Women Breaking the Mold speakers talk on finding your voice, leaving your mark

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum celebrates and honors outstanding women across the rubber and plastics industries.

It also is designed to empower women.

Empower them to drive change, ask for what they want and be the voice they wish they had when rising up in the workplace.

This year's two-day event, organized by Rubber News and Plastics News, featured speakers from both industries who did just this. Speakers who provided actionable advice for women at all stages in their careers—from intern to C-suite.

Here are just a few takeaways from this year's event in Nashville.

When Harmony Myers, acting deputy chief of NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA), first made a connection through a mentorship program, she wasn't quite sure what to expect.

More poignantly she wasn't quite sure she was ready for it.

"I went, 'What? I'm still trying to develop myself, what do I have to share? I'm still growing—I need a mentor," Myers said. "It took a minute, and I paused and thought I am like 15 years into my career, I do have a lot that I can share, but I want to make sure that I have a mentor."

Myers was connected with two individuals, a young woman who was just starting her career in NASA and a older man who was a veteran NASA employee.

"He was in engineering and nearing retirement and he said, 'I keep getting passed over for leadership roles because I'm not polished enough, and you seem to have the background to help me be more politically savvy.'

"I was just floored that someone who was so vulnerable and open and asking for that kind of mentorship. Here I am, a young female. But it was a great experience."

The experience, Myers said, was rewarding not so because of what she gave, but what she got in return.

"It is such a huge benefit," she said. "I feel like, as a mentor, I learn just as much as my mentees."

Michelle Boven, vice president and general manager at Nexeo Plastics, would be among the first to tell you that success begins with you.

"You have got to believe in yourself," Boven said. "If you don't believe in yourself, how can anyone believe in you."

Faith in who you are and what you can do is what will carry you through to your biggest goals, she said. Doing that requires some introspection, it means understanding who you are authentically and what your strengths are.

And then it means moving forward unapologetically.

"Find people around you who will help you. Find people who are going to be encouraging you," Boven said. "… You have got to surround yourself with people that are going to raise you up, not bring you down."

The onus is on all of us to implement sustainable practices in the workplace, no matter where you stand within a company and no matter how small the action is.

"Regardless of the role you are in, I guarantee that you can enact change," said Alex Grover, CEO of i2M, a manufacturer and gravure printer of flexible polymer films.

While managers and C-suite executives have more direct control over business practices and partnerships that drive sustainability in a company, Grover reminded attendees that making sustainable changes at work can be as simple as asking the right questions in meetings or reducing your personal energy usage.

"Where can I have an impact, even if it's small?" she asked. "Choose a project that's measurable and that's important.

"Small victories make a difference in this space," she added, noting many initiatives that have grown within i2M stemmed from grassroot efforts "and were started by an entry-level team member."

Recruitment and retention in the rubber and plastics industries can be challenging.

From the outside, the rubber industry is "old and dirty," said Marian DeVoe, president of rubber compounder Chardon Custom Polymers.

"And it's not. Was it? Yes," she said. But the industry today has grown significantly, especially with advancements in technology like automation.

And letting employees know that they're part of that growth helps with retention.

"We work really hard to engage people as early as we can," DeVoe said, "to make them feel included in our activities and growth."

Because when people feel like they make a difference at a company, they care more about the company and the opportunities it can present to them.

"Most of our management team has come up through the business," DeVoe said.

For plastics, the challenge is battling the perception that the industry is unsustainable.

"One of the things that we've had to do is retool our messaging and branding for sustainability in plastics," said Lytia Watson, vice president of human resources at Deceuninck North America, a design, compounding, tooling and PVC extrusion company.

"I know there's the view that plastics is bad," she said, "but I have started to market all of the work that we're doing in this industry to make sure that our product is sustainably manufactured."

For both industries, recruiters can market to potential employees the opportunity to be part of the solution when it comes to making the polymer industry more sustainable.

"There's some great innovation that is happening in this space," Watson said. "You get an opportunity to come into it, bring in your creative mindset and be a part of the solution."