What advice would you give to young women aspiring to careers in sustainability ?
Nina Eisenman Do it ! It ’ s the best place to be . Think about the facet of it that you want to come in from . There ’ s so many different opportunities for young people – do a lot of networking and take advantage of any kind of mentorship and sponsorship opportunities that your company offers .
Kristen Siemen I don ’ t think it matters what career you ’ ve gone into – it ’ s all about what you can learn , who you can network with and doing everything you can do to get to that next step . You can always do more than you think you can do .
Having the aspiration to change things – whether it be a process or a technology or the world , whatever you are passionate about – you ’ re going to be your best at . I would say two things :
• Advocate for yourself : I do think that in general women are much poorer at this than they should be
• Communication : I hear a lot of women saying ‘ I ’ m sorry ’. It ’ s like a caveat to almost everything . I use it as a very tangible example because it ’ s real and it diminishes credibility . When I do mentoring I start with asking ‘ How are you articulating yourself ? How do you present yourself in conversations ?’
DO IT ! IT ’ S THE BEST PLACE TO BE . THINK ABOUT THE FACET OF IT THAT YOU WANT TO COME IN FROM
If you ’ re starting with , ‘ Oh , sorry ’, or ‘ Oh , I didn ’ t mean to ’, these types of caveats immediately diminish everything that you ’ re going to say next .
Jennifer Motles My advice is to be kind and help others . If you ’ re kind it can go a long way . It ’ s about not just thinking about yourself . There is a lot of privilege and responsibility when you have the honour to represent a company and build a strategy . There are a lot of people that are dependent on you and there are a lot of people that you can impact in a very tangible way .
112 January 2025