This week I met with the panel of awesome people I’m going to be part of at the Ballarat Jobs and Training Expo next month. The working title for the panel is Breaking Barriers: Women Redefining Careers in Trades, STEM and Design and I’m excited to be part of it. At first I thought my inclusion was because my buddies were organising it and spied an opportunity to get me some stage time (thanks ladies xox). On deeper reflection I’ve also realised that I have STEM in my job title which makes me a pretty good candidate to talk to the 300+ Year 10 students about having a career in STEM, especially an unconventional one.
Being a STEM educator was NEVER something I considered I would be when I was 15. When I was 15, I barely scraped through any of my ‘STEM’ related classes. The closest I got was having to sit in a Chemistry class because I could have no more unsupervised free periods. I was a pretty terrible student. I showed up but I drifted off when I didn’t understand something rather than focusing my attention on the task at hand or at least asking for help. Unfortunately Frank has also inherited this trait which is something we’re working on with tools that weren’t available when I was a young person.
I left high school with just enough grades for entry into Massey University in Wellington to do a Bachelor of Design, a degree I’d chosen only because a kind art teacher thought I’d make a good designer. Her passing comment turned into a 22 year graphic design career I still enjoy today. Much like high school, I barely scraped through university, the only difference being that I was now studying things I was actually interested in. Unfortunately, interest alone wasn’t enough to make me a great student and I finished my four year degree with solid C+. C’s get degrees…
I moved to Melbourne the day I finished my degree with my boyfriend who wanted to be in a band with his brother who lived there. I had nothing else to do so was like ‘sure, let's move to Melbourne’. I don’t even remember how I told my parents. It felt like a no-brainer at the time but as a parent now I hope my kids are more compassionate when making big life decisions like moving overseas indefinitely.
When I arrived in Melbourne it took me 6 months to get a design related job because I didn’t know the right software. In NZ we had one computer class a semester where we used Freehand. As an entry level designer I was going to need to know Indesign and be a computer workhorse which had me regretting my four year degree and accompanying student loan as soon as I’d achieved it. Thankfully now Universities, Polytechnics and TAFEs focus on industry placements while studying which helps to bridge that gap between theory and practice.
I ended up working at RJ’s Sandwich Bar in Melbourne Central train station making chicken schnitzel rolls for months whilst getting constant rejection from one recruitment agency after the other. Everyone told me I needed Indesign before they could put me forward for any roles. It was a pretty demoralising time for a 23 year old. On the brink of giving up I got a call back from Oxford University Press after I’d applied to be a receptionist position months earlier. They had an opening as a desk top operator.
I jumped at the opportunity and this time neglected to mention that I didn’t know Indesign. As luck would have it, they had two days of Indesign training the week I arrived so they never needed to know. OUP was very corporate. I was asked by the CEO to take my nose piercing out and professional attire was a must. I lasted for 12 months before I got another job in educational publishing as an export designer - converting Australian primary school books for the international market.
All of these corporate environments really weren’t my jam. Especially during my 20’s when I was living for the weekend rather than trying to progress my career in any meaningful way. Work was a means to an end / party. I was always rebelling against the system (managers on top of managers) and got frustrated at the lack of agility. After 5 years I had enough private clients to go freelance - well just - my freelance work was heavily subsidised by contracts designing primary school books from the company I’d just left.
Working for yourself is fun - at first. I loved the freedom of working when it suited me but I also worked ALOT when I had projects due - it was all consuming sometimes but I still enjoyed it. When Matt quit working for the family business and we decided to start a prefab building company things changed up again. My income was still coming from design work but now we had factory and babies to look after.
Going from a solo trader to an advanced manufacturing business owner is quite the leap. Throw in raising a family and a pandemic then you’ve really got a lot on your plate. It took me years to figure out my role in all this. For a long time I thought my value lay in contributing from behind the screen. Making websites and managing social media. Turns out my super power was connecting and communicating with others.
This realisation wasn’t quick and didn’t happen in isolation. It was built up over time and with people I met encouraging and mentoring me. By the time we closed HUCX I was walking into any and all rooms on a mission to inspire and encourage others to believe in us. This wasn’t in vain. It was building a set of skills that I know energetically share with the young people I get to work with at the Ballarat Tech School.
My job now is to inspire and encourage the next generation of young people to consider a career in STEM. As a ‘STEM educator’ you could be fooled into believing that I have some kind of formal training in the area but the reality is that it’s all lived experience. I’m a STEM educator because I’m a good communicator. It doesn’t matter how incredibly smart or switched on you are academically, if you can’t introduce yourself to a future employer or work well in a team environment you’re going to find it very hard to get any job, let alone one in STEM.
I hope that the students leave the auditorium feeling empowered by the knowledge that you don’t have to be a mad mathematician to have a meaningful career in STEM. We need creative thinkers and problem solvers at all levels to be part of the STEM ecosystem. My contribution now is encouraging young people to believe in themselves. You don’t have to be the top performing student in the class to have a meaningful career in STEM. You need to be curious and open to opportunities. There is room for all of us!
