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.
