(upbeat music)
- I graduated 10 years ago.
I've since worked in software
development, testing,
business analysis, project management,
and now I have a role as
a chief operating officer
within the organisation.
- We did a cross test
at Lombard University
and we tried mechanic,
electrical, chemical.
Out of all the three I think chemical
just flew out of the window for me.
I was like, yeah, that's the world for me.
- I wanted to be discovering new things.
I wanted to be creative.
I was, actually as you said,
I wanted to be creative.
I wanted to have those options available,
different things to try and
different areas to go into.
That's kind of why I went in for science.
- There's always the opportunities
to sort of find something that will suit
what you're interested in and
what you're passionate about.
That sort of happened again
after I worked as an engineer.
I thought actually I'd quite like to see
what a more people-interactive
job might be,
maybe something like the law.
I found indeed, there is something
that can mix those two together.
- I was always the trouble-maker.
That's not because I was naughty,
it's because I always asked why in class.
If they would tell me
something, I would go,
"But why does that work?
"How does that make sense?"
I wouldn't accept any answer they gave me
so in year 10, they sent
me to summer school.
And it was an engineering
summer school at Material.
In this summer school, it's
a week long where you got
to try out the different
types of engineering modals.
That I think is what ignited
my love for engineering
because before that,
I wasn't really sure what engineering was.
- I would just say that
being on the back on America,
we really need reinforcement
in terms of girls.
I've been working here for eight years
and I'm the only girl in the team
and I have always been
the only girl in the team
(all laugh)
in the last eight years.
Please join any STEM subject.
- Point to the applied stuff
so then I go to the computer,
did my degree and applied
and then joined finance.
- And then I realised, hold on a minute.
I set up my own business,
I've got quite a bit of money,
I understand work ethic, what am I missing
other than just having the exams?
So I went out and I knocked on a few doors
and I wrote to universities saying,
"I've got personal motive for doing law.
"Why didn't you take me.
"Tell me to my face what I don't have."
And actually it worked.
Things don't always go the way you planned
but there are always ways
and means to do something
if you really really want to.
- I go to work, I come up,
I understand the market.
I understand my customers.
I think of what is gonna
solve their problem.
I go to work and I pitch it to my team.
They say, "Yes, okay let's do it."
We write it out, we
design it, we build it,
then we release and market it.
It's a really fun career
and you would never think
that it's a technology thing, but it is.
That's why I think engineering rocks.
(people clap)
- All the cakes have gone,
all the goody bags have gone.
Everybody is leaving with
a smile on their face.
I take that to be a good sign.
I just wanna say thank you
to all our lovely volunteers,
all our panellists for giving
up their time on a Saturday,
all the girls and their
parents for coming along,
and of course Stemettes team, yourselves,
particular Anne-Marie
who always makes it a really fun event.
I'm very proud at Bamle to
be a partner with Stemettes
and we look forward to
hosting many more events
with you in the future.
