Sarah Escosa
Interview Posted By: Annie Polis
1. Can you tell us a little about your background? (Where you grew up, what education do you have, a summary of your resume, did you always want to do what you're doing now, when did you start to become interested in STEM, what internships/ volunteering have you done?)
Born in Seattle, WA (yeah Aurora!), moved to Bay Area California when I was 10 when my mom’s job was transferred to San Francisco. Resume attached that shows more of my training background, not so much engineer or ISO quality systems auditor background. I knew I wanted to be an engineer to break the mold that for Filipinos, guys were engineers and girls were nurses (although Nurses rock!). I never knew I would be a global trainer and training coordinator but I’ve always had a passion for teaching and helping others. Somehow, those skills and building work relationships with people of all positions and departments, led me to what I do today =) My interest in STEM was sparked by my Uncle who was a Chemical Engineer and worked for Boeing. I wanted to become an engineer because of him. I just found out last November that the later part of his career was spend auditing client quality systems and that’s what I started doing 7 years ago and what I train and qualify people on today! Crazy.
Volunteer work:
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I’d like to think I help people serve their customers and I help people develop new skills.
· I develop, oversee, and review completed plans to qualify staff to learn something new (i.e. auditing client labs, being an effective trainer). This develops people’s career paths and skills to be cross-trained in more job functions.
· I design and execute training of UL employees and UL clients – training subjects include good Customer Service (it’s not enough to be smart, you have to know how to talk to people and actively listen), having an effective quality system that controls a testing and calibration lab, Social Styles (DISC personality assessments – learning what style you are and how to work with people of same or differing personalities/styles) and being a Trainer (difference between presenting and training, people skills, continuous monitoring, switching it up when needed, different teaching styles).
· I monitor staff performance and when there is a potential issue, talk to their manager and bring in other people to decide if the person needs to stay qualified in this job function. If so, we develop a plan to evaluate and requalify them. If not, we need to communicate that to them and how they can still support that department and in which way, if at all.
· I conduct discussions with clients to understand their UL related needs. If they wish to participate in certain programs, we create a solution path to get them there with associated costs for training, audits, and participation.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
For 7 years, I used my materials science background to help me create safety test programs and certify clients’ circuit boards, laminates, plastics etc. for safety. We tested these products for electrical, physical and mechanical hazards. What I learned more from college and life was how to think critically, problem solve, and work with people to achieve goals. I hope that shows in my answer to Question 2 =)
4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it?
In college, I dressed in a way that made me look like a Hip-Hop head. I’ve walked into the first day of some engineering classes where people asked me “Are you in the right class?” I said yes, walked to my seat and didn’t take that too hard. There is a nerd stereotype associated with people STEM careers so I just thought I was the exception to the rule. I never thought to compare myself to those people because quite honestly, I knew many of them were more book-smart than me. I knew who I was, I knew I wanted to learn something, at least pass the class to get my degree from Berkeley and was honestly excited for what the next phase in life was going to be.
As an engineer, there would be times that Asian male clients would visit our office to discuss their projects. Sometimes, they would only talk to the male in the room when I was the one handling their projects. I would try to be understanding as that was a societal thing they learned. I don’t believe it was ignorance. And eventually, there would be a question that only I would be able to answer, showing I knew my stuff and their product. Eventually, some of those clients became friends and would invite me to golf with them, like one of the guys.
As an auditor traveling around the US and Japan, I dealt more with older males. I was younger, female and Asian – pretty much the minority extreme. Even more, I had to learn to speak with confidence and conviction, knowing exactly what my reasons were when communicating a deficiency or opportunity for improvement with their lab’s quality system. I’ve been thrown out of a lab before. I called my mom and cried on the phone. But when I wrote down the day’s events, I realized I wouldn’t do anything differently. I went back the next day and was able to say that to the President and owner of a third party test lab. We moved forward, I completed my audit, and some staff changes were made to their lab by the time I returned next year. I believe that what I brought to light about the lab, influenced their changes and I became a stronger employee and person from that experience.
I had a female boss whom I felt, did not see all that I did for our group. I felt like her back-up manager but was not rewarded for the work I did. I stood up for myself during my annual performance review and asked for a promotion. It wasn’t given to me. I asked again the following year and it wasn’t given to me. She told me to change some things, but that was really just me continuing to do my job, and after 8 weeks, I got promoted. I even mentioned that I was taking action to move on with my career and transfer to another department. She was aware and still gave me my promotion, wishing me the best. We have a mutual understanding with one another now but do not do much business together.
Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?
Same advice I gave Andrea and you girls in 2013.
1. Know what you know and what you don’t know.
2. Know that you don’t need to know everything.
3. Learn to ask for help and create a resource base in school and life!
4. You don’t need to have everything figure out for your life before college or even after. Just be open to trying things, learning from them and you’ll become more of who you were meant to be.
5. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to do everything.
6. Passions change so don’t feel the need to keep up with something just because you’ve done it for so long.
7. Take time to do nothing!
5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
Best: The small wins like getting a Thank You for helping someone out. Inspiring someone to want to do something they never thought they could do. Being able to see other parts of the US and the world on the company or client’s dime. For 7 years I had a great work/life balance. I got to work from home, with flexible hours. My boss wasn’t checking on me all the time. I showed how effective I could be and was rewarded for it by getting another promotion and being able to continue working from home. While he isn’t my manager any more, he is still my mentor – he listens when I need him, he offers honesty and guidance, and pushes me to try different things.
Worst: Putting a lot of effort into the work you, being given consistent feedback that you’re doing great, then the higher powers that be, that don’t really know the work you do, tell you to change it, stop it, or that what you do isn’t good enough. You feel low, unmotivated and need to think if this is still the right fit for you. Like Maya Angelou says, “If you don’t like something change it. If you don’t change it, change your attitude.” So I’ll vent to get emotions out of me, but I won’t complain for long. I’ll do something about it.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
Be able to truly leave work on a daily basis. Your work is something that you are hopefully proud of but don’t let it be the ONLY thing that defines who you are. The amount of energy you place in things will change as you get older or as things shift in your life – relationships (family, friend, intimate), hobbies, work commute. Whatever you have a passion for will keep surfacing until you do it. Monitor yourself. If you’re tired, there is a reason and you might need to change or let go of something. If you have more energy or are smiling more that day, try do more of what you did that day! To-do lists are good to have to show what you’ve accomplished and what you have yet to do but they can also make you feel like you’re never done. Allot more time to get individual tasks done. Have days where there are no plans. You may end up doing nothing or a lot. Don’t feel guilty about doing nothing.
7. What do you define success as?
Success is what YOU define it as. I am successful if I can answer YES to “If you were to die today, would you be happy with how you lived your life and what you’ve accomplished?” There are still things I want to do and experience but my answer is YES.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Knowing how to:
1. Make someone feel heard, and
2. Communicate your thoughts so that different types of people understand you.
9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
God, my previous boss, mom, dad, my dance mom, and believe it or not I only got my first BFFs about 10 years ago when I was needing to lean on people outside of my family.
I believe I learned a lot of the following on my own but also by having the above in my life, whether to witness their lives or talk to about mine:
· I trust that what happens is meant to be, even when it is a struggle.
· Good things come to good people.
· Always look for work opportunities, no matter how comfortable you are. Know what is out there and be open to new possibilities.
· Standing up for yourself may not change someone or the outcome, but you’ll feel better and stronger.
10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
What I’ve learned most and how I do my work is to “Do the best you can and feel good about that, even if the result or outcome is not your preference. You can’t control everything but you can control what you do and how you react to things.”
Born in Seattle, WA (yeah Aurora!), moved to Bay Area California when I was 10 when my mom’s job was transferred to San Francisco. Resume attached that shows more of my training background, not so much engineer or ISO quality systems auditor background. I knew I wanted to be an engineer to break the mold that for Filipinos, guys were engineers and girls were nurses (although Nurses rock!). I never knew I would be a global trainer and training coordinator but I’ve always had a passion for teaching and helping others. Somehow, those skills and building work relationships with people of all positions and departments, led me to what I do today =) My interest in STEM was sparked by my Uncle who was a Chemical Engineer and worked for Boeing. I wanted to become an engineer because of him. I just found out last November that the later part of his career was spend auditing client quality systems and that’s what I started doing 7 years ago and what I train and qualify people on today! Crazy.
Volunteer work:
- Teaching science to 2nd and 3rd graders after school.
- Read-Across-America – read Dr. Seuss books to K-4th grade.
- Pack-a-Back giving filled school backpacks to poorer families in/near San Jos
- Second Harvest Food Bank – sorting and packaging food for the needy
- Mentoring Andrea
- Mentoring mentors
2. What exactly IS your job? What do you do on a day to day basis?
I’d like to think I help people serve their customers and I help people develop new skills.
· I develop, oversee, and review completed plans to qualify staff to learn something new (i.e. auditing client labs, being an effective trainer). This develops people’s career paths and skills to be cross-trained in more job functions.
· I design and execute training of UL employees and UL clients – training subjects include good Customer Service (it’s not enough to be smart, you have to know how to talk to people and actively listen), having an effective quality system that controls a testing and calibration lab, Social Styles (DISC personality assessments – learning what style you are and how to work with people of same or differing personalities/styles) and being a Trainer (difference between presenting and training, people skills, continuous monitoring, switching it up when needed, different teaching styles).
· I monitor staff performance and when there is a potential issue, talk to their manager and bring in other people to decide if the person needs to stay qualified in this job function. If so, we develop a plan to evaluate and requalify them. If not, we need to communicate that to them and how they can still support that department and in which way, if at all.
· I conduct discussions with clients to understand their UL related needs. If they wish to participate in certain programs, we create a solution path to get them there with associated costs for training, audits, and participation.
3. How does STEM relate to your job?How do you use the information you learned from your degree in your job?
For 7 years, I used my materials science background to help me create safety test programs and certify clients’ circuit boards, laminates, plastics etc. for safety. We tested these products for electrical, physical and mechanical hazards. What I learned more from college and life was how to think critically, problem solve, and work with people to achieve goals. I hope that shows in my answer to Question 2 =)
4. Have you faced any discrimination/ challenges being a woman in a stem field? If so, how did you deal with it?
In college, I dressed in a way that made me look like a Hip-Hop head. I’ve walked into the first day of some engineering classes where people asked me “Are you in the right class?” I said yes, walked to my seat and didn’t take that too hard. There is a nerd stereotype associated with people STEM careers so I just thought I was the exception to the rule. I never thought to compare myself to those people because quite honestly, I knew many of them were more book-smart than me. I knew who I was, I knew I wanted to learn something, at least pass the class to get my degree from Berkeley and was honestly excited for what the next phase in life was going to be.
As an engineer, there would be times that Asian male clients would visit our office to discuss their projects. Sometimes, they would only talk to the male in the room when I was the one handling their projects. I would try to be understanding as that was a societal thing they learned. I don’t believe it was ignorance. And eventually, there would be a question that only I would be able to answer, showing I knew my stuff and their product. Eventually, some of those clients became friends and would invite me to golf with them, like one of the guys.
As an auditor traveling around the US and Japan, I dealt more with older males. I was younger, female and Asian – pretty much the minority extreme. Even more, I had to learn to speak with confidence and conviction, knowing exactly what my reasons were when communicating a deficiency or opportunity for improvement with their lab’s quality system. I’ve been thrown out of a lab before. I called my mom and cried on the phone. But when I wrote down the day’s events, I realized I wouldn’t do anything differently. I went back the next day and was able to say that to the President and owner of a third party test lab. We moved forward, I completed my audit, and some staff changes were made to their lab by the time I returned next year. I believe that what I brought to light about the lab, influenced their changes and I became a stronger employee and person from that experience.
I had a female boss whom I felt, did not see all that I did for our group. I felt like her back-up manager but was not rewarded for the work I did. I stood up for myself during my annual performance review and asked for a promotion. It wasn’t given to me. I asked again the following year and it wasn’t given to me. She told me to change some things, but that was really just me continuing to do my job, and after 8 weeks, I got promoted. I even mentioned that I was taking action to move on with my career and transfer to another department. She was aware and still gave me my promotion, wishing me the best. We have a mutual understanding with one another now but do not do much business together.
Do you have any advice for up and coming women in STEM?
Same advice I gave Andrea and you girls in 2013.
1. Know what you know and what you don’t know.
2. Know that you don’t need to know everything.
3. Learn to ask for help and create a resource base in school and life!
4. You don’t need to have everything figure out for your life before college or even after. Just be open to trying things, learning from them and you’ll become more of who you were meant to be.
5. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to do everything.
6. Passions change so don’t feel the need to keep up with something just because you’ve done it for so long.
7. Take time to do nothing!
5. What is the best and worst part of your job? What do you look forward to in your job on a day to day basis? What do you wish you could change?
Best: The small wins like getting a Thank You for helping someone out. Inspiring someone to want to do something they never thought they could do. Being able to see other parts of the US and the world on the company or client’s dime. For 7 years I had a great work/life balance. I got to work from home, with flexible hours. My boss wasn’t checking on me all the time. I showed how effective I could be and was rewarded for it by getting another promotion and being able to continue working from home. While he isn’t my manager any more, he is still my mentor – he listens when I need him, he offers honesty and guidance, and pushes me to try different things.
Worst: Putting a lot of effort into the work you, being given consistent feedback that you’re doing great, then the higher powers that be, that don’t really know the work you do, tell you to change it, stop it, or that what you do isn’t good enough. You feel low, unmotivated and need to think if this is still the right fit for you. Like Maya Angelou says, “If you don’t like something change it. If you don’t change it, change your attitude.” So I’ll vent to get emotions out of me, but I won’t complain for long. I’ll do something about it.
6. How do you balance your work and personal life? Any secrets or advice you’d like to share?
Be able to truly leave work on a daily basis. Your work is something that you are hopefully proud of but don’t let it be the ONLY thing that defines who you are. The amount of energy you place in things will change as you get older or as things shift in your life – relationships (family, friend, intimate), hobbies, work commute. Whatever you have a passion for will keep surfacing until you do it. Monitor yourself. If you’re tired, there is a reason and you might need to change or let go of something. If you have more energy or are smiling more that day, try do more of what you did that day! To-do lists are good to have to show what you’ve accomplished and what you have yet to do but they can also make you feel like you’re never done. Allot more time to get individual tasks done. Have days where there are no plans. You may end up doing nothing or a lot. Don’t feel guilty about doing nothing.
7. What do you define success as?
Success is what YOU define it as. I am successful if I can answer YES to “If you were to die today, would you be happy with how you lived your life and what you’ve accomplished?” There are still things I want to do and experience but my answer is YES.
8. What is one personality trait that you think is universally important for a successful career?
Knowing how to:
1. Make someone feel heard, and
2. Communicate your thoughts so that different types of people understand you.
9. Who was a mentor to you throughout your career? (can be more than one!) What did they teach you? How did they impact your life?
God, my previous boss, mom, dad, my dance mom, and believe it or not I only got my first BFFs about 10 years ago when I was needing to lean on people outside of my family.
I believe I learned a lot of the following on my own but also by having the above in my life, whether to witness their lives or talk to about mine:
· I trust that what happens is meant to be, even when it is a struggle.
· Good things come to good people.
· Always look for work opportunities, no matter how comfortable you are. Know what is out there and be open to new possibilities.
· Standing up for yourself may not change someone or the outcome, but you’ll feel better and stronger.
10. What do you think is the best advice you've ever received ? What advice would you give your younger self if you had the chance? What’s one piece of advice you can pass on to us?
What I’ve learned most and how I do my work is to “Do the best you can and feel good about that, even if the result or outcome is not your preference. You can’t control everything but you can control what you do and how you react to things.”