Her Story
About Kristen
My journey into safety started when I was looking at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. I was initially interested in the shipping industry because that's what my father did for a career, but at an open house, I spoke to a female cadet studying marine safety and environmental protection who told me about all the different avenues you can go with that major. I saw the most potential career-wise in the safety area and that's where I gravitated towards in my classes. My college experience was definitely different than normal colleges - it's a paramilitary school, very regimented in a military fashion, with only 6 majors, mostly engineering. It's a dry campus and very focused. A lot of kids go there because they really want to get good jobs, and it has a good reputation. I graduated during COVID in 2020, which was interesting - I spent my last semester online. After graduation, I had a couple different roles until I got my first real long-term, full-time position as a health and safety manager for Amex. Then I worked at Clean Harbors in Norwell, Massachusetts for almost 3 years. They're a massive company mainly dealing in hazardous waste management, and I did asset management for them, which was different because I'd mainly been in the field and this was an office-based job. I was laid off a few months back, and that's when I really focused on building my own company, SafeWorks Consulting, LLC, which I started with my brother in July. It's a safety consulting firm where we help companies be compliant with whatever industry they're in. A lot of our focus is on construction - that's where my brother's background mainly comes from, and I also have experience in construction safety. We put together health and safety plans, take care of drug and alcohol testing for employees, and offer to have safety people actually on site. The MBTA does a lot of work where they need safety people on site. Right now I'm finishing my MBA with a concentration in project management, which I'll complete in November, while also waitressing on the side and regularly volunteering at the food pantry in my town.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kristen
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't sell yourself short, don't limit yourself. Just because you don't see yourself doing something doesn't mean you can't do it. A lot of times, people can't envision themselves doing something, so they'll never do it, but if you think of something, and you have an idea, and you want to do it, you know, do it. Even if it fails, like, do it. You don't have to be a big boss, or have a big title, or have a massive, lucrative company to feel like you're successful. I want to make people who feel like they might not be able to do something read that and be like, oh, well, maybe I can.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now is getting a job - I've applied to almost 75 jobs over the past few months and interviewed for quite a few. I did have a couple of job offers over the summer that I passed on for different reasons, and now that I haven't found anything else, part of me wonders if I should have taken them, but everything happens for a reason and I'm eventually going to find the right fit. On the opportunities side, there's a lot of opportunity in safety, which is why I went that direction starting out from school and with my business. The field is forever growing and it's only going to become more safety conscious - it's not going to regress the other way. There are always more hazards to be identified, accidents that have never happened before that create new hazards, so there's always a need for safety in every single field, in every single industry.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The first value that comes to mind is honesty - being honest with yourself as well as others, in work and in personal life. I think the way it translates into work is just being honest with yourself about your own capabilities. Don't sell yourself short, and don't put too much on yourself that you can't really handle. Being honest with your boss as well, so that they know what they can and cannot give you, and what you might need help on, or what you might need to improve on. There's no shame in it - every job, no one goes into it being an expert on it. Even if they've done something similar before, every company does things differently, so everyone's going to learn regardless. The other value is being respectful, always, even if you feel like no one's looking or no one's listening. I learned that at Clean Harbors in an office setting - even what you say in your Microsoft Teams messages with your coworker friend that you think no one's going to see, always remember to be respectful when you're in any sort of professional environment.
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