Her Story
About Kathie
I've been working in the EHS and safety field off and on for about 20 years. I'm from Texas and was raised and married into the oil field, so this industry has always been part of my life. I started out in backup safety roles, helping with audits and covering when people weren't there. In 2020, I graduated with a bachelor's in Occupational Health and Safety from Columbia Southern University, where I'm also a lifetime member of Omega New Lambda. My main area of expertise is personal safety. I've been in my current role as an EHS Advisor for 5 months, working as a contractor for ExxonMobil, which I consider my best professional achievement. In this position, I work with the PSMS safety program, which includes WMS, and I go out to oil field locations to coach workers on their safety and how to follow the PSMS program. My main goal every day is to help eliminate life-altering injuries and make sure everyone goes home safe. I originally got into this field because I wanted to be my own boss and contract myself to companies while still being able to take care of my kids. Being raised around the oil field, I knew there's always a need for safety professionals to help everybody go home safe.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kathie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to determination. When you want something bad enough, you can achieve it. That's the best career advice I've ever received, and it's what has driven me throughout my career. Even in a male-dominated industry like the oil field, determination has helped me push through challenges and earn respect by being effective and helpful in my role.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is basically, if you want it bad enough, you can achieve it. That advice has stuck with me throughout my career and has helped me push through challenges and reach my goals, even when things didn't work out exactly as I planned.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Do not get discouraged. Do not let the male domination overwhelm you. They're getting used to it - there are more females in the oil field industry now, whether they're engineers, or safety, or just techs. So it's becoming a more common thing. But it is still, in some aspects, very discouraging, and you just have to hang in there and do your job. The more effective you are, and the more help you are, the more they'll appreciate you and respect you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field right now is eliminating life-altering injuries. That's always going to be the biggest challenge in the oil field - preventing accidents that cause life-altering injuries. It's our main goal to eliminate these types of injuries on a daily basis and in the long term. We're also working on implementing AI technology, and while I don't have a comment yet on whether it's going to help or not, it's just kind of where technology is going, so at some point, it will end up helping instead of hindering.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in my work and personal life are honesty, communication, and teamwork. Really, with those three things, you can achieve pretty much anything. These values guide how I approach my work in safety and how I interact with the teams I coach in the oil field.
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