ask for a promotion, take on new roles, change companies, relocate, etc.  It’s up to you to be your own advocate and be proactive about what you want.

Q: What is the challenge that you are most proud of overcoming?  Explain.

Erin: Hands down, I’m most proud being a woman engineer.  As a mechanical engineer, and working in Automotive and Tech industries, I’ve always been one of very few women in the workplace.  Establishing credibility among both my technical and non-technical colleagues, both as an engineer and leader, has been key to my success.  I’m immensely proud of serving as a positive role model to the more junior women in my organization of what a woman engineer and leader looks like.

Q: What’s the best career advice you’ve ever gotten?  Explain what and why it was so good.

Erin: When I joined Tesla, my boss and mentor told me “welcome to the revolution!”.  His advice was that no matter how large or small of an organization you work in, you should not be afraid to change things for the better.  If the team structure, processes, or ways of working aren’t optimal– then don’t be afraid to change them.  This piece of advice really empowered me to take ownership of the organization and create a future-state that I wanted to be a part of.

Q: How do you approach someone who you may want as a mentor?

Erin: Some mentor / mentee relationships are natural, and some only come about if you approach the person.  When I was a young professional early in my career at Honeywell, and we had a new female executive in the organization, I approached her right away to ask her to be my mentor.  As one of the few women in Honeywell’s automotive division, she served as a more senior mentor with a similar engineering background that provided me with great advice.  I’m so glad that I wasn’t shy about asking for her to be my mentor and scheduling monthly lunches!

Q: What are ways that you have balanced career, personal, and other interests?

Erin: First, you have to prioritize what’s important to you, and second, you have to set boundaries to make time for your top priorities.  For me, the time with my husband is a priority.  We decided to set aside Tuesday nights to cook dinner together – so no matter what is going on at work or with friends, we always protect that one night per week in our calendars.  My other top prioritize is my health.  I’m a firm believer that eating healthy, regular exercise, and getting enough sleep will enable me to be happier and more effective in my career, so I make time to work out at least 5 times per week.  Once you identify your top priorities, you can set boundaries – leaving the office, setting aside your cell phone, etc. – to make time for the things that are most important to you.

Q: Tell us something about yourself that is a fun fact.

Erin: This year I became a board member of the non-profit Kids’ Vision, which is an organization that works to inspire young girls to enter into STEM fields.  We created an amazing after-school program, where girls 3rd thru 6th grade visit tech companies in Silicon Valley, meet female role models working in those organizations, and do hands-on experiments to learn about how mathematics and science are applied in companies in Silicon Valley.  I believe providing positive role models of women in STEM is critical for increasing our future pipeline of women engineers and leaders.

Erin was selected for the 2015 CLUB Incubator program based on her achievements in the automotive industry and her passion for giving back to young women in STEM. Erin has been recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Generation. You can learn more about Erin’s professional interests and volunteer highlights at www.erinsawyer.com.

Name: Laraine McKinnon
Job: Advocating for American retirement readiness and security thru employer sponsored retirement savings plans
Company: BlackRock
Industry: Financial Services

 

What initially attracted you to The CLUB? What keeps you engaged?

I am a big believer in women’s leadership and using the power of an inspired network to get women to the next level. I especially like the idea of the CLUB being an “incubator of women’s leadership”, which is why I offered to build a formal Incubator program to help provide a boost for a small group of CLUB members each year. The CLUB is just starting to uncover its potential – and that keeps me engaged and excited

How do you see The CLUB evolving?

The CLUB is gaining momentum. There are so many opportunities for our members to grow – learning from the strong content of events, taking opportunity to network, participating in the mentoring programs – and to give back through providing their own leadership on CLUB initiatives. I hope people take full advantage of it.

I also see the CLUB taking a leadership position of its own – in connecting other women’s organizations, in helping redefine an inclusive workforce, in growing the pipeline of women ready for more powerful positions whether in corporations or on Boards. I hope we become the ‘go-to’ for recruiting and networking.

What role has mentorship played in your career?

I have a few mentors as well as an executive sponsor.  It took me a long time to understand how to make use of a mentor – the trick for me was asking my mentors open ended, somewhat unstructured questions. My executive sponsor changed the game for me when he provided unequivocal support.

What has surprised you about your industry?

This is less about my industry and more about corporate America more generally: I’m surprised by how challenging it is to drive real change. I think we all find this to be true even of ourselves in various ways – humans are slow to make changes even when we know the change is truly beneficial. (Think of dieting, saving money, exercising, quitting smoking, etc.)  I spend a lot of time with academics on behavioral finance, reading the literature around habits and figuring out how to methodically influence change.  This has implications for my work in helping Americans save for retirement – but also for the CLUB as we try to incent and inspire significant improvements in the number of women leading key businesses and initiatives.

If you can share one piece of advice that you know now about navigating your career, what would that be?

Women need to build an external network and become more publicly known.  Many of us keep our head down and do the very best we can at our jobs and don’t find the time to network externally, or publish, or -god forbid!- speak publicly. But we need to showcase and grow our expertise.  A strong external network gives us support, opportunities and a reality check (on our skills, leadership, achievements).

Fun Fact

I’m a sailboat racer – it’s a big part of why I moved to the Bay Area.  I met my husband Steve when we were racing against each other in a national regatta; we raced ocean or Bay nearly every weekend for 10 years and accumulated two boats along the way.  Although I don’t get much opportunity to race anymore (we have two busy girls, 7 & 8 years old) there’s hope: my 8 year old just went through Stanford University’s kids sailing program and loved it!

Laura V. Fechete, P.E.
Company: SSL
Position: Department Manager, Structural Technology
Industry: Aerospace – Satellite Design and Manufacturing

 

Q: From your perspective, what are the most important trends that will take place in the satellite industry in the next 10 years? 

Laura: We are seeing a trend away from larger and more powerful satellites to customers wanting smaller and more versatile spacecraft which can be inserted into diverse business plans. Customers want a satellite with radio and TV content, and internet and broadband content also.

 

Q: Given your position in technology and manufacturing, how has your work or work place changed in the last 5 years, and what do you foresee as changes in the next 5 – 10 years?

Laura: Satellite designs have gotten more complex, while costs and schedules have reduced due to market forces.  In my area, computer models are increasingly complex, and more upfront analysis is performed. There is a large quantity of information, from requirements to actual test data, and manufacturers building a few components are looking to large-scale production techniques such as product lifecycle and lean manufacturing principles for engineering and manufacturing.

 

Q: What tips do you have for other women just starting out in your profession?

Laura: I would steer a new engineer towards getting involved in a professional society that compliments her work interests. By volunteering for chapter positions or committees, she can gain valuable leadership experience. And make sure to let her manager know the new skills she is acquiring!

 

Q: What have been the hallmarks of your success?

Laura: I would attribute my success as an engineer and a manager to several factors. Besides fundamental skills gained through school and work experience, I happily volunteered for additional work assignments, especially those involving interaction between other groups, for continued learning. I gained leadership experience through professional societies, which improved my communication skills. I’ve worked in many different roles and organizations, each time learning something new along the way, either from the project or from the people.

 

Q: What role has mentorship played in your career?

Laura: I have very few regrets in my career, but one big regret involves mentoring. Early in my career, a VP assigned me a mentor; another manager in his area. There was no mentoring program, and I was too naïve to understand the value. When that manager left the company shortly after, I did not know enough to go back to the VP and ask for another name. Now, any young woman can read “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg and get a good education on the importance of mentoring!

 

Q: What are ways that you have balanced career, personal, and other interests?

 Laura: I have been active in professional societies during the majority of my career, and The Society of Women Engineers has been very good about bringing in women executives as speakers. Almost all mentioned that while you can ‘have it all’, you probably can’t have it all at the same time. I think on that when I have too many irons in the fire. I know I’m happier doing fewer things well, than trying to do too much with mixed results.

 

Laura fun fact: I enjoy Dragon Boat paddling, and am a member of the Bay Area Dragons. I can paddle both right or left sides of the boat!

Name: Karen Catlin
Job / Title: CEO
Company: Athentica, P.B.C.

Tell me about your recent career transition. How did that come about? 

I’ve actually had two major career transitions in the last 20 months. The first one was deciding to leave a great job as an executive at Adobe Systems. I wanted to pursue my passion of helping other women be successful in the software industry, so I became a leadership coach, speaker, and consultant. After spending my entire career up to that point in corporate jobs, I loved the flexibility of being self-employed. I spent time blogging to build up my personal brand, meeting with friends and former colleagues to promote my business, and growing my professional network. At this time, I joined The CLUB and became a member of the Programming committee; I’ve enjoyed meeting so many talented women through our events.

Coincidentally, the networking I did to build my consulting business led me to my second career transition. Earlier this year, a friend invited me to lunch to discuss a business idea he had. Over the next six months, we met every so often, and I saw his business idea morph into what it is today—a social network to help the growing population of online learners complete a curriculum of courses to develop mastery in a field. Along the way, I started seeing connections between his startup and women I met who were taking online classes to improve their technical skills. Many told me that they liked online classes because they could fit them into their busy lives, yet they didn’t think they were learning enough to apply to a real-world programming need. They knew they needed to take more classes and get more experience building software, but they struggled with next steps. As a result, I knew my friend was on to something.

In a surprising twist of events, my friend asked me to be the CEO of his company. I wasn’t looking for this kind of role, but I decided to consider it seriously. As I evaluated the opportunity and met more of his team, I became really excited. And I realized that, by joining the startup, I could help more women than I ever could as a consultant. With the support of my husband and kids, I decided to lean into my career once again. I’m now the CEO of Athentica, an early stage online learning startup. And I’m having the time of my life.

What drew you to a career in technology?

As a child, I was a good student, I enjoyed solving puzzles, and I loved making things. This last memory is especially strong. My family didn’t have much disposable income, and my parents instilled a strong sense of frugality in all that we did. We canned vegetables from our garden, made jam, hand-crafted gifts, and learned to sew and knit. I especially loved making my own clothes; not only did it save me money, it gave me a wonderful creative outlet.

When I was in high school, my dad showed me a magazine article of a young woman earning more money than I could have imagined. She was strong in math and science in high school, and she studied computer science in college. My dad suggested I could do the same, and I was definitely enticed by the potential salary. Growing up in such a frugal household, I knew I wanted to pursue a career where I’d be able to support myself.

A year later, I was accepted at Brown University and declared computer science as my major.  In hindsight, this was pretty risky—I had never even touched a computer! Fortunately, I enjoyed my classes. Just like sewing and knitting, building software met a basic need I had to make things. I found it fun, fulfilling, and frankly addictive. 

Tell me about your management style today.

As an executive and a working mom, I became a better leader because of the parenting skills I learned, and a better parent because of the leadership training I received. Not surprisingly, my leadership style is a blend of the qualities I think are important for both leaders and parents: empathetic within reason, nurturing, respectful, decisive, dependable, resilient, and calm. I put a lot of trust in the people around me and encourage them to grow their skills. Professionally, this is called “succession planning.” At home, it’s called “making sure your kids can eventually move out and support themselves!”

I see intersections of parenting and leadership on a regular basis, and I share my thoughts on my blog “Use Your Inside Voice.”  Please stop by if this sounds interesting to you.

What advice would you give to a woman looking to grow in her career while making time for her family? 

For today’s working parents, there are never enough hours in the day. We all develop coping skills to get it all done, some more extreme than others. What I’ve seen in myself and in my friends is that we’ve mastered the ability to shrink our household duties down to the bare minimum. Even if you have a partner who equally shares these duties (as recommended in “Lean In”), you can still simplify your life to have more time to focus on family and career.

Earlier this year, I shared my strategies for simplifying household responsibilities on my blog: http://karencatlin.com/2013/03/18/confessions-of-the-time-starved/. I’m always looking for more ideas. Please tell me about your strategies by leaving a comment on that blog post. Thanks!