Etleva Shehu, a Corporate Planning Analyst at Cenovus Energy, shared insights about her STEM career journey and her efforts in promoting gender diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. Read about her experiences below.
Can you share with us a pivotal moment in your STEM career where you overcame a significant challenge, and how did it shape your professional growth as a woman in this field?
My engineering career started following a prescriptive path – I worked as a co-op student in the field, completed a 16-month internship and then graduated with a Petroleum Engineering degree. I then got accepted into a 5-year engineering new graduate rotational program at Husky Energy (now Cenovus Energy) where I got to rotate through completely different roles throughout the company until I received a placement. I went into every new role with an open mind, positive attitude, hunger to learn and complete trust in my organization to guide me in my career. After a significant organizational restructure that changed my role and responsibilities, there was a point when I questioned if I should be in engineering anymore because I had received feedback that my personality may not fit the traditional engineering archetype. This was in parallel with the same time that my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away shortly afterwards. This was the lowest point in my career because I felt I may not succeed and was seriously contemplating pivoting out of engineering. The greatest learning that I had from what felt like “hitting a bottom” is that you get to completely recreate yourself and your story. I decided to become more proactive about my career and took more ownership of my own path. I applied for a role that I felt was better aligned with my goals and aspirations and got the role right away. I feel reinvigorated in this role and on a team that encouraged me to embrace all of the unique qualities that only I have to offer the group. This has shaped my personal development as I have learned that I should always fight to advocate for myself and for the value that I bring to the table. I feel more passionate than ever in supporting other women in STEM to embrace their authentic selves and to help advocate for their voices as well.
As a woman in STEM, what strategies have you found most effective in advocating for gender diversity and inclusivity within your workplace or industry, and what advice would you give to other women navigating similar challenges?
The most influential experiences in advocating gender diversity and inclusivity in my workplace have been discovered through the Women at Cenovus (W@CVE) D&I network. I am the Events Lead on W@CVE leading 15 passionate young women who have completely shaped my personal development journey. The most effective strategies I have found for advocating for gender diversity are:
- Raising awareness: This is accomplished through executing events, panel discussions, workshops, and fireside chats that broach challenging topics.
- Setting quantitative targets: Cenovus has set a company target of having 30% women in leadership roles by 2030 and they are actively monitoring the progress of this target.
- Networking opportunities: Provide an informal environment for strategic connection between staff from a range of diverse backgrounds, including gender, age, career level and business functions.
- Embracing inclusivity: Ensuring that there are no geographic barriers for our site employees across the entire organization and actively selecting females of visible minorities to participate in events.
- Men allyship: The “Circles of Influence” and “Men as Allies” programs are aimed to build integrated connections and collaborate with men that are allies within the organization.
- Experiential learning: Opportunities for women to attend conferences, workshops and STEM-focused programs that advocate for gender diversity.
The biggest advice I would give to other girls and women navigating similar challenges is to never give up on themselves and the impact that they’re having. As I’ve progressed throughout my STEM career, I have seen huge strides accomplished compared to when I first started. Even though I still find myself sometimes being the only woman in the conference room or onsite, it is important to establish the way for future STEM women. As challenging as it can be, it’s even more rewarding knowing that you are breaking down barriers to make gender equity the norm in the workplace.
Can you highlight a woman pioneer or role model in your field who has inspired you, and explain how their contributions have influenced your own journey?
A woman role model that has truly inspired me has been a previous manager that I have had at Cenovus, Suzanne Thibodeau. She has shown me what true leadership looks like: enabling and supporting your team to reach their true potential especially during the challenging or difficult times. She has advocated for me and had my back even during moments of huge reorganizational challenges at the company. I feel so fortunate to have worked for her to get insight into how she approaches problems, how she navigates complex situations and how she always leads with integrity. This has deeply influenced my own journey because I get to see a strong powerful woman leader that has carved her own path and maintained her authenticity along the way. I didn’t realize how important it was to work with a role model that you truly look up to and that embodies core values that you value until I worked for her. This experience made going into work feel like a safe space where I could challenge and actively stretch myself professionally knowing I would have support along the way. The mentorship learnings that I had working under her guidance are what I hope to pay forward to young women in STEM that I will be lucky to meet throughout my own career.
