Planting Seeds in STEM

Stephanie Alexander joins us for our third episode, where she talks about her journey as a black female professional in the world of powertrain and automotive engineering at Bosch. In this episode, Stephanie runs us through her thought process behind taking her course at university and the motivations behind it. We also discuss her current projects, the challenges she’s faced and combatting ‘imposter syndrome’. We also touch on her recent work as a ‘hydrogen ambassador’ at Bosch Engineering - tapped as the industry’s most interesting new potential fuel source.  Stephanie's passion for her work, and specifically her goals to reach the F1 is clear and by doing so - she hopes to inspire future generations, and women of colour especially, to take up engineering.

Davendra Dabasia, the Managing Director for International Consultancy at Mace joins us in our second episode.  In this episode, Davendra talks about his professional journey and his current role - leading one of the world's largest consultancy and construction operations for the built environment. Davendra notes, that in his Kenyan-Indian community, construction is often viewed as a 'dirty' industry but wants to dispel any myths and offer construction as a vast industry with a plethora of career options, unlike many may think. We explore his proudest moments, like his role in the delivery of the London 2012 Olympics, and his greatest lessons. Davendra imparts wisdom for anyone looking to get into construction. 

Welcome to Planting Seeds! We are so excited to invite you to our podcast and what a way to start with Dr. Nola Pickard.  Nola is a Senior Project sponsor with the Ministry of Justice and has been responsible for multiple pieces of legislation, throughout the course of her career.  After taking time to find herself via travelling, Nola studied Chemistry all the way to PhD level. During the episode, we discuss how she got into the civil service, what she loves about her role, her Nigerian heritage and the effect this has had on her career.

Welcome to Planting Seeds! We can't wait to share the stories of senior BAME professionals and give you exposure to all types of jobs/ careers that exist in this crazy world of STEM.