Kayla Harris

I've got my support system, to be completely honest with you. I have parents that put education first. They made sure that we went to the best school in our area. They made sure that we had the ability, you know, back in, like, the 90s, they had the PAC program, and they made sure that we had college funding, and they have been so supportive as I've gone through my career. They always wanted me to be a lawyer, but I just love to read and write, and I'm obsessed with art and music, anything to do with liberal arts is, like, just me. And even though they had this vision for me, they completely supported me. And then even with DCE, I mean, three of my absolute best friends work here - our HR manager, our senior PC, and then our operational specialist. We are like peas in a pod, and everything that I do at DCE, they are so uplifting, and, like, vice versa. Like, we just have such a good support system, and I am somebody that, like, I've always struggled with depression and anxiety, and they have helped me kind of navigate that through my career. Yes, I just have been so lucky to have the people that I've had in my life.

You know, I think it's just be yourself. I know that sounds so simple, but I am somebody - you know, I am a creative, and I work with a bunch of engineers. And does everybody in our company wear jeans and plaid? Absolutely. But do I walk up in here every day wearing the exact thing that I want? And it gives me confidence. I think being yourself, like, I said, it's simple, but I think that that's the best advice, because it's so easy to kind of fall into the minutiae of life and do what everybody else is doing. And there are simple things. Like, I'm about to do a Lunch and Learn on burnout prevention next month for our company. One of my big tactics for preventing burnout is actually, like, decorating my space. Like, we have a bullpen-style office, and I have a ton of plants. I have photos of me and my partner, I have photos of my dogs, I have photos of my best friends, and it's like that is me. That is me. Like, plants and, like, being around the people that I love, that is who, like, I innately am. That's what makes me genuinely happy, and so if I can bring that into a space, I'm gonna spread my positivity, whether it's directly or indirectly.

Don't be afraid to stand up and speak at the table. I told all of our young women at DCE like that, and it always makes me so emotional, because we're in an industry, and I think the last time I looked, we were - women were 30% of the solar industry, and that's specifically to the solar industry, not the renewables as a whole. One of the things that I - I was very shy in the beginning of my career, and like I keep saying, like, my - ugh, I just love my boss, and he really helped me come out of my shell and understand that my voice matters. Everybody's perspective should be at the table. And I love the Ruth Bader Ginsburg quote that every table a decision is made out, a woman should be - obviously, I butchered that, but that quote that she said is something that kind of lives rent-free in my mind. And another one that's the lady that raised me, her name was Miss Hattie, and I owe so much to her. She always told me to respond, not react. Because I came, like, as an Indigenous woman, I was always taught to, like, you know, be the quiet one in the room. Don't stand out, you know, you don't want to draw too much attention to yourself, and Miss Hattie kind of, like, flips that theory on its head. She was like, no, the thing is, is just don't react. Take a second, think about how you want to respond, think about how it's going to be perceived in the group, and then respond. And, you know, that has gotten me so far in my life, and it's built so many relationships by just not being reactionary. You know, it's perfectly beautiful and normal and universal to have feelings and to want to react, and especially, like, being the minority in the situation. And I just - yeah, those pieces of advice, like, don't be afraid to stand up at the table and respond, don't react.

Misinformation, to be completely honest with you. It's something that we struggle with as far as a public image. You know, we have currently in our country an administration that is very pro-oil, despite the scientific facts of what it's doing to our planet. And we have - we have honestly taken it as a challenge, and we have done a lot more thought leadership, and Bill and I have been advocating for renewables extra hard since 2020, because we understand what it's doing for the environment. And we understand that renewable energy - we're gonna run out of oil one day. That's just, like, the - I mean, you just look at the scientific facts of it. We need to go ahead and transition into renewable resources. And so, dealing with misinformation is definitely the biggest challenge, but then it also provides an opportunity for us, because all my friends, none - like, I don't think that I had an environmentalist-focused friend until I really started honing down and, like, working in renewables, and now everybody recycles, everybody is aware of how, you know, solar works, and how wind works, and how hydrogen works, and all the renewable resources out there. They understand, you know, like, I preach it to them, and I make sure that - and if they - and you know what? I think that my friends and I, especially, like, I mean, even my colleagues, we have created environments that are very conversational, and so it's never like, oh, no, you're wrong, that's not how it's done. It's like, hey, Kayla, you know, I heard this the other day on Fox News, and they said XYZ, and I'll be like, well, even though X might be true, Y and Z have actually been misproven. Like, you know, they have been scientifically proven. And we just - we have these conversations, and so even though misinformation about renewable energy is out there, I think that it, like I said, it's presented an opportunity to educate people, and that is what me and our CEO has been just hitting the pavement, doing.

I think with the nature of my job, it would be integrity, because I never want to spread a promotion that isn't true. Like, I'm not someone, you know, I have very strict guidelines when it comes to our customer or public-facing conversations about being positive, because I don't want to dog anybody out. Like, obviously we have competitors, like every other industry, but it is - I think that we should keep our integrity, especially, like, at in my career, because we're all doing - we're all here for the same goal. And so, that is so important to me. And then in my personal life, like, I am not someone that does well. You tell me you're gonna do something, I expect you to do it. You tell me that you're going to support me in some way, I expect you to do it. Because I'm not someone that's very good at asking for help. That is my flaw. And but if, you know, if I reach out to someone, and they agree, or they want to support, like, I, like, I expect that. I expect you to tell me that you - if you can, you can. And if you can't, that's completely fine. You know, like, I said earlier, I've been blessed with such a big and beautiful support system that I just - I - I love the truth, you know? It's hard to find these days. But I - we try to be very honest, I think that we do here at DCE, and we're known for our customer service, so it just, like, it just kind of builds off of that integrity and, you know, our transparency with people.