Paloma Barraza: 2018 STEP Ahead Honoree
The Manufacturing Institute announced this year’s STEP Ahead Awards on March 1st. These awards recognize 100 female leaders who positively impact the manufacturing industry, including their contributions to technology and process improvements and their commitment to inspiring future female manufacturers.
The 2018 STEP Ahead honorees included two leaders from Jabil: Paloma Barraza and Clare Dowdalls.
Paloma Barraza, site controller at Jabil Chihuahua, has been instrumental in major transformations at the facility while simultaneously inspiring those around her. In Chihuahua, Paloma has created an open environment for her employees to share ideas, demonstrating both her passion to help others and her strong leadership capabilities. “Paloma sees the value of every employee,” said Director of Operations, Simon Wilcox. “She leverages the strengths of everyone on her team to lead the entire site to be efficient and successful.”
Passionate about creating positive change, Paloma works cross-functionally and patiently listens to employees at every level, and from any department, to best understand the problem at hand and how to most efficiently solve it. She’s dedicated to inspiring those around her to take on challenges and find innovative ways to create new processes. Leading by example, Paloma organizes brainstorming meetings with multiple levels of employees to foster a creative environment for everyone. “Paloma has a true passion for change and takes aggressive strides to positively impact the culture at the Chihuahua site to increase employee engagement and productivity,” Wilcox said.
Mentoring her employees is a top priority, and her passion to inspire others also extends into the community. As an active member of Jabil Chihuahua’s social responsibility committee, Paloma spearheaded a school supply donation drive and coordinated delivery of the items to children living in the outskirts of the city. It’s also important for her to take care of her Jabil family, so she created a program to reward employees’ children who achieved exceptional grades in school with prizes, motivating them to continue the hard work.
Congratulations, Paloma, and thank you for all you do to inspire our employees and the community!
the 2018 STEP Ahead Awards, which included two honorees from Jabil. Each year the STEP Ahead program recognizes women across manufacturing who are bringing positive change to the industry. One of the Jabil Joules recognized for her commitment to inspiring other females in the field is Clare Dowdalls.
Born and raised in Accra, Ghana on the coast of West Africa, Awo Brenya moved to the United States to attend college, where she acquired a diverse and complex educational background. Along with dual bachelor’s degrees in computer science and statistics, she also earned two master’s degrees – one in International Business and the second in Information and Telecommunications Systems. It was her education that provided her the perfect niche of skills to be successful as Jabil’s Finance and IT Controls Associate. “I have the chance to be in two focus areas of STEM – finance and technology – and it’s really exciting to see how the two work together,” Awo said.
Last Updated: February 28, 2018 by Jabil Joules Leave a Comment
Heather Reflects on International Day of Women and Girls in Science
According to a study the United Nations conducted in 14 countries, the probability of women graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in a science-related field is only 18% whereas males are almost 40% likely (UN, 2018). Why are women less likely to go earn a degree in a science-related field?
Reflection
Heather Andrus, Managing Director of Radius and Jabil Joule located at our Silicon Valley site, believes it might have to do with the way these courses are taught in primary school. “I believe our children’s education is a crucial resource for inspiring the young girls to have an interest in science or mathematics,” said Andrus. She goes on to explain how her middle school math teacher played a key role in her passion for STEM. “I think his style of teaching is what resonated with me the most. He would make us think creatively and collaboratively to solve these tough equations, and those skills are what every job in STEM requires,” she said. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree! “Right now, my oldest daughter is in middle school and her favorite instructor is her math teacher,” Heather says proudly. “She tells me that he also teaches her class to think abstractly rather than just memorize formulas and reproduce them. He gives the class an ‘unsolvable equation’ and works with them to find different ways to solve it.”
One of Two Females in Class
Heather decided to be an engineer during her school’s annual Career Day. As a 7th grader, she read how engineers were one of three high-salaried careers at the time, electrical engineering was the toughest specification and MIT was the best school, so she decided right then that was going to be her career path. However, it wasn’t a popular goal for many of her classmates: “I just don’t think it was ‘cool’ to like math or science in middle and high school,” Heather stated. She goes on to explain how she was one of only two women in her undergraduate engineering class of 70 students. Heather graduated from MIT with bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and then went on to earn a dual master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design from Stanford.
It’s Biology
“Females are clearly just as capable, but I think there’s a disconnect between girls’ natural abilities and the careers they’re told they can have.” Heather reaffirms the importance of making it known at an early age how the STEM industry is an imaginative and abstract field of study. “It also has a lot to do with how the female brain is wired because research shows how our brains work in a more creative way compared to the male brain,” Heather said. “Personally, I think math and science just aren’t typically taught in congruence with how the female brain operates. We need to get the creative juices flowing early in life and show girls how ‘cool’ STEM can be!”
Inspire and Educate
Heather, like many of our Joules around the world, recognize the importance of education for the future of girls in STEM. It’s up to us, not only on International Day of Women and Girls in Science, but every day, to inspire and connect future Joules, so they too can be successful and confident in their science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.
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