Big Chem to big change, pt. 1
How and WHY does a chemical engineer leave her job in the single-use plastics business to instead inspire families to live more planet-friendly…?
Where should we begin? How about high-schooler-Michelle being told by her physics teacher, “Michelle, you need to be an engineer – too many girls go to school for things like psychology.”
I was smart, a hard worker, and I liked science, so off to engineering school I went!
I thought chemical engineering was the COOLEST. Engineers made basically everything, including tons of money. I also felt pretty special being one of only 9 women in my graduating class of 30+ engineers.
Through my college and early-career years, I thought engineers were solving the world’s problems. (I mean, many of them are, but I was naive to the fact that much of what my industry was doing was hurting the planet, not helping.) I even interned at a big oil refinery and thought it was so cool that I helped make gasoline!
When I got a job at one of the big chemical companies right out of college, I was so proud. The company I was working for was using science and engineering to solve massive problems like feeding the world and keeping people safe. My very first project was for a brand new facility that made one of the layers in solar panels. So cool, right?
But, soon enough I found myself seeing the dirty truth. Seeing the pollution and the chemical exposure to not only our workers but also to the innocent people who just happened to live near a chemical plant. I found myself on the edges of one of the biggest lawsuits and chemical bans in the country (yup, there’s even a movie about it).
I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. By now, I had my first baby and I NEEDED to be doing something that I felt 100% aligned with. Time becomes so precious when you have kids.