I know that, I mean, you talked about this, and you're so involved in a lot of different things. But how do you balance that part of just doing things that you really do enjoy? &gt;&gt; It's hard to balance, and I think the key on balance is recognizing that you're not gonna be able to do it all now. You can do it all over time, but you can't do it all now. And so you do have to figure out what's most important right now. My mom made dinner every night, my mom made breakfast most mornings. And still, even now when I go visit, I was getting ready to go to something a couple weeks ago at the U of A. And she walks by, and she's like, you want scrambled eggs for breakfast or a Dutch baby? And I'm like, you're making me breakfast? &gt;&gt; [LAUGH] &gt;&gt; [LAUGH] And she got up so she could make me breakfast cuz she grew up like that. And that's her expectation of what being an adult and being a parent is, right, it's she's gonna make breakfast, and that was her expectation. So growing up, my expectation of being an adult is that you cook dinner. And my husband and I have struggled with that for our entire marriage. We don't do it, we go out to eat, we eat cheese, we eat hummus, we eat cereal, we don't cook dinner. My mom has never said, well, you should cook dinner and that would make you a successful adult. She's never said that, but we grow up with those kind of expectations baked in. A lot of it's just letting go of other people's expectations that may not even be an expectation of you. And so part of the balance is recognizing that you don't have to do the things that other people do. 

Meet with an engineer and ask what they do and why. Then meet another and ask the same questions. Our career is very broad so while one area may not be interesting to you, another might exactly line up with your passion.

I think the key to work-life balance is realizing that you can do it all over time but you can't do it all at once. I've sacrificed relationships in order to pursue my interests, but that's a choice I made because I wanted to pursue those things.

My day includes a lot of meetings and preparation. The issues being discussed are largely big picture policy items and not the tactical day-to-day decisions, though some of those happen too. The focus is on how to best spend the limited resources we have (primarily human and funding) to ensure that the state's transportation system is best meeting the needs of everyone using it.

Director

You switch jobs too frequently. You're intimidating.

Family

Values

Finding Your Own Life Balance

I got to be in some Sierra Leone publications cuz I was Miss Sierra Leone USA 2012. The Miss Sierra Leone USA pageant was for Sierra Leone American girls. And so I got to compete in that pageant. Part of the prize package was getting to go to Sierra Leone and a homecoming, that's what it was called. And so I got to go to Sierra Leone, but it was a lot of news like coverage on that thing and then also my platform for it because one of the requirements for that pageant was to have a platform, something you advocate for. And for me, the platform that I chose was advocating for the recruitment and retention of girls and women in STEM. Since I was a STEM student at that time, I wanted to do something that was near to my heart in some way. So I decided to advocate for that. And so with that I got to travel of course across the United States talking to a lot of girls and women, but also I got to go to Sierra Leone whereby I did a lot of outreach as well with that, and I was blogging a whole lot during that time as well. So they got to know a little bit of some of the things that I do and it was really cool because they look at me like the young girls and they say she's just like us. They can see themselves in me, which was really nice. That's something I wish I had growing up or by like, cuz for instance, when I used to think of an engineer when I was younger, it was a man that came to mind, but the fact that they can get to see that now representation is so important. So that was really cool that they're like, the princess is an engineer. Like that's really cool. When I was Miss Sierra Leone USA, I always used to say that the crown gets attention of people, the shiny crown and the sash and everything like that. But what's important is how to capture their attention and how to maintain that attention for people. And so what I say next is gonna determine that. And so it's like I've gotten your attention from all these pretty glittery things. But also I wanna make an impact in some way that you remember me somehow, and want to do something different with your life or do something better or inspire you to go beyond in some way. And so that was something I was very intentional about. So going to Sierra Leone I guess I tried my best to make a mark. I mean, we're not a very big country so [LAUGH] you can reach a lot of people anyway. So but I tried my best even when I was doing my internship there and stuff working in one of the provinces, the mining district that I worked in. I made sure to go out in the town as well not just stay in the mine camp but also get to go out and just Interact with the community as much as I can, just to inspire young girls. And it was really neat because working in the mind there are so many times people did double takes, triple takes because it's like is that a woman, cuz the women that worked at the mine, they were in administrative roles. So it was really neat and it's one of there's and they'd wanna speak the language, which I understand. And then I'm like, I heard that and I'm like, now go tell your daughters, not in a bad way. It's just the shock. But I would say, go tell your daughters and sisters, they can do this too. So that was one way that I tried to reach a lot of people as well. So, I mean, they may not know me as a leading woman in any way but they know that I care a lot about STEM. [LAUGH] And stuff, so that's really me. 

Go into every experience ready and eager to learn from others. Ask questions of everyone who works around you—even those who don't work directly in the same field. If you want to be a mining engineer, try to pursue your education and gain the experience you need without going into debt. Try your best to find affordable options to break into the field.

I started on the civil engineering path but didn't enjoy it, so I switched to mining engineering. Because I transferred into mining late, I took on internships to gain more experience quickly.

My background is in mining engineering but I got this opportunity to work as an environmental engineer. I doubted my ability to do it but took on the opportunity anyway to grow into a more well-rounded professional.

I've learned to be fearless when no one looks like me. I know who I am and am proud of my skin. It's rewarding to persevere and be the first to accomplish your goals against the odds. Stick to your morals and values and always maintain integrity.

As a woman in a male-dominated industry, I've learned to be persistent and not let anyone take away my voice. If an opportunity doesn't already exist for me, I'm determined to create it myself.

Every day is different. A day could entail ensuring that a petroleum contaminated spill on ground is cleaned, reported, and in compliance with environmental regulations. It could also include hours of creating quarterly or annual reports for mine areas to be in compliance with state water pollution control permits. Some days are occupied with interacting with operations and maintenance personnel through individual engagements or training at safety meetings to be environmentally-responsible.

Environmental Engineer

You lack direction and are doing too many things at the same time.

Inspiration

Support & Encouragement

Advocating For Women In STEM As Miss Sierra Leone USA

What was making Evernote like? &gt;&gt; I was living in Boston, Massachusetts, and it is very cold in the winter, it's kind of miserable. So my husband and I just decided we want to go somewhere where we're actually happy to live. And if we're gonna work, we wanna have an exciting environment to be there. So we bought a boat and we moved to Mexico and us and some friends started a company called Evernote. And while we were doing our portion of it from our sailboat in Mexico, it started to become this really exciting big company that grew and it attracted people from around the world. And a big part of that was because we were happy while we were growing it. The first place you have to start is to really take a self assessment of who you are and if you're not 100% sure of who you are and what you need, then you can't create something else outside of you. A lot of people start the other way around. They try and fix problems in other people before they've looked at themselves, and you can't make someone else happy if you're not happy first. So that's really what we did. We saw that we were miserable and we were unhappy. And once we were happy, once we taken care of that basic need within ourselves, then we were able to create something magical that other people love and use to this day. 

If you think you're interested in pursuing technology, science, and design, I recommend you start reading science fiction to try and figure out which lane interests you most so that you can start your pursuit.

I dreamed of being an astronaut and was told I could be anything I wanted. But I found out I had physical limitations that excluded me. It was a terrible blow and the depression that followed required help from a psychologist to get back on course.

While following my path, I found myself in getting deeper and deeper into debt. I was too stubborn to ask for help from anyone, which made me feel isolated and alone. I had to become extremely resourceful to pull out of it but I managed to do it!

At one point on our careers, my husband and I realized we weren't happy working in our offices in a big city anymore. So, we left to help co-found a startup and were able to work remotely while living on a sailboat and an RV.

Strategic Innovation Officer

Self-Reflection

You Have To Be Happy Before You Can Create Impact

Teaching is a performance. You get up every day and you have to sell this stuff to people, and some people who don't wanna hear it. [LAUGH] They are not necessarily a willing audience. So being willing to do that and having a wide understanding of your topic, wide and deep. Deep is great, [LAUGH] as well, but reading outside and experiencing outside of what you think is your particular topic or your particular subject, I think is really important. Being well-rounded I guess as always saying that. And, being focused on what your job In a particular lesson is, that was always the most helpful to me is to have my objective really in mind and really understand what it was I was teaching that day. Because just kind of doing a general idea, yeah, we're gonna talk about flowers today, we're gonna talk about plant reproduction, whatever. Okay, that's fine. But, what specifically, what is it you're gonna get out of that it's really, really important. 

Know the organizations you are interested in. Think of what you bring to the table outside of what you may think of as your assets. For example, I have teaching experience, gardening experience, and public speaking experience. Those were asked for in my job description. However, I can also use power tools, write well, and problem-solve. I use those last three more than the others.

I worked as a teacher for 18 years. It was very demanding and my work-life balance really suffered. I just got tired of feeling that way, so I made a career change and feel much happier now.

I don’t have a typical day; it’s always different. Sometimes I’m teaching and sometimes I’m building hydroponic units. I also spend time working with our fundraisers and sponsors. I am always answering inquiries and helping people run their hydroponic systems. A good portion of my time is spent answering teachers’ questions, primarily through email, about hydroponic systems that are already set up in their schools or about getting one started in their schools.

Hydroponics Manager

You were such a great teacher! It was your calling. How could you leave it?

Character

Talent

Qualities Of A Good Teacher

What is the number one characteristic you think that will lead to individual success? &gt;&gt; I think being driven and self motivated. But also having that lens of curiosity. One thing we talk a lot about here at Tesla is thinking from a first principles perspective. And what that means is not just seeing a different initiative or program, and how everyone else has done it. How are you gonna build a Gigafactory? There's not necessarily a regular playbook for building a Gigafactory. And so you need to think about, okay, well, if we wanna get to 500,000 cars a year as Tesla, how many batteries is that? How many gigawatt hours of self production do we need to create? And then you start to break it down piece by piece. Because if you're incredibly driven and you're constantly asking those questions, then you're gonna learn faster than others. You're gonna make a difference faster, and you're gonna end up doing more 

Surround yourself with people who can motivate, advise, guide, and support you. You'll lean on that support system multiple times throughout your life, from school to career.

My family moved around a lot when I was growing up, so I had to overcome the uncomfortable feeling of being the new kid in school multiple times. The experience helped me learn how to adapt to new environments.

Because my family moved a lot, I had to start over in different schools with different curricula. It meant I had to put in effort to catch up and get back to the level I'd be at had I not changed schools.

My work revolves around partnering with educational institutions to have a meaningful effect on our workforce. I support our internship program, through which we partner with universities to bring talent here for internships. I spend time getting to know what those students are doing every day to make an impact and how I can share their stories. I also work with our high school graduate apprenticeship program, which lets students start working with Tesla while still pursuing their education.

Workforce Development & Education Lead

I need to have things charted out in order to get to where I want to be.

Success

Important Characteristics For Success

The universe is chaotic, and in my business of history and film, people like to impose the idea of cycles of history. Or they like to say we're condemned to repeat what we don't understand or don't remember, and that's just not true. The universe is really chaotic, and because human beings never get out of this alive, that is to say, we all die, we try to superimpose some narrative, in retrospect, on what's happened. Which makes history, biography, even our own telling of our stories suspect. I do remember standing in the living room, the tiny, threadbare, cockroach-ridden living room of this fifth-floor walk-up on West 25th Street in Chelsea, that hadn't yet become Chelsea, in Manhattan. And saying, no, I need to go some place. And I had friends who had gone to college in western Massachusetts, with me, Amherst or Hampshire College, and who had moved up to Southern New Hampshire and Southern Vermont. And that they were there, and they were forging their ways as weavers, and midwives, and booksellers, and natural food sellers. And why couldn't I also go and live, not so much off the grid, but under the grid. that is to say, where I could heat my house with wood, and not have that expense. Where I could live as I did in 79 and 80 and 81, for less than $225 a year, and make it, and then do something. And then all of a sudden, realized that I hadn't compromised the vision, so it feels very, very strong. I also know that in retrospect, it sounds like a really, really good story. A kind of declaration of principles, Charles Foster Kane tacking up the declaration of how he's gonna live with Joseph Cotton, at the beginning of the second act of Citizen Kane. But there was a sense that if I could escape the specific gravity of the place where everybody, including me, wanted to be, New York City, that that would actually be a good thing. Now, I have grown children in New York, I have an apartment in New York, I'm never too far away from it. And that's always been the case, I always have to do things related to my films there. But I live here, I'm rooted here, my children have grown up here, and my films have grown up here and that's made all the difference. 

I can't tell you how to become a filmmaker because each person's path is their own. I do advise periodically evaluating yourself to determine if filmmaking is what inly rejoices. It takes a courage to realize and admit that you don't have something to say and filmmaking isn't for you. Make sure you put effort into self-evaluation so you don't waste your life on a dream that isn't really yours. Whatever you're doing, you'll know you're making a right step if you feel a spark of authenticity.

My mother died of cancer when I was 11 years old. It was like a grenade had blown up in our emotional lives. But it also triggered circumstances for me to find my true passion. Tragedy can provide the catalyst and courage to go forward and do things.

While creating my first film, I was living in New York and thought I'd have to leave my dreams and get a better paying job. Instead, I moved to rural New Hampshire to live on nothing and finish the film. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Documentarian & Filmmaker

We won't support your film. You're too young to be a filmmaker.

Experience

Societal Pressures

Finding Comfort Outside Of The Norm

What was a really big paradigm change for you, whether it be in your career or just in life, in general? &gt;&gt; I think for me it was having children, was one big paradigm shift. Suddenly, there was somebody who was dependent upon me. And in one since it was time to get serious and it was time to be less sort of indulgent of myself and my passions, and just what I wanted to do, and a sense of responsibility and caring for somebody else. So that was a pretty special moment. I mean, it's not something to happens. I was gonna say special moment, it's not like your daughter's bored and suddenly you switch. It just suddenly dawns over time actually, there's someone else to think about now. 

A friend of mine gave me really great advice that I want to share: planning out your whole life in one interest isn't necessarily the best way to live. Instead, live your life in 5 or 10 year stretches. When you feel as if you've accomplished all that you're going to within one of those stretches, have the confidence and courage to reinvent yourself.

I was diagnosed with throat cancer and went through an extended period of treatment. After getting through that, I chose to go back to work but I make sure I devote time and effort into my health, family, and hobbies.

I worked in the public sector for years and decided to transition into the private sector. The change delayed a direct path but I think living your life in periods and reinventing yourself once you've achieved what you wanted is a better way to live.

Transitions

Having Children Was A Huge Paradigm Shift

Would you say that you have a healthy balance between your life and your work? &gt;&gt; My wife and daughters would say not, but I try to. Six years ago now, I was diagnosed with throat cancer. And I went through an extended period of treatment. I had radiotherapy and chemotherapy and two operations, two pieces of surgery. And I remember the night I was told that things were clear. I got a text message from a friend that said, I bet the champagne corks are popping at home tonight. But actually they weren't. It's not like that, it's a matter of relief and perspective and you actually just enjoy simple things. I celebrated that night by doing a double-header. I went to my younger daughter's cello concert. And then I went on to my older daughter doing her sixth form rack night, where they were raising funds for charity. And that was just the ability to do very normal day-to-day things and just enjoy them was the most important thing. And I had to decide what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. And I decided to come back to work. I do a job that does require me to travel a lot, so you have to work hard. I was up this morning, did a five k run, beautiful along the front here. So I exercise a lot, trying to eat healthily, and try to make sure that when I'm home, I actually spend some proper time with family and friends and the like. But keep things in perspective and enjoy it, I think, is the important part. 

Values

Finding Your Own Life Balance

Finding Your Own Life Balance

Kristina Swallow

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