Rebecca A. Bowman, Esq., P.E., D.F.E.

I had a very challenging childhood, and as a result, when I left home at 17, I was a person of considerable strength. I would not recommend that childhood for anyone else, but it did result in my being a stronger, more resilient, independent person, and far less influenced by the opinions of others. I've also been extraordinarily blessed to find probably the only man on the planet who could put up with my crap, and we've been married 47 years coming up. He's a nuclear engineer, so we are intellectual peers. We're both people of faith, we're both multilingual, we're both musicians. I could not have been who I am without him. My faith has been a tremendous anchor and a source of great peace and resilience. I've been liberated from being in charge of the world.

I'm not sure I've ever received career advice. Even when I was in university, most of my professors knew I was pretty focused and kind of got out of my way. They already knew I was non-normative because I was the only woman in the class. I feel like I give myself, and I have probably given myself the best advice. If it looks like fun, you should try it. That's what I would say about myself. I already knew I was going to forge my own path, and that's the career advice I gave myself. It's okay to be odd, or as I prefer to say, it's okay to be original.

Be absolutely fearless about two things: asking questions and volunteering. Volunteering for ugly work assignments, volunteering for charitable work. If you are willing to put yourself out there, you can have experiences that simply aren't available to other people who don't. And if you are fearless about asking questions, there are so many things that people around you know from that. They know that you are comfortable in your skin. They know that you will never sabotage them by proceeding on your own because you interpreted it wrong. Those two things, and falling under that fearless about asking questions is fearless about working with a mentor and being a mentor. Be fearless about asking questions and fearless about volunteering.

I became an engineer before affirmative action, which is one reason I forged my own path. I observed consistent forward progress over the past 48 years. But in the last two and a half years, I believe we've taken several steps backwards. The elimination of DEI was awful. I tell people there are really only two questions as you enter into any professional relationship: Can you do your job, and how can I help? Anything else is nonsense. When I talk to students doing History Day projects and gender issues come up, I point out that there were Rosie the Riveters in World War I. They were made to go home after the war and they dealt with that. But 20 years later, they had given their daughters power, and so in World War II, Rosie the Riveter didn't want to go home. We do not give enough credit to those World War I Rosie the Riveters. They shut the groundwork, and when you talk about opportunities for professional women today, you cannot pretend you do not stand on the shoulders of your predecessors.

Integrity is the most important value to me. It encompasses reliability, accountability, honesty, and fidelity. I can't tell you how many cases I have because people stepped out from their employer's best interests. If you tell me you're going to do something, I expect you to do it. I'm not going to micromanage you. I'm going to assume you're going to do it, and if you have questions, I'm going to assume you're going to ask them. When I start a new relationship where there is accountability, I start with that. I am not your mother. I'm not going to ask you if you've got your homework done. If you have a problem with a deadline, I'm going to expect you to come back and tell me about it. If you've got questions, I'm going to expect you to ask. And that's actually very empowering because half of the time, people don't ask because they're embarrassed.