The virtual event took place on September 8, 22, and 29 in 1.5-hour sessions each day. It offered a unique opportunity to the participants to learn about SWE for the first time, create connection, and share experiences with different STEM professionals in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking areas.
DAY 1:
The event started with a warm welcome from Karen Horting, SWE’s Executive Director & CEO, showing SWE’s support of its Spanish-speaking community. Karen’s remarks were followed by an introduction to SWE led by Fernanda Infante, who is a Product Engineer at Cummins in SLP Mexico, and the first day wrapped up with a networking session where participants had the opportunity to meet each other and share experiences. Behind the scenes, Yesica Santacruz, Product Engineer at Cummins in CD. Juarez Mexico helped plan and put the session together.
DAY 2:
On the second day, Yesica Martínez, Customer Engineer at Cummins in SLP Mexico started the session sharing the challenges Mexican women in STEM face, including statistics about the percentages of women in STEM and the main occupations in Mexico. Yesica spoke about work – life balance, maternity, salary gaps and other challenges like dealing with the impostor syndrome and communicating with confidence. The second day was closed by Montserrat Ramirez, R&D Product Development Manager at PepsiCo in Mexico City, who talked about her experience with the impostor syndrome and shared ways to overcome it.
DAY 3:
The last day, Yuriko Tanaka, Business Unit Lead at Motores John Deere in Torreon Coahuila, Mexico walked through communication with presence and self-confidence providing guides for feeling comfortable while communicating. To close the event, Jesus Garrido, General Manager at Motores John Deere, and recipient of the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award from SWE, shared his experience of leading by example, promoting diversity and inclusion, and providing guidance on professional and career development.
Key highlights from the event:
- 400 registrations from the Industry, Students and Academy
- 99% engagement on SWE and 80% interest in becoming part of SWE
- Participants took away practical tools from the sessions and walked away motivated
- “Being inspirations for future generations”
- “It was a great experience meeting other talented women in STEM”
- “I will implement the 7 principles”
We are so happy with the achievements during 2022 and looking forward to becoming a larger SWE Spanish-speaking community during 2023 as we plan to host our second event. We are counting on you to make this happen. For more information, please contact swe_san_luis_potosi@swe.org swecoahuilamexico@swe.org.
