LaTisha Shipman

Say yes. If they ask you if you want to try for a new position, if it fits your career path, then say yes. If it's what you want to do, when we get invited to go to a job site, say yes. When you get invited to go tour a manufacturing facility, say yes. To volunteer, say yes. That's just one of the best things, I think, that I've ever received as advice.

I think to stick with it. I think we see a lot of turnover. It's not an easy job, but I feel like it's very rewarding. And at the end of the day, the rewards that we get is that we've provided clean water to somebody. My industry of focus is the water well industry, and so I feel like it's just so rewarding to be able to be a part of the supply chain that provides clean water to anybody, whether it's in the United States, or whether it's for a tribe. It's just something that I feel like everybody deserves to have a chance to have access to clean water. I feel burdened, specifically, to encourage younger women to come into the drilling industry. I feel like that's like a mentorship type of position. I feel like that also is important, to just encourage others to at least check into it as a career option. A lot of women may not know that this exists as a career option.

Challenges would be there's still some stigma around women in the industry. It has changed a lot over the last 25 years, but occasionally, I still will get a phone call, maybe from a man I haven't talked to before, and his very first question is, can I talk to somebody else? Because he just assumes that because I'm a woman, I don't know what I'm talking about. Sometimes I still have men asking me if I understand what they're saying. I feel like there's still work to be done to accept women into the industry. I don't feel like I have a seat at the table just because I'm a woman. I do feel like I have to know what I'm talking about, but once they understand that I do know what I'm talking about, we have mutual respect. There are also challenges working in the field, because most of the time, when I am in the field, I find myself on the job with a customer, a driller and his crew, and most of the time, I'm the only woman there. We're usually miles away from the nearest gas station, and sometimes just the simple things, like not having a safe place or where you feel safe to be able to even go to the bathroom on a job site. As far as opportunities, I feel like the opportunities in our industry are unlimited. I feel like women can be drillers, women can be heavy machine operators, women can be in the field.

Integrity. Operating with integrity and honesty, being transparent with my customer and upfront with them about any delays or anything that I see that might cause a delay, or something like that. I think that's very important to be upfront and honest.