Kate Zulkat

I graduated in 2004 and worked as a college teacher in China for about 13-14 years before moving to the United States in 2015, initially to San Francisco. After spending time as a stay-at-home mom, I relocated to Houston, Texas due to my ex-husband's academic career. Following my divorce, I started my career in the glass industry, which has now been going for several years. A friend introduced me to my previous company because I speak four languages, especially Chinese Mandarin, and they were looking for someone with language skills. I started fresh from scratch in supply chain and learned everything from the ground up. Currently, I work for Precision Glass Industry as a Hardware Product Manager, where I design and develop hardware products for all types of glasses used in residential and commercial buildings. During this process, I also handle procurement for the company and import purchases from Asia, Europe, and other countries. I started the hardware side from scratch, and over the past 7-10 years, I've developed over 1,800 hardware products for the glass industry and helped boost the company's sales. I work closely with the engineering team, sales department, and customer service, and I love communicating with people and building close relationships with customers and suppliers. The development process is what I love most about my job - bringing every single piece together to make a complete product, working with suppliers overseas, delivering to customers, and solving problems to make everything complete. Sometimes I work 16-18 hours a day, working with the engineering team and salespeople during the day and overseas suppliers at night. I'm incredibly proud when I see my products being used in fancy buildings and other projects - the process is hard, but when you have the product on hand, it's an amazing feeling.