Favor Delivery Inclusion & Diversity

Describe your experience as a woman in engineering. What are some of the challenges you’ve faced, and how have you overcome them?

The primary challenge I’ve faced as a woman in engineering is realizing that my voice matters. Fortunately, I’ve had many great leaders and mentors throughout my career. One of the very first encouraged me to be more assertive with my ideas. Early on, I often sat back while bolder voices dominated meetings, choosing instead to share my thoughts afterward. Finding the courage to speak up and contribute in the moment built up my confidence and helped me recognize that I belonged at the table, even in a room full of men. 

It’s always been important to me to seek out strong female leaders as mentors. They’ve challenged me to embrace being “new” at something and pursue opportunities, even when I wasn’t sure I was ready or likely to succeed on the first try. They’ve also been a listening ear during tough moments, offering empathy and advice when I needed it most.

What are your professional goals, and how has Favor Delivery enabled you to pursue them? What career growth resources/opportunities are available?

My primary aspiration as a leader is to help others. That can take many forms, whether it’s supporting the career development of one of my direct reports, leading learning and development initiatives for our engineering organization, or simplifying processes through automation and development to better support our business teams. In recent years, I’ve shifted my focus away from outcomes like promotions or specific roles and have instead prioritized opportunities that allow me to fulfill that desire to help others. Favor has given me many opportunities to pursue this goal. The culture here is especially supportive of people who step up when they see a need and are eager to fill it.

One of my favorite examples is being able to create and organize an internal speaker series for our engineering organization. In a TEDx-style format, engineers who are leading in their areas get the chance to present to the broader team, sharing knowledge and building visibility across the organization. 

What advice do you have for women in engineering or other technical roles regarding how to identify a company and team that will support their growth and development?

Doing research before joining a company is always important. Ideally, you can tap into your network and pursue opportunities where you have firsthand insights into the quality of the organization and the roles it offers. 

If that’s not an option, I strongly encourage anyone pursuing new roles to be curious during interviews. While it’s crucial to demonstrate strong technical skills, especially in engineering, it’s equally important to show curiosity through the questions you ask your interviewer. First, it shows that you’ve taken the time to learn about the company. Second, and more importantly, this is your best opportunity to discover whether the company aligns with what matters most to you.

Take time to reflect on what support and success look like for you. For me, mentorship has been a key part of my development, so I always ask about formal mentorship programs or things like employee resource groups for women in tech, especially in larger organizations. These are strong indicators of a company’s commitment to support and inclusion.