Her Story
About Susanne
I've been in my field for 22 years, and my journey has taken me through many different roles before landing where I am today. I started as a mortgage officer at Citibank for about 5 years, then spent another 5 years with a local bank. After that, I worked for 2 years in higher education at a university here locally, and then moved to a council of governments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where I worked in transportation and air quality. That experience sparked my interest in TxDOT, where I work now. Being an office manager was something I wanted for a very long time - I had to gain the experience first, but when the opportunity finally came, I jumped on it and was hired on the spot. Now I manage a crew of 24 people, both female and male, in what is definitely a male-dominated domain. My day-to-day responsibilities are incredibly varied - I handle HR, payroll, purchasing, inventory of materials, creating work orders to capture our work from the previous day, answering phone calls from the public, and setting up meetings with commissioners, city managers, and higher-up personnel. I also serve as an executive assistant to my supervisor and participate in hiring and firing decisions and interviews. I've learned that working in a male domain isn't about being physically stronger - it's about being stronger with your knowledge and experience, learning their language, and understanding how they function. I even changed my approach to fit the environment, trading corporate clothes for jeans and shirts and just going with the flow.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Susanne
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
For women, don't hesitate to dive into a job domain you think you wouldn't fit. You will fit, you just have to make it work, and you just have to observe your environment. I was actually afraid of a man domain because I thought I'm not strong enough, because I had to be stronger with my knowledge, stronger with my experience. But honestly, that's not the case. I just had to learn their language, had to learn how they function, and had to kind of stop wearing those corporate clothes - I'm wearing jeans and shirts to work now, and I'm just gonna go with the flow. Just get on it, and if you like challenges, oh god, yes, challenges make you a better person. Have an open mind, get every opportunity you have, just jump on it, do a job you're feeling uncomfortable with. I mean, I'm sitting in a state truck and drive around with it in my PPE, but I'm pretty much a very female female, basically, right? So just get on it.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge for me is that I do not have enough time on my hand to do everything at the same time. I have to prioritize what I've learned in my 20-plus years of experience, and of course, whenever my boss is throwing something at me, that's priority, so I have to fight the urge of I want to help everyone - I can only help one person at a time, because I have to take care of my mental health as well. In terms of opportunities, we do not have a lot of on-hand training - pretty much, you're gonna dive into an ocean of sharks, so you have to be careful what you do, but you have a lot of support. You have to have an open mind. My role involves cross-training with contract specialists, and I have to be a leader, I have to basically be a mom to my younger guys. You learn all the skills for life, for your private life as well - you learn that you have to be open to communication, that you have to be open for cross-training, and that's just gonna give you all the tools for maybe moving up. I'm actually starting now to be more interested in contract specialist work, and before I'm gonna dive into it, I want to learn more about it and figure out if this is actually something for me.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Commitment, motivation, and loyalty are my core values. I have to be loyal to my boss, to my job, to myself, and to my crew. My crew is 24 people strong, female and male, and I'm actually working in a male domain. And of course, empathy - I work with empathy. I don't just do my job with my head, there has to be a little bit of heart too. Seeing someone struggling, I like to jump in and just be there, present.
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