Her Story
About Lily
I've been in the energy industry for about 10 years, and involved in CCUS on the financial side and on the business development side for about 4 years. I'm relatively new to the business development role in CCUS, but in my earlier role in corporate strategic development, which involves CCUS, that has been about 3 years. I work for a company named Williams, which is one of the biggest natural gas infrastructure companies in the U.S., supplying or transporting one-third of the natural gas in the United States. Everything we do, because we're publicly traded, we have to think from an investor's perspective, and investors want returns. What I'm trying to do is quantify the value of doing CCUS now, and communicate the value of the environmental attributes for future generations in economic terms. My biggest achievement right now is connecting dots of opportunities where I have seen in the state of Washington, being a part of the bigger story of pushing CCUS in a state that is very politically challenged to do something big, and being a part of pushing and facilitating leadership, women's leadership within the company. I haven't seen a big result yet, but it's the process, it's starting small, and being a part of something continuous that motivates me to continue this journey.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lily
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to courage. Having the courage to start small on identifying those opportunities and connecting the dots that may not get approved at this moment, but someone has to bring it up. If everyone just goes with the flow and doesn't bring up opportunities that they know have a lower chance of success, then those smaller innovations, opportunities, or projects can never get through. Everything starts small, and I think that's where I contribute my success to - having the courage to bring up small opportunities, opportunities that may not make sense right now, but in the long term will.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received came from my previous boss. I was having difficulty with my own project that I was working on because people didn't see the value of what I mentioned before - a project that may not make economic sense right now. I laid out all the rationale to my previous boss, explaining all the difficulty I was running into. I told him I see this is a good thing for the company, for this industry, for us, and I don't see why other people don't see it. We walked through everything and it all made sense. Then he paused and told me, 'It's your job to keep pushing it through, if you truly believe in it.' What really resonated with me is having the courage to keep pushing something you truly believe in.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be vulnerable. Being vulnerable means there's always something to learn from other people. Have an open mindset of adopting new ideas.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It's a tough industry right now for my industry. The biggest challenge is funding and financial support. It's not necessarily about whether we can get the funding or can we do the project - it's about how can we persuade the board, the company, the investors on investing in a project that may not have a good return right now, but will have a future return and future benefit for later generations. The reason why people don't want to fund it goes beyond just the money itself.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Courage and authenticity/trust.
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