update: do I have to share my story on a “women in industry” panel?

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer asking whether she had to share her story on a “women in industry” panel? Here’s the update.

So … I ended up doing the panel. I talked to multiple trusted women at work and outside of work, who almost always encouraged me to do it, even if just for the experience and to showcase myself. For what it’s worth (now that the panel is over), I work in the construction industry as a superintendent. My job is to organize the logistics, schedule, trades, safety, handle crisis management, and quality control of an entire 50+million dollar project. It is a role that is not popular compared to management, and comes with long hours and lots of dirt. I love it!

Thankfully, during the practice for the panel, the leaders realized they had too many people with too many questions, so I was assigned to answer only three of the nearly 20 questions they wanted to ask. I was able to answer my assigned questions by keeping to the facts and using points that would be beneficial to most people, not just women, which is what I was comfortable with.

According to my project team and close coworkers, I rocked the panel and looked cool and confident. According to my smart watch and heartbeat, I had consumed a gallon of caffeine and was being chased by a werewolf for an hour. For the entire virtual panel, I had to sit on my hands to prevent them from shaking. Clearly panels about my experience are not my forte.

In other news, I got much more involved in our intern program this summer (I myself being a previous intern) and determined that I am much more comfortable teaching than sharing my personal story. I taught a few different classes to the interns, and I am proud to say I was voted “Best Mentor” this summer. I’m ready to help grow the next generation of industry leaders, and if there are any women (or men) who are interested in my role, they are more than welcome to ask me questions directly.

The future me may say otherwise, but present me says she will decline any future panel requests.

If you want to include them, these are very basic summaries of the questions I ended up answering…

• What are key strategies you use that make you successful? (Generally, be self-aware of your own struggles and find ways to mitigate them. I don’t trust my brain to be perfect so I set myself up for success. I set alarms for meetings because I get sidetracked, and always keep a big note pad with me because I field questions and solve problems all day.)
• How has a relationship with a mentor impacted your career? (I spoke about a teacher who taught me about this industry and encouraged me to get a related college degree!)
• What do you wish the industry as a whole could do better for women? (I wish the industry had as much variety in gear for women as there are men. I have to get harnesses, vests, and gloves special ordered because women’s XS isn’t kept in stock. I will say, it’s interesting that within the week of the panel there were more sizes available on our internal ordering site!)

I know people may have problems with how I answered these, but my answers won’t be applicable or helpful to everyone because they are about me and my experiences, and it is what I was comfortable sharing in a large group.

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