One of the side quests I started last year was voice acting. I started learning more about the art of voice acting and began applying to any ads I found interesting! I need to work on my samples and reels to show the variety I can offer but hey, that’s not going to stop me from applying for VA jobs! As a loyal Headspace user, I remember thinking many years ago how amazing it would be to become one of the voices on the app. Years later, that little spark, that little idea, has come back even stronger, and it’s very exciting.

Who knows where this VA journey will take me, but I’m doing it for the love of the game - the journey, not necessarily the destination. Having 2 VA jobs so far has taught me so much.

Lord knows what my neighbours think when I audition for some of these roles, but I’ve had no noise complaints so far 😂

With my passion for coaching and supporting others, as well as building out my business and allll the layoffs I’ve experienced…I wonder if there’s a way to blend this experience with my daily meditation routine. But turning this into something that could benefit others, I mean, there are many meditation videos and breathwork sessions about decompression, avoiding work stress, returning to the workplace, etc., so I want to see what I can do under the ‘layoffs/redundancies/uncertainties at work space because if anyone can relate to you in that situation…It’s me!

So if you’re looking to try something new in 2025, do it! I’ll be sharing plenty more about my side quests ✨

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But why should you work for a startup? What concerns might you have? And what factors should you consider when choosing the right startup for you? 🔍

Naturally, there can be less structure in s astartup and a lot more ambiguity to start off with! However, there are benefits to this. In a smaller startup you are likely to have autonomy in the early stages. Often, you can be empowered to take risks, to try new ideas and learn an ample amount in a short space of time. There will be plenty of work to get involved in and there is likely to be a strong sense of collaboration and support, which is a great environment to work in or at least experience.

With this, you will develop the skills to be a lot more flexible and open to change.

1. When applying to startups, make the most of the Q&A opportunities throughout the interview process to address any concerns you might have. 🧠

Understand the stories behind the existing leadership team at the startup you’re applying to, find out the passion behind the startup and what motivates these leaders. After all, you want to work for leaders who truly believe in and are excited about, the future of the startup.

Look out for that spark! ✨

The following questions are examples of how you can find out more surrounding the startup’s journey:

• “What is the runway of the business?” This will give you insight into how financially stable the company is.

• “How have the share prices changed over x-period of time” or “What were the share values at the last investment round” This will help you understand how the business is performing.

• “What excites you the most about the business’ mission?” This will help you find out a bit more about the startup’s journey and how much the founders believe in the their mission.

• “What is the relationship like between the founders?” Tricky one, this might only be useful if you are in an interview with all the founders however it’s important to see the team dynamics for yourself.

2. Identify opportunities for career progression and professional development at the start of your interview journey. 🌱

The following questions are examples of how you can find out how the startup plans to support your personal and professional development:

• “What progression do you envision for someone in this role?” You want a company that plans for your growth.

• “What is the impact and scope of this role” This will help you figure out the scope of the responsibility’s and the expectations of the role.

• “Will this role’s responsibilities change over the next year ?” This will help you understand earlier on, if the scope of your role might change.

Asking the right questions will put your mind at ease and help you make decisions going forward.

3. Reflect on the reality of joining a startup and how it aligns with your passions, motivations and goals. 💭

When applying to work at a startup, consider:

• The risks versus the rewards. Joining a startup at different times in the journey can determine the risks and the rewards. Are you joining early when this are high risk but the impact in your role may be greater? Or later in the journey when processes and other things have been established which could mean a steadier experience?

• Your personal motivations for wanting to work at a startup. Why does this excite you, why does this particular type of culture or company phase interest you? When the pressure is one, will you still be passionate about your role and environment?

• The company culture. What is the company doing to address diversity, equity and inclusion? Is the business more of an echo chamber or do they champion diversity of thought?

• Working hours and how they align with your personal routine. Are people working long hours, are there lots of ‘snack perks’ to support working longer hours. What is the company doing to address employee wellbeing?

• Any red flags you notice during the interview process or while researching the startup. Trust your gut, if something doesn’t seem right find out why.

All of these things considered, we cannot predict the future. However, you can start to focus on our motivations and values, and prepare information in advance to decide whether career experience at a startup is the right choice for you.

Finding your next role is an important step in your career. So take the time to carry out research, understand your motivations and invest in the interview process. Good luck! 🤞🏾

It might be a conversation about setting boundaries, negotiting a salary, providing feedback that isn’t very positive or sharing some bad news. These are only a few of a world of examples but whatever the difficult conversation, in the back of our minds we are nervous.

We are just a little bit worried about how this might come across.

We all have strong opinions, and when we approach difficult conversations it is important to consider the fragility of the topic. As initiators we must understand how to navigate these conversations without making individuals feel worse by the end.

Imagine someone starts a conversation with you, you don’t know what it’s about but you have agreed to share some of your time with this individual only to be annoyed by the end of it.

You don’t want to make anyone feel like this do you?

Some of us are gifted in the art of conversation, some of us naturally enable people to open up and by doing this, we get a lot more out of others.

And for some of us it might be very difficult, some of us will need to mentally prepare ahead of the conversation to make sure it goes well for everyone. And that’s okay.

So how do we do this?

• Be transparent and facilitate a blame free zone

Being honest from the very start of the conversation will help put others at ease. When we are able to trust and understand that someone has our best interest it puts things into a better perspective. We are more likely to handle the conversation well, even if we end up disagreeing.

• Setup the conversation

Difficult conversations shouldn’t blindside others, where possible we should setup the conversation or set the tone at the start to ensure that we’re all on the same page as early as possible. No one likes to be put on the spot, so providing some context allows us all to gather our thoughts to make the conversation more effective.

• Create the space where ideas, opinions and feelings can be shared.

We should demonstrate empathy and remember the connection we’ve have built with this person. When we have difficult conversations we can end up focusing on the negatives or completely forgetting our emotional connections , remembering these connections are important as it reminds us to add a personal touch to the conversation. Putting a face to the conversation, a personality, a relationship or a friendship (no matter who it is) enables us to demonstrate care first, before diving into the topic of discussion.

• Open to your mindset changing or opinions changing as the conversation flows.

Yes, we’ve started this conversation with a clear agenda and outcome in mind, but also we should be open to the idea or even the possibility that we may learn something new as our conversation progresses. This may even lead to a better outcome in some cases or it might not change anything at all. The take away here is to have an open mind, by doing this we are able to remove a lot of bias from the conversation and demonstrate flexibility which will most definitely help others feel at ease. Ultimately, they will feel supported and be more receptive to the conversation.

• Be Calm

When we’re caught up in difficult conversations or situations it can be easy to let go, and be overcome with emotion. Instead try your best to stay calm and genuine. Showing emotion is important when creating a safe space for others but, in order to keep the conversation meaningful and useful for the individual it is very important to manage our emotions and practice patience.

So if you have any difficult conversations coming up, or if you have been putting one off, have a think about how you can create a healthy environment to hold this conversation. Take some time to consider what your looking to get out of it, set yourself up for success and good luck!

Emotional Intelligence is defined as:

The ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others, overcome challenges and diffuse conflict.

What are some key elements of emotional intelligence?

Self regulation is the ability to identify situations that cause behavioural changes then reducing the frequency and intensity of your impulses, and in some cases being able to resist these impulses completely. This is not to be confused with self control. Self control is a short term solution and a small part of self regulation which is more valuable and long term.

Empathy allows you to recognise emotions in others, and understand their perspective. It is the ability to:

• Put yourself in someone else’s position and see their perspective (cognitive empathy)

• Be able to feel the other persons emotions (emotional empathy)

• Feel someones pain and take action to help (compassionate empathy)

Compassionate empathy is what we tend to understand by empathy and is usually the most appropriate as most people will need you to understand and sympathise with what they are going through and either take or assist them to take action to resolve their issue.

Motivation is defined as our general willingness to do something, the psychological driver behind our actions. self motivation is a key skill for improving our EQ as we learn to commit to goals, drive self improvement and resilience.

Social Skills help us to build relationships and handle them without being overwhelmed. Developing our social skills will help us relate to others, improve our ability to make personal connections and increase the skills needed to handle and influence other peoples emotions effectively.

Maybe stop here with a closing statement explaining my next blog posts

• Why EQ is important for leaders of the workplace

• How we can develop our own EQ (+useful resources)

Why is EQ important in the workplace

Every day we make emotionally charged decisions. We feel plan A is better than plan B and we sometimes make choices based on our emotions or gut feelings. When we understand the origin and source of these emotions, especially when working in a team, we are more at attuned to each other. Using the current pandemic as an example, emotional intelligence is more significant than ever when teams are cross-cultural and global, increasing the complexity of interactions of emotions and how they are expressed. Essentially, emotional intelligence in the workplaces comes down to understanding, expressing and managing, good relationships and solving problems under pressure.

How do we become more emotionally intelligence?

It’s clear that we’re all emotionally intelligent but we need to take more time to self-assess and work on our emotions. As with anything, it takes practice but even small steps can make a big difference. Much as you would regularly exercise your biceps or any other muscle for that matter, you need to practice working on your competencies so that they improve.

Participants will increase their knowledge of emotional intelligence to improve their interpersonal and intra-personal skills, adaptability, stress management and general mood.

Our emotional intelligence course builds an understanding of how emotions shape who we are, how we relate to others and how to improve relationships.

• Observe how you react to people. Do you rush to judgment before you know all of the facts? Do you stereotype? Look honestly at how you think and interact with other people. Try to put yourself in their place , and be more open and accepting of their perspectives and needs.

• Look at your work environment. Do you seek attention for your accomplishments? Humility can be a wonderful quality, and it doesn’t mean that you’re shy or lack self-confidence. When you practice humility, you say that you know what you did, and you can be quietly confident about it. Give others a chance to shine — put the focus on them, and don’t worry too much about getting praise for yourself.

• Do a self-evaluation. Try out our emotional intelligence quiz . What are your weaknesses? Are you willing to accept that you’re not perfect and that you could work on some areas to make yourself a better person? Have the courage to look at yourself honestly — it can change your life.

• Examine how you react to stressful situations. Do you become upset every time there’s a delay or something doesn’t happen the way you want? Do you blame others or become angry at them, even when it’s not their fault? The ability to stay calm and in control in difficult situations is highly valued — in the business world and outside it. Keep your emotions under control when things go wrong.

• Take responsibility for your actions. If you hurt someone’s feelings, apologise directly — don’t ignore what you did or avoid the person. People are usually more willing to forgive and forget if you make an honest attempt to make things right.

• Examine how your actions will affect others — before you take those actions. If your decision will impact others, put yourself in their place. How will they feel if you do this? Would you want that experience? If you must take the action, how can you help others deal with the effects?

For emotional intelligence to be effective, we have to start with ourselves and understand how we operate on an emotional level. The thing that distinguishes leaders is usually their level of emotional intelligence and it is these skills which help aid a more effective workplace.

In the beginning, it might be hard to set up a routine you’re happy with so I’ve written a few tips to get you settled into your new work from home schedule whilst maintaining your productivity.

Set up your Work from Home space

Create a quiet, comfortable environment where you can focus.

1. Peace & Quiet: Find a quiet part of your home to create your work from home space. If possible, pick a space that is not associated with leisure time to help your brain to understand a work-life balance and dedicate a specific room or area in your home to work.

2. Get comfortable: Invest in an ergonomic chair. The worst part of a desk job is sitting in a bad chair, all day, 5 days a week. As a result, this damages your body and ruins your posture! The chair needs to make you comfortable in whichever positions you are in through the day, so it’s important to consider those positions before you buy.

Create a Work from Home routine

1. Pretend you are going to the office: Set your alarm just as you would for your normal commute. Set up a morning routine such as breakfast, make a coffee, catch up with colleagues and wear nice clothes. It’s tempting to stay in your pyjamas, yes I know.

2. Take clear breaks: I cannot stress enough, how important breaks are. In the office we stretch our legs and take breaks all the time, so make sure you’re doing the same at home. And, get away from your desk especially during your lunch break.

3. Stay hydrated: This sounds very simple but it’s easy to forget, ensure you’re drinking enough water.

Productivity

1. To Do Lists: Organise a daily to do list and check this off throughout the day. Having a check list will help you focus on your daily tasks and you’ll feel super satisfied when everything is ticked off!

2. Daily goals: Visualise your goals for the day or week on post it notes to help you gage your progress throughout the week. It’ll be easier to see if you’re behind (or ahead) on your tasks and you’ll find it easier to manage yourself.

3. Team meetings: Introduce more team comms where possible, such as daily meetings for 5–10 minutes to ensure everyone is up to date with their tasks and to check if anyone needs help.

4. Headphones with a good microphone: This speaks for itself, nothing ruins meetings like a participant with a dodgy mic. If you’re unable to hear someone properly it ruins the meeting and reduces productivity, so don’t let it be you!

5. Soundtrack your day: Make sure you have a lot of music to play during your working day. You might also find it useful to match your music to your mood or the task your completing.

Socialising

Keep a check on health and wellbeing: It’s important to check in on your colleagues and socialise, especially during this work from home period. Play games online with colleagues to break up your day and host video calls to replace the after work events you would normally enjoy. Whether it’s a Slack channel to post memes, music and pet pics or an end of day one-hour video call to talk about anything non-work related. A coffee break or lunch hangout via video conferencing, all of these interactions throughout the week can keep you all feeling connected. 💕

Originally published at http://iamthewomaninstem.wordpress.com on April 5, 2020.

Barbie has accumulated over 130 careers in her 50 year lifespan, and this will now be her second career with an engineering focus. Her previous engineering career being Computer Engineer Barbie in 2010.

If you remember, Mattel received heavy backlash when Computer Engineer Barbie came out with the book “I can be a Computer Engineer”, a book that made her look like a complete idiot. “I’m only creating the design ideas,” she says. “ I’ll need Steven and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!”. Barbie wears a USB stick necklace, spreads a computer virus and acts the fool.

Mattel, what were you thinking?

But they seem to have learned their lesson, this isn’t just a doll to inspire young women, Robotics Engineer Barbie comes in 4 different skin tones. As a black woman in engineering I am especially excited by the engineer they have made available, she looks like me for a change! In STEM we have a terribly low number of black women in our sector and encouraging more toy companies to develop diverse toys from STEM backgrounds may encourage more girls to consider a career in STEM instead of losing interest around 11–14 as many studies have shown us.

#representationmatters

Robotics Engineer Barbie comes with an interactive workbook created by Mattel and the Tynker.com program to teach children basic coding concepts. This is a great way to spark children’s interest in some of the branches of engineering that you would not necessarily discover at a young age.

“Our mission is to empower youth to become the makers of tomorrow through coding, and the Barbie brand is an ideal partner to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun, engaging way,” says Tynker CEO Krishna Vedati.

A common misconception in engineering is, playing with Lego as a child inspired you to become an engineer. I don’t even want to hear it, I played with my Barbie collection all the time. I had most of the dolls, cars, houses and accessories that were available during my childhood and girl, did I have an imagination! My Barbie squad got up to way too much….they had unlimited income and went on lots of adventures together.

To this day I wish I had kept them all, they’d be all cute in a cabinet and I would have a reason to buy some more, to start a serious collection. Instead, I gave them to my nephews along with all my VHS tapes and you can only imagine the carnage that followed.

Having Barbie in these roles will help more children become interested in engineering and STEM and potentially follow these careers . In the future they might say this was their inspiration for pursuing a career in STEM, they may not but at least it’s an option now, unlike many years ago where Barbie had great careers but not the STEM career for me.

On a final note, many of you will think “but do children play with dolls anymore? they’re just on their smartphones”. Well be a good role model and get children off their tech all the time. Provide a healthy balance of tech, playtime, cooking and indoor/outdoor activities outside.

We need to be the change, we have the tools to change young people’s live.

Find out more about Barbie’s Journey here, and how she became a Robotics Engineer:

What are your thoughts, send me a message/comment!

Originally published at http://iamthewomaninstem.wordpress.com on June 28, 2018.