Christine Grybos

Director Product Management, General Chemicals

Brenntag

Please meet this week's WOTW, Christine Grybos! Not only does Christine have a flourishing career with Brenntag, but she is also Women in Chemical's Mentorship Chair, and she is incredibly passionate about building the Mentorship program for the industry. Christine believes she "fell" into the industry and admits that she did not know much about chemicals when she started in the industry in a sales role. Part of her mission is to bring women into the industry in an intentional way by providing an appropriate support system. Christine has been with Brenntag for most of her career, and two years ago, she made the transition from sales to product management. Since moving into product management, Christine has experienced a lot of challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic and the "big freeze" that greatly impacted the industry but shared that she wishes she would have stepped outside of her comfort zone and made a move sooner. Brenntag is a large, global company, and Christine believes this, along with the culture of Brenntag, are some of the benefits that have contributed to her length of tenure with Brenntag. She has experienced many different opportunities in the company due to its size, but also stated that a challenge of staying in the same organization for so long is the ability to expose yourself to new ideas and ways of business. This motivates Christine to think outside of the box to ensure she continues to contribute to the business.

This interview was packed with valuable advice, especially around the topic of self-advocacy. Christine's clear and firm advice is "you just need to do it." She stated that you cannot assume people know what you want and you cannot assume that others will advocate for you to help further your career. She followed up with additional advice about ensuring you are always prepared with not only your perspective, but your company's perspective as well, ensuring you are prepared for the "no," and lastly, ensuring you are prepared for the "yes."

Towards the end of the interview, we asked Christine how she thinks the industry has changed since she started, and she responded with how she now sees many women in leadership roles, more than ever before, and this is a source of motivation for her. She believes that if we want to continue to grow the industry and talent within the industry, it will be incredibly important to have many women who want to be mentors in the upcoming program with Women in Chemicals. The goal is for women to not "fall" into the industry, but rather for it to be completely intentional, and providing a support system and the right opportunity for women is the best way to start. Lastly, when asked about final advice, Christine told the Women in Chemicals network to step outside of your comfort zone and listen to Bhavana Bartholf and her Ted Talk called The Secret to Self-Advocacy.

This episode was sponsored by: