Her Story
About Rachel
I'm a creative problem-solver with a passion for making processes as efficient as possible. I started in the field as a GPS mapper for Columbia Gas, where I was the lowest person on the totem pole among about 45 employees, with only 3 of us being women. Despite the intimidating environment, my work ethic allowed me to run circles around my colleagues, and I even held a production record that people couldn't touch. I identified that the company desperately needed a training program and pitched the idea to my boss and mentor. I worked my way up to become the first-ever woman lead in our division, and when given the opportunity, I created a comprehensive training program that saved the company approximately $250,000 in an 18-month period. I then went back to school to finish my bachelor's degree in project management and was given the project manager role while still in school. Our safety director recruited me to join his team during a period of rapid company growth through strategic mergers and acquisitions. Though I initially doubted myself for the safety role, he convinced me that safety is about caring for people and training them, which are both things I do naturally. As safety manager, I traveled all over the country to our 135-plus offices, and I really found my calling because I genuinely care about people getting home safely. I have a healer's heart, and that authenticity helped me build trust and get people to follow safety protocols. After earning my Master's in Human Resource Management and spending three to four years living out of a suitcase, I moved into HR and eventually took over management of our Learning Management System. I'm very tech-savvy, coming from a family of IT professionals, and I've taught myself advanced skills like Git and coding to create sophisticated training programs with practical exercises for our developers. I love continuously learning new things and bringing products to life that exceed people's expectations.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Rachel
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say to fight for yourself, because nobody else is going to do it. There are going to be times where somebody may try to hold you back in a project or something that you know is going to do well, but don't let that stop you and don't let it bring you down. There's always going to be different people you're going to run into, and some of them are gonna see your vision for what it is, some are not. But every once in a while, you're gonna get lucky and run into a mentor that's going to see you for what you are, and once you're given the green light to run, run and don't look back. You might end up getting a new boss that holds you back again, but just the same, don't stop being you and don't stop with your ideas. If you ever feel like you're undervalued somewhere, go somewhere else, because if you're the type of person that puts your all into it and is constantly finding ways to better what you're doing, there is someone out there that's going to value you for exactly what you are.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my role is working within HR. It's a different world compared to operations where I've been before. In operations, you look at somebody and say you've got an idea that's gonna save money, and they say okay, do it. It's on you if it works or doesn't, and there's a love for that type of freedom. Whereas in HR, to get anything done it takes forever. Everybody wants to talk about it, everybody wants to have meetings about it, and it can get really frustrating when you're trying to make something better and it takes months before you can even get approval that this is a good idea. It makes everything so slow, and for me, it goes back to that core passion of efficient processes. I want to run with ideas because I know what they can do, and I think it takes away from that overall trust, like when you've delivered results before and someone should let you continue to do that.
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