What I Do I am the President of a small company, Moselco Inc. We have several businesses. One is an online and local retail store called Paradise Robotics. We also do engineering consultation. As a small business, we wear a lot of "hats". My role is all sales, marketing, procurement, web site management, setting policies, procedures and approving computer systems for Paradise Robotics. I am also responsible for business development and the engineering consultation tasks for Moselco Inc.
Why Engineering? I knew I wanted to go to college, but I was unsure what to major in. I considered many careers and researched starting salaries, course curricula at various Universities and considered what the work would be like for each one. I narrowed it down to either Business or Engineering. Business was very interesting to me, but the starting salary was very low. Engineering seemed very scary because of the amount of math and science required. I really liked and did well in science, but I was struggling in math. During my Senior year of High School, I learned something about myself. I actually was very good in math. I understood the concepts very well. However, I was making a lot of small mistakes, like addition errors and forgetting a minus sign here and there. Once I realized this, my fear of the Engineering curriculum diminished. I decided to major in Electrical Engineering and thought that if I did not succeed, I would simply change my major to Business. It turned out that I was a top student in my class and graduated with High Honors. One reason I became successful at my coursework is that I decided to make obtaining good grades my top priority. I studied until I understood the material and performed lots and lots of practice problems. It made all the difference.
School Days Auburn University: Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Northwestern University: Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
My Day At Work I worked as an Electrical Engineer and Engineering Manager for over 20 years before starting my own company. My first job was as a co-op student at Auburn University and as an intern at Zenith Electronics Corporation. I learned a lot working in industry and had a few jobs designing circuits. My first job out of school was at Zenith. I worked on circuits for color TVs. Then I worked at Siemens Medical Systems. I designed circuit boards for medical imaging systems. My career then took me to Motorola. I worked in the research department for 9 years as a hardware engineer and eventually as an engineering team leader. My hands on engineering work included designing printed circuit boards as well as designing integrated circuits. I moved out of hands-on engineering work into an engineering management role. In this new role, I led engineering teams by defining team roles, tasks and assignments. My role also included ensuring tasks were completed on time. I worked with cross-functional teams and obtained visible roles in Advance Technology organizations (i.e. defining the future technology direction). Part of this work included starting and participating in industry standards.
Best Part Inventing and creating are the best things about engineering. Creating something from nothing and then seeing it actually work is the best feeling!
Proud Moments There are two accomplishments I am most proud of. The first is being instrumental in moving technology from the Motorola Research Lab into an actual product. I did this for Motorola's first cellular phone that had videophone capability. I did not know it at the time, but it was my first job doing sales work. Success was driven by my passion for the technology. I have carried that through to my current sales work. The second accomplishment I am most proud of is that I influenced entire organizations within Motorola and companies outside of Motorola to work together to form an industry standard called OpenMax and then utilize it. It enables multimedia software to move more easily between different companies' hardware, reducing each company's software development costs. I did not realize it at the time, but this was my second job doing sales work.
Challenges One challenge I conquered was overcoming fear. As a young engineer, I lacked confidence. Over time, and because I was **really** interested in and passionate about learning new things, I overcame fear by reading, studying and thinking through various problems and designs. At times, it was as simple as talking to colleagues and then putting two and two together. Other times, I figured it out on my own. The times I learned it on my own were more rewarding (and more respectful of my colleagues' time!). Gaining the knowledge made me more confident in meetings and while working on my assignments. Eventually, I mastered my specialties and it became time to move into a leadership role.
My Family I am married with two teenagers and a pet cat. My daughter plays volleyball on a national team and my son likes art and music.
Dreams and Goals My short term goal is to streamline my online retail business to facilitate faster growth. My long term goal is to continue to grow my retail and consultation businesses and possibly start additional businesses for more revenue streams.
Want to be an Engineer? Go for it! But I won't sugar-coat the work involved. Many girls look at engineering as "too hard". It's not too hard. It just takes more time, dedication and perseverance to learn what you need to know vs. an "easier" career. The rewards are well worth it. Jobs are plentiful and the pay is **way** higher than an easier path. You'll have to work just as hard in the end, so why not go for the higher salary? Plus, I did it without the internet; you will have such an easier go of it. What a difference it would have been to have Google as a resource! I am sure I could have achieved much more if the internet was available at the time I went through school and in the early part of my career.
Additional Thoughts Many girls look at engineering as "too hard". It's not too hard. It just takes more time, dedication and perseverance to learn what you need to know vs. an "easier" career.
Hobbies I play volleyball 3x per week and I attend an art class once a week. I have been incorporating electronics into my art lately. Here is my art page: http://www.facebook.com/TheRobotLady