Following the success of her workshop at our recent virtual Career Fair, we invited Cassie Leonard from ELMM Coaching to host our very first career development workshop for mothers in STEMM.

This was an active learning workshop designed to help STEM moms focus on exploring their career aspirations and learning practical tools to get into the right mindset and take the necessary steps to secure their dream job.

Cassie is an executive coach, engineer, founder of ELMM Coaching and author of “STEM Moms: Design, build, and test to create the work-life of your dreams.” She has 16 years of experience working as an aerospace engineer, including as a senior leader of a large team. Cassie founded ELMM Coaching to support and empower engineers, leaders, moms and mentors to reach their fullest potential.

Mothers at various stages of their STEMM career attended the event, from graduate students and postdocs to mid-career professionals and entrepreneurs. The event was truly international, with participants from many countries, from Australia and Germany, to the US and Canada… This was a great opportunity to meet STEM moms from all around the world! 

Cassie began the workshop with an important question: “What are your big, audacious goals?” She encouraged the participants to delve deep inside to discover their strengths and then urged them to embrace what they really wanted, something that can be especially difficult for mothers.

“What are your big, audacious goals?”

Another important and difficult topic for mothers in STEMM is work-life balance. Interwoven within our drive for fulfilling and successful careers are our personal aspirations and need for work-life balance. Cassie challenged the participants to define what work-life balance really means to them, and then write down a list of several specific “musts” in their dream job. Throughout the workshop, the participants discussed many other topics and networked with other moms during two breakout sessions. After each session, everyone exchanged ideas together and compared the results of their exercises.

This workshop was a truly supportive learning space for the members of our community. It was wonderful to share experiences and get to know so many inspiring mothers in STEMM while learning the ins and outs of thoughtful career management.

Written by Christina Ford
6th October 2023