Frederike Dubeau

I would say I had some really great mentors throughout my career that gave me those opportunities to step up to the plate. I think in some cases I was young or newer, but they gave me those opportunities to step up and helped mentor me to grow in the areas that I needed to grow to be successful. There's also something that always stuck with me from when I was in an internship - my internship director said that if somebody asks you to do something, do as much of your own research to try to figure things out. Obviously there's a balance of not spinning your wheels, but try as much as you can to go find the answer before you come in and ask questions. Having that determination and grit to go find it yourself and show that you did the work has been really important to my success.

The best career advice I received was from my internship director who said that if somebody asks you to do something, do as much of your own research to try to figure things out before you ask for help. Obviously there's a balance of not spinning your wheels on that, but try as much as you can to go find the answer yourself and show that you did the work before you come in and potentially need to ask questions. Having that determination and grit to go find it yourself has been invaluable. The other piece of advice that's been really important is being open-minded to the direction that your career can take. If you had asked me at the beginning of my career if I would be doing wildfire risk management in data science, I would have never said that. Being able to reflect and keep an open mind when opportunities and doors open means that direction can lead you to a place that is where you need to be.

I just love the saying, why not me? Like, why can't it be me? I think women - and I think there's stats around this too - they'll look at a job description and maybe they don't meet 5% of the requirements or something, so they maybe don't go for it. But I think you should really, truly believe in yourself, and it can be you. A lot of times, maybe for me, I was put in positions that I maybe didn't feel as ready for, but just lean in and learn as much as you can and just figure it out. It can take you to really cool places. That's kind of what I've done with my career. It hasn't been - I guess it has definitely been data throughout - but even in consulting, my whole background was supply chain and analytics, and then I kind of jumped into risk and have been able to work on some really cool projects in that space. I think for women entering this field, maybe it feels a little scary or maybe women think they can't do it from the outside, but take that risk and jump in, because I think people will surprise themselves.

Throughout my career, many times there are not many women in my field. I would say still, especially earlier on in my career when I was in heavy-duty trucking, there were not many women there, and even now in tech, women are still outnumbered. But I think we bring so much value to the table, especially our capability on the communication side and the people side. Because yes, it's a very technical domain and it's important to understand the technical pieces under it, but for all this to create successful solutions, you have to be able to work with a team and collaborate with people and get them on board. I would love for more women to get into this field.

I grew up in athletics and I played college soccer, so I take a lot of things that I used in athletics into my work and personal life. I think working hard is probably one of my core values, along with honesty. Really, just leaning on people around you is so important to me. I think having a team, working with a team, and building community are essential. I think life is all about the relationships that you're able to make, and really building and cultivating those relationships is important to me.