What I Do Currently, I am working as an intern at Dow Chemical in Texas. Essentially my primary responsibilities include real-time process optimization, troubleshooting, and improvement of a continuous plant production. Here at Dow Chemical my units end product is Methacrylate. Methacrylate can be used in Acrylic Polymers, Constructions, Plastic additives, electronic displays, coatings, floor polish finishes, and lubricant oil additives
Why Engineering? Starting off I honestly chose Engineering because I did not know what field I wanted to be in and all of my hobbies didnt seem to fit into an actual major that could make me financially stable after graduation.
School Days I currently attend Prairie View A&M University. PVAMU is an HBCU (Historically Black College/University)
My Day At Work As an engineer, you can choose which hours you would like to work. I choose to work 9/80. Which is 9 hours a day and I get every other Friday off.When I come into work I normally like to check my emails before meetings start. I also like to check plant production when I get into the office.I have a daily meeting at 8:30 where I meet with operators, technical fellows, manager, and engineers and we go over any updates of the plant. After that meeting, I get with operators to make sure my unit is running properly. Our plant is the largest producer of our MMA in the world, with a total capacity of over 740 million pounds per year.
Best Part The best part about engineering is you dont sit at your desk all day. I also like that you are constantly thinking outside of the box. The main goal of engineering is always improving and making a difference. The bigger picture is Engineers get to change the world around us
Challenges Challenges I faced while in school were learning to balance my private life and studying. As an engineer, YOU HAVE TO STUDY or you will not do well or youll be a C student. Which is not good when you get into your sophomore and junior of college and want to start applying for internships. Another challenge is working in the industry and always being the youngest minority at work. You stick out like a sore thumb and everyone knows you are new so you automatically are watched. The good thing about that is it pushes you to challenge yourself at work everyday.
My Family My mom is a counselor and my dad is a SR Reliability Engineer. I have an older sister named Christie she graduated with her degree in Biology and now she's an entrepreneur. My mom received her masters from Dallas Baptist. My mom, sister, and dad all received there undergrad degree from Prairie View A&M! (Where I study engineering now) My grandma is a inorganic chemistry professor at Shaw University in North Carolina. She received her undergrad from Tuskegee University and her Doctorate from Cornell University. My aunt is a computer software engineer and received her MBA from Wharton School of Business.
Dreams and Goals My short terms goals are Graduating Spring 2019,Start my own business,invest,Debut my acting career and be a blessing to someone everyday. My long term goals are Become a millionaire, get married and have a family, design a shoe for Nike, and use my chemical engineering degree and presence to bridge the gap between intelligence and allure. A really big dream of mine is to become CEO of NIKE and be on the big screen (movies).
Want to be an Engineer? For anyone considering becoming an engineer, I would definitely say go for it if it is something you really want to do. There is a lot of opportunity and money out there waiting for you in the engineering field. Dont ever limit yourself. The industry needs more confident women in STEM. I would also say work on your study habits early because grades are everything when applying for internships and scholarships. Around your junior year, it gets harder to increase your GPA if you already started your freshman and sophomore year off poorly. So start early with making good grades! I would also say dont EVER EVER EVER be afraid EVER and always have confidence in yourself. Ask as many questions as you can and always think outside the box! Surround yourself with other thinkers, creators, and engineers. Also, learn to make time for yourself .You only get one body so take care of it. If youre not getting enough sleep or not eating healthy its really hard for your body to develop good energy to boost your thinking skills.
Hobbies Outside of engineering, I like to model! I also enjoy traveling, listening to Trap music ^_^ & old school r&b/jazz, hiking, hot yoga, shopping, collecting Cosmopolitan magazines and reading self-improvement books. I started school on an piano scholarship so I am looking to make more time for practicing the piano!
Additional Thoughts Any questions at all I am here to help! Good luck to all of you ladies you were born to do great!