Working in the corporate world of DuPont taught Buterbaugh to venture outside of her comfort zone.
At the start of her career with DuPont, Buterbaugh worked in a project team to build a new greenfield manufacturing plant, and she "was faced with a flood of self-doubt" while being surrounded by industry veterans, most of whom had more than 30 years' experience, and almost all men.
"I was worried that I would never cut it," she said.
Instead of staying in her comfort zone, however, she sought out opportunities to build relationships with those same male engineers because she knew they could not only mentor her and teach her about engineering, but help her navigate the company.
"I took one assignment at a time, one project at a time, and I got noticed," she said.
After about 18 months with DuPont, her manager approached her about a new opportunity: to move to a site in Philadelphia in operations to be a maintenance reliability engineer.
"Maintenance and reliability engineering was never really something that I was that interested in, let alone going to Philadelphia to a union plant," she said. "And I remember saying, 'Am I being punished?' "
She said her manager told her this would be an opportunity for her to get operational experience and to learn how to be a good leader.
"So off I went to Philadelphia," she said, working in a business that was new to her, with all new people once again.
And her manager was right, Buterbaugh said. The experience helped her learn about operation lines and what they meant to delivering products to customers. "It actually really sparked the next few steps of trying to develop a business career," she said.
She continued to take on roles that she at first believed would not be good fits for her, holding onto words from one of her mentors: "If you're not uncomfortable, then you're not growing."
"It's these moments of pushing boundaries that truly shape your own journey," she said. "And they lead you to extraordinary growth."
Buterbaugh spent 15 years at DuPont, then two more at Chemours Co., which was spun off from DuPont.
It was at this time that a quote by fashion designer Tory Burch resonated with her: "If you're not scared, you're probably not dreaming big enough."
Buterbaugh knew her desire to feel uncomfortable and her appreciation for feeling scared would help her grow as a leader and a person.
At Chemours, she was leading the fluorochemicals business, worth about $1.5 billion at the time.
Then she left. For a startup with one employee and a lab.
"I left my big corporate, very successful career leading the fluorochemicals business," she said. "An investor had approached me with this idea of a nanotechnology for … the oil and gas industry that he had, and he basically wanted me to build the company from the ground up."
She said everybody she knew thought she was crazy for moving to the startup, but she was "looking for the next thrill."
And in less than six months, she was able to take the startup idea into a formula, into manufacturing and down a test well.
"I used every ounce of grit I had to figure it out," Buterbaugh said. "And man, I was uncomfortable for a long time."
But this is not just her journey, she said. "This is an example of what we as women are capable of achieving."
In other words, when women push back against self-doubt and stop underestimating themselves.