Emerson Exchange 365

Many people who have only known me as an adult are surprised to learn I was a member of my high school’s Future Scientists Club. Sometimes I mention that I made As in Honors Chemistry and AP Physics courses, but it’s not until I say that I also served as the public relations officer of the Future Scientists Club that people finally nod in understanding. I’m not a science nerd… I’m a word nerd! And whether it’s my undergraduate degree in journalism or my 14+ year career in marketing communications, I’m not the first person you think of to raise a hand to say I Love STEM!

I don’t want to go exaggerate and say I’ve always loved STEM. As a student, I preferred English classes to math and science, where I found the courses to be too repetitive and rigid. I enjoyed using my imagination to build stories on paper, rather than build physical creations with my hands.  I favored giving oral presentations over scientific demonstrations. I’ve always been a bit methodical and investigative, but these question-asking traits made me a good reporter, rather than a researcher. Over time, I decided science and especially math were areas where I struggled, so I focused my attention on areas where I thrived.

As a professional communicator, I’ve spent my career happily crafting interesting and persuasive stories on topics where I am often not the subject matter expert. Rather than understanding the intricacies of how something is made or operates, my job is to take technical, complicated information, and weave it into a compelling, easy-to-understand narrative that educates a particular audience and entices people to use a specific product or service.

In past roles with other companies, I’ve written about electricity, agriculture, taxes, transportation and insurance. I had a college internship where I occasionally dressed up as costumed characters to carry out a branding initiative for Keebler cookies. I also worked as a speechwriter for a statewide elected official, drafting scripts for hundreds of speaking events. These various experiences taught me a lot about collaborating with a wide range of different professionals to communicate effectively. And although I did frequently work with electric engineers and civil engineers, I had never worked for a company with such an enormous and profound engineering culture as Emerson.

Now, much of my time now is spent working to effectively market Emerson Lifecycle Services to technical audiences. I work with engineers who have backgrounds in control systems and automation for oil and gas, petrochemical and life sciences companies. Together, we build stories aimed at people who have an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. And I must say that I really enjoy working with so many smart and technical — but also engaging and demonstrative — STEM fanatics.  

Naturally, I look at STEM a bit differently than some other people I work with. I don’t always care about the nuts and bolts of things — literally and figuratively. My focus is more on how to make these topics interesting. I take the struggle out of the science and the fear out of the math. I make engineering and technology fun. Instead of talking about the very specific features a particular service has, I focus on the benefits it provides to the customer and the problems it can solve.

Saying I Love STEM doesn’t mean I’m running around in a lab coat carrying beakers of bubbling liquids…or scrawling out math equations on a white board…or tinkering with a circuit board. And it doesn’t mean I have to be an engineer at my company either.

Last year, many women at Emerson participated in a social media campaign where we used the hashtag #ilooklikeanengineer to help challenge the stereotype of women in engineering. At first, I felt like a fraud; I felt like I should have added an extra hashtag that said #ilooklikeanengineer #butimnot. However, I began to realize there’s a lot of breadth and depth in the level of talent within the tech industry and inside engineering companies. It’s OK that we’re not all the same. I may not work as an engineer, but I did earn an MBA degree (which required a lot of math), and I can get pretty technical and analytical in certain scenarios.

So I want to continue to spread the message of I Love STEM so that children — especially young girls — can find ways to embrace their more technical and mechanical talents. And I want to help students understand how an education in STEM can lead you down many different career paths.