Her Story
About Syeda
Syeda Monowara serves as an Engineering Project Manager at Blue Ridge Automation in Pendleton, Indiana, where she works in automation engineering and manufacturing engineering. She is currently enrolled as a professional master's student at Purdue University and is affiliated with the Purdue Society of Women Engineers. Previously, she spent nearly four years at Samsung Electronics working in software and electronics products, mostly mobile and wearables, in roles as product engineer and product manager, during which she filed patents that are being commercialized. She has also served as a technical program manager for software engineering products at Bayer. Monowara earned her undergraduate degree in electronics engineering from BRAC University in Bangladesh. She attributes her success to the motivating examples of women in her family, particularly two aunts, and values a strong work ethic and adaptability, noting that change is the only constant. She advises young women entering the male-dominated engineering field to remember they belong and to learn, observe, and grow without fear.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Syeda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I've been privileged to have good examples in my life, people I look up to, women in my family. They've been motivating factors. Alhamdulillah, I've been blessed to have those people in my family. Two of my aunts encouraged me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Best career advice from my ex-manager: change is the only constant. If you're not adapting, you are not growing, so you have to be willing to adapt and change. That has helped me professionally, academically, and personally. When I think of being so rigid on something, that hasn't really been very beneficial.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't be scared. It gets daunting and overwhelming in a male-dominated field where I'm often the only woman, woman of color, woman who wears a hijab. But remind yourself that you are there because you belong, so there's no need to be scared. Even if you don't know anything, just learn, observe, and grow.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It's a male-dominated field, hard seeing that it still is. There's aversion toward hiring more women because you have to go out in the field, talk to people, manage men who are twice your size or double your age. Signing a job is hard, but even harder when you're a woman and also international, which makes it more challenging. Challenges are there but people have workarounds, so if you stick around and know you are capable with work ethic and drive, you'll make it work.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I believe I'm a hard worker, I like working hard. Even though sometimes it gets too much and I'm hard on myself, you can only do so much so why not do your best. Work ethic is very important to me personally. I like pushing myself even if something is completely new or I'm not comfortable with it. Having that open mind that it's fine, I'm gonna work hard, I'm gonna learn. People always start from somewhere.
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