Natalie started with Milliken 4 years ago, and has since had several different roles including customer service and sourcing with the company. Prior to joining Milliken, Natalie worked in community based and human services roles. Natalie studied psychology before entering the workforce. We talked a lot about Natalie's transition into the chemical industry. She shared with us that she felt a lot of the skills she strengthen while working with her communities were transferrable to her entry into Milliken which was in Customer Service. Natalie also highlighted how intentional she was about trying to learn, and how she had to network with her counterparts to learn as much as she could about the industry. She shared with us how she leaned on her mentors early on, and that she still meets with some of those mentors 4 years after entering the industry! Natalie shared that she had people in her network that were willing to pull her into other initiatives to learn more about the company and the skills needed to be successful. Natalie taught us about her curiosity, her work-ethic, and her humility throughout this interview.

Erika's background starts with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina. She started her journey at Weylchem as an intern in their process development lab. After some time in the lab Erika moved to a customer satisfaction role. Erika wore many hats including Account Manager as part of Weylchem's sales team and Project manager, before landing her current position as VP of Supply Chain & Sustainability. We talked about Erika's career pivot from the lab to a more commercial facing role. Erika told us how she worked hard to feel comfortable sharing with her leaders that the lab wasn't a long-term career for her. She also took a stepping stone role between lab and commercial essentially focused on communication between the two functions before officially making the leap to commercial. Erika shared with us the significant amount of time and effort that went into her transition to ensure she knew her team members and their strengths and how to marry them up with her strengths.

Please meet Women in Chemicals’ interns, Jake O’Keefe and Tiffany Ngo! Jake is from Connecticut and he’s a senior at University of Vermont Grossman School of Business with a concentration in Marketing and Entrepreneurship and a minor in Music Technology and Business. Tiffany is from California and now lives in Oklahoma and she’s a senior at Cameron University majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. Tiffany learned about Women in Chemicals while searching for internships on LinkedIn, thanks to a professor's recommendation. She became intrigued by the company's all-female workforce. Tiffany made the decision to challenge herself despite having no prior knowledge of chemicals. Jake came across WIC while searching LinkedIn for marketing opportunities and was drawn to its goals and message. Jake mentioned that he wasn't used to being in the minority and mentioned a statement made by a coworker "men supporting women is just as important as women supporting women."

Priya was born and raised in India and came to the United States to pursue a Chemical Engineering degree. She worked in R&D with the product company SC Johnson but quickly realized that was not what she wanted to do. She leaned on her network and was able to find a new job as an analyst with a small consulting firm in Houston, Texas called Chemical Market Associates, which sent her on a set of market and strategy consulting assignments for the petrochemical industry. She worked there for nearly 11 years. Chemical Market Associates eventually became acquired by IHS, and Priya then moved to her current employer Air Liquide, where she works to identify customer trends and their impact in strategy and marketing for the organization.

Please meet this week’s WOTW, Rena Tabal. Rena joined us from Toronto where she is the Director of Product Management, Financial and Blockchain Technologies at BluePallet. Prior to joining BluePallet in March 2021, she worked in the Financial Services sector for roughly ten years. She has now been with the company for a year and a half. She discusses her various positions with the large banks in Canada and the UK and the majority of her time was spent in the area of risk management. Her responsibilities in these roles included identifying and reducing risks from financial crime activities, business advisory, consulting, and internal auditing. She describes that as her career working in big banking evolved, she came to the realization that she felt like a cog in a massive system and the culture wasn't for her any longer. She changed directions in her career during Covid-19, quit her job in Banking, and enrolled in a course in Financial Technology. Soon after, she discovered BluePallet, met the organization's founder, and decided to make the pivot after learning of their culture.

Michelle was first introduced to Dow during a Co-op opportunity during high school. She then continued her co-op throughout college, and was hired by Dow after graduation. She went to Michigan Tech for a degree in mechanical engineering and pursued her MBA through Northwood University. Michelle has been employed by Dow for 23 years, during which time she has served in a variety of positions, including technical sales and development, research and development, the development of new businesses, marketing and sales roles, product management, and business management. She is currently the commercial director for Dow's Industrial Solutions Business. She discusses how having a large network helped her land her current position and how Dow has a robust hiring process that values equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Caroline did not initially seek out a role in the chemical industry but followed a leader into it and never looked back. Caroline began her career after college in a management program at Macy's, which helped her decide what kind of employer she wanted to work for. She later moved to a non-profit where she worked in marketing. She was eager to work for someone she could rely on, who would value her work and support her development. After meeting the owner, who has since become a great mentor to her, she ended up at Mission Chemical. She has been working for the company for six and a half years; initially, there was just the founder and her; today, there are more than 65 employees. Caroline has been in her current position of Business Development at Mission Chemical for 6 months.

Please meet this week’s WOTW, Carol and Michele Piccaro- mom and daughter duo. Carol is President and CEO of US Chemicals- a Woman Owned Business and her daughter Michele is an Account Executive. After graduating college, Carol joined a temporary employment agency and spent over two years working for two bond traders. Carol had no prior knowledge of the chemical industry. She got her start in the chemical distribution business at her Dad's company (now her company) as a Junior Account Executive. Michele graduated with a degree in information systems and operations management

Saskia joined us for our interview all the way from Belgium. With a background in Language Sciences (English and Russian), Saskia's entry into the industry was not planned. She started working for an American explosion protection company, and instantly clicked with the hands on and direct way of American business. After 7 years with the company and a 3 year stint with a European company, she entered ISP (now Ashland) as an Operations Manager, thanks to a call that came from a peer in her network. Saskia now has 22 years with Ashland under her belt, with roles in operations and product management. Saskia is now the General Manager for the Intermediates Business Line at Ashland.

Lindsey fell into the industry by chance, going to University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire to become a nurse just as her mom was. After graduating, Lindsey worked for EMCO Chemical and worked as a quality manager and a lab lead before she joined Johnson Controls as a quality engineer. While at Johnson Controls, Lindsey pursued roles in operations and process improvement, travelling all over the country. Ultimately, a counselor at UW-Eau Claire was the one to introduce her to Hydrite. Lindsey joined Hydrite's strategic sourcing function and has since had approximately 8 different roles with the organization. Today, Lindsey is the Executive Director of Sulfur for Hydrite.

Jenna has 26 years in the chemical industry, and how she entered is very unique. On a 6 hour flight home from Beijing, she met a man sitting next to her that worked for DuPont and left with his business card. Eventually, that man would become her boss! Jenna started her career as a mechanical engineer working for Otis on their elevator buttons, then went on to wear many hats in marketing, operations, six sigma, supply chain, sales, and more. Today, Jenna is the Key Account Manager for the CASE Industry at Wego Chemical.

Kerolen joined our community all the way from India in the late hours of her evening just to tell us her story. Having grown up and studied in Brazil, Kerolen, her husband and their 2 young boys moved to India just a few months ago for her husband's new job. Prior to the move, Kerolen had over a decade of work experience in the chemical industry working with companies such as Henkel, Dow, and now Soyventis as their Market Development Manager for SE Asia