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Sarah Kampman

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Sarah Kampman

VP of Product @ Square Root

Sarah is a Product Manager that is getting involved with Girlstart to see a change in the STEM field. In her words, “STEM is more than just lab coats and hackers”, and we are excited to have her on our blog today to tell us about her career field!

What exactly do Product Managers do?
Product Managers figure out what customers need, and work with engineers to get it built. We often work with other teams (like Sales or Marketing) to make sure everyone knows all the cool things our product does. Some Product Managers build products for kids, or teachers, or restaurant visitors, but I’ve always worked in “enterprise software” — which means that my team and I get to solve problems for employees of large corporations.

Being the VP of Product must be challenging, what is your favorite part about your job?
I love solving problems, and the fact that you can build solutions so fast with computers is awesome. It’s one thing to solve a problem in your head, but to see it actually come to life, and make someone’s day easier, is really fulfilling.

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?
My father was a high school biology teacher and then worked for our state’s Department of Education, and always loved gadgets & technology. Because of that, I had access to computers and the internet before all of my friends. This was during the 1980s and 1990s, it was unheard of, and then I was hooked! I didn’t know how to program, but I used art programs, games, and even started to write a book. Computers were just a regular part of my life and I loved using them.

Do you have any words of encouragement for girls interested in STEM?
The world of STEM is huge. SO HUGE. Even if you have one rough class or one tough teacher, keep looking for the things that make you curious. You don’t have to be perfect at something from Day 1 for it to be something you love. Explore and be willing to try new things! This way, you’ll bring your wonderful self to everything you do.

Why do you think confidence in STEM important for girls?
I think girls should be confident in all of their abilities. We are all smart, capable, and creative people who can do anything we put our minds to. Especially because TV shows and movies don’t show all the grown-up women out in the world rocking their STEM careers, it could be easy to think that it’s not for someone like you. Well — it is. Come join our club!

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Yvonne Hawthorne

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Yvonne Hawthorne

Senior Manager of Infrastructure Engineering @ Texas Mutual Insurance Company

Yvonne has been involved in Girlstart for many years, beginning when her daughter attended our camps. Seeing how much her daughter enjoyed our programs, while also learning about STEM, she decided to get involved herself. We are honored to have her speak with us today about her career in IT Infrastructure Engineering!

What sparked your interest and made you want to volunteer with Girlstart?
I love that Girlstart provides girls with hands on experience on what STEM is, eliminating the stereotypes and assumptions. It allows girls to see how beneficial STEM is and how fun it can be as a career.

Do you have any words of encouragement that you would like to share with girls wanting to pursue a STEM career? 
Don’t make any assumptions about the type of person it takes for a particular career. You are the future of our technology transformation, you’re already ahead of where all the adults started. During my life time, I had to learn to use a computer, and then laptop, and even a cell phone. By nature, you’re more technical than you could imagine; so pursue your interests, and use the support of other girls and women doing the same thing. And don’t be afraid to break the glass ceiling for generations to come!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?
There was a leader I had early on in my career that provided me the opportunity to learn about IT Infrastructure and it opened my eyes to a new world of opportunities. We hear more about developers/coders, quality assurance specialist, or other careers focused more on product delivery. However, there are many opportunities in IT Infrastructure that don’t always get spot lighted. This leader provided me the opportunity to learn more about this type of career and it’s been the best thing I ever did!

What are your favorite things about being in IT Infrastructure?
I love that things always change; I get the opportunity to learn new things all the time. My career demands working closely with different people, I love team work and relying on one another to ensure we successfully finish our projects and resolve issues. It’s an exciting time to be in Infrastructure because there are so many new technologies to learn and provide to the company to increase collaboration and capabilities.

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?
In IT Infrastructure there are very few women, and I am normally the only woman in the room in meetings, conferences, etc. I believe diversity in every field is important, and STEM is a place where we don’t see it enough. I also believe that girls need to understand what careers are available and chose based on that. Many times, I think if someone doesn’t like math or science in school, they assume a career in STEM is not for them. But breaking down these barriers will allow girls to grow up and choose these careers and help us continue to adopt technology to help the world.

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Meha Jha

Girlstart’s Women in STEM weekly series highlights various women who are making a difference in STEM. Be inspired as these incredible women describe how they became interested in their field, provide insight into a day in the life, and share learnings from their experiences.

Meha Jha

Refining Industry Marketing Manager, Measurement Solutions @ Emerson

Meha’s interest in Girlstart was initially sparked by our fun approach to STEM, which led her to teach a hands-on workshop at our annual Girls In STEM conference about lip gloss manufacturing. Volunteers like her are an integral part of Girlstart, and we are so excited that she has volunteered more of her time with us today to share her experience in different areas of STEM!

Was there a specific person, program, or event in your life that led you to your STEM career?
My dad is an engineer and was very influential in wanting me to get an engineering degree, because of the marketability of the degree. My parents said as long as I get an engineering degree, I can do whatever I want with it after.

Can you explain a little bit about what you do?
I work in Industrial Automation, and in particular in instrumentation. Instrumentation is used to measure process variables like flow, temperature, level pressure used to control the manufacturing of materials. In particular, I focus on how to use these different instruments in the oil refining industry. I actually work on the marketing side where I educate customers and our sales force on how to use these different instruments to improve safety, efficiency and reliability of operations. 

What are your favorite things about being on the marketing side of Industrial Automation?
I like that I can leverage my strengths, yet still be in a technical field. Working in a marketing role allows me to still remain technical but also leverage communication, leadership, and other interpersonal skills. I love being part of the Energy industry in particular because it is so influential to economic development and providing critical resources we need for daily living.

Why is confidence in STEM important for girls?
Pursuing a STEM degree and career can be challenging but more than confidence I would say you need resilience! It is okay to fail, it is okay to not know how to do something, it is okay to be uncomfortable, and this will happen many times. You just need to be willing to stay on the course, be willing to fail, be willing to learn and grow from those failures, and then the confidence will come. Know that there are many that have come before you and if they can do it so can you!

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Thank You for Volunteering from Home

Due to the current health situation, Girlstart has not been able to host groups of volunteers for the past several months. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done, and thankfully volunteers have helped from the safety and comfort of their homes. Throughout the months of April and May, dozens of volunteers have prepped materials as well as assembled kits to serve over 1000 girls across the country for our Summer Camp at Home program!

We are so grateful for everyone’s support and flexibility as we find new ways to volunteer together!

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