It's Not a Legacy, It's Just Me

Since my layoff, people often ask what I’m focusing on. Yes, I’ve updated my resume and I’m exploring new opportunities. But one of the most meaningful things I’m doing right now has nothing to do with job applications.

It’s called Building Bridges — a Mujeres Omega Foundation program where Latina kids and their moms dive into hands-on STEM. On the surface it looks like play: glue bottles, popsicle bridges, robot kits scattered across a café table. Look closer and you’ll see something more important taking shape: confidence, curiosity, and belonging.

What We Actually Build

• For kids: Design → test → fail → redesign. A collapsed bridge isn’t defeat; it’s iteration.
• For moms: A new seat at the STEM table. They coach, try, and model courage.
• For me: A reminder that engineering isn’t just steel or drawings. It’s problem-solving with people at the center.

The Leadership Thread

Leading these sessions sharpens the same strengths I use as a project manager: build trust, guide a team, make complexity feel doable, deliver. Different context, same muscles — and the results are visible in real time when a design finally holds.

Beyond the Workshop

Engineers Canada has a clear target: 30 by 30 — increasing the share of newly licensed women engineers to 30% by 2030. Policy matters, but pipelines start earlier. Every bridge we test, every mom who leans in, every “I built this” moment is one small step toward that goal.

For me, Building Bridges is more than volunteering. It’s a way to heal after a professional loss, to contribute with purpose, and to remember why I became an engineer in the first place.

Projects end. Companies change. The bridges we build in people’s lives? Those last.