Her Story
About Kenya
With 7 years of experience in project management and coordination, I specialize in the maritime industry, focusing on inspection services for American-class vessels. My work involves coordinating non-destructive testing. I manage the full project lifecycle, from preparing and deploying inspection teams to coordinating logistics for equipment and consumables, while maintaining careful oversight of all job-related costs. Over the course of my career, I've grown from managing projects in the $100,000-$300,000 range to now handling jobs worth half a million to a million dollars. I currently work at Gulf Copper, a company that has evolved from a small business into a larger enterprise, where I assist our current division manager. My goal for the next 5 years is to continuing growing within the division, or company, managing day-to-day operations and actively bringing in new work. I believe in leading by example and am not afraid to get out in the yard with my team, getting sweaty and dirty alongside them. I approach my work with fairness, honesty, and kindness, and I've learned the importance of being firm and standing my ground in this male-dominated industry while maintaining professionalism and respect.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kenya
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my family's support and my husband's support. He has supported me in everything that I've set my mind to, and besides our daughter, he's also the reason why I've grown professionally. He'll give me insight and tell me what I need to hear, not just what I want to hear. He'll ask me, 'do you want me to tell you what you want to hear, or do you want me to tell you the truth?' and I tell him I want the truth. I owe a lot to him, and to my mom and my dad as well. I am the first generation that went to college. I have to thank them in some way for all their hard work and sacrifices, and by that is to be successful. I also want to set the example for my younger brothers.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think, and I'm going to take more of a personal approach to this, because when I first started out, I was shy, and I was overextended because I didn’t set firm boundaries. My advice is to keep it friendly, keep it professional, but be firm. Because this is a man's world in this industry, and men receive better responses to everything. Go in head first, be firm, make and stick with your decisions, stand your ground on them, and you will accomplish your goals.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Fairness is my number one thing. I try to be fair in every decision that I make. I don’t judge. What your background is will not affect how I interact with you. Where you're from will not affect how I interact with you. That's one thing that I will make sure that I teach my daughter is we love everyone. They're different in their own way, and we celebrate that. Everyone comes with different strengths, and I make sure I let people know their strengths. Fairness, non-judgmental, honesty, and kindness those are my main things. Kindness is my second priority. You never know what kind of day someone's been having. I just try to be kind to everyone I can.
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