Emily Friedman

Senior Editor - Recycled Plastics

ICIS

Emily has a bachelor's degree in Materials Science and Engineering and started her career as a corrosion engineer in the petrochemical industry at ExxonMobil. Throughout her career, she has obtained experience in additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry and polymers research and manufacturing in the automotive and adhesives industries. Emily transitioned to ICIS to pursue her love of sustainability with a career in recycled plastics reporting, primarily focusing on the circular economy of plastics. Emily chose engineering as her major because of her parents - her father is electrical engineer and her mother was a working mom who also has a successful career. Growing up, she always exceled with math and that led her to a career in the STEM field. She stated that there was a large learning curve when she jumped into a journalistic-focused career even though she had the technical background to assist with her responsibilities.

Sustainability was an important topic during this interview, and Emily defined sustainability as doing good for our planet and nurturing a world that is the best it can be for future generations. Her passion for sustainability stems from her family and her childhood because she was raised with the mindset to always give to others and take care of others. Even though sustainability has been a buzzword for a few years now, she wants to see the industry continue to work on this issue and share progress, despite headwinds from other current events. Emily believes that one of the most impactful topics that the chemical industry can contribute to is greenhouse gas emissions and carbon accounting.

During our interview, we also learned about Emily's passion for mentorship and her past experiences with mentorship. She shared that she sometimes struggled with finding a mentor and advised the community that it is important to use your connections to help you find a mentor because a great mentor might only be one degree outside of your network. She found that her most beneficial mentorship relationships were two-way relationships that focused on sharing resources with one another. We wrapped up the interview with book and podcast suggestions from Emily. Emily suggested a book titled Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans and a podcast, RadioLab.

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