Flashback: Imagine being in the middle of the Wild West, nothing for miles except for tumble weed, barren land, and endless possibilities of black gold.
My life used to be out in the oil fields as a drilling engineer. Think Mark Wahlberg in Deep Water Horizon and that was me, albeit one of the few females out in the field. Very different experience for what I signed up for when I was in college. Here, I thought I’d be one of the boring, conventional engineers in office, drinking coffee from my Dad’s vintage “Engineers know all the angles” mug, wearing a cute outfit.
Instead, what I got was a wild ride, an experience to be fearless. To live and do. Something I didn’t know I’d yearn for. I spent years living on glorified trailers in the middle of nowhere California, drifting on offshore platforms, and coming home to chemicals galore in the refinery. Gone was cute clothing, swapped for unappealing safety coveralls and steel toe boots. Granted, I did try to accessorize with a rope belt.
For those years, I learned to listen, and listen well. And speak and be heard. I can’t say it was smooth sailing being one of the few females in a male dominated field (literally) but it grew my confidence. I emerged from my shy shell to be a problem solving, doer, thinker, and most importantly dreamer. I’m forever grateful to my first love, engineering.