Week 35: Achievements and Milestones

It feels like forever since I've blogged, but it really has only been a few days.  This week was crazy!  Everything was happening at an incredible speed.
Though I had very frequent reminders that I was approaching 35 weeks pregnant, this week was all about career milestones.

 UAE conference: of course time is kept with Rolex clocks

The week started out with me leading our group at ADIPEC 2012.  It was exhilarating!  I'm so lucky to work with such an energetic and talented group of people.  Seeing them surround our booth and present our technology reminds you that the guy that can't quite figure out the office coffee machine in the morning, really is a genius.

Our booth was stunning.  The team that flew in and helped us set up did a fantastic job!  Everyone was in place and !ON!  I really couldn't be prouder of our team and company!  The conference facility was over-the-top.  Everything was glitzy and expensive, and even though traffic was insane with all the road construction going on, overall, it was easy to maneuver.

Our awesome booth

Another view of our fantastic booth

Our keynote speaker at the SPE event

Towards the end of the week, I was given a day away from the conference for a special Society of Petroleum Engineers discussion panel event.  The topics were diversity and leadership.  I expected a lot of gender talk, and even though it did come up a lot, it was great to discuss diversity in its full realm: age, gender, religion, nationality and even non-religious moral beliefs.  There were high ranking executives from a variety of companies leading our discussions.  They would present on a topic, then float to our randomly assigned seats and lead the tables through in-depth discussions.

I was so fortunate to have been seated with an almost all-female team (except for a man from Scotland and another man from Saudi Arabia).  The women at the table came from a variety of countries, but about 6 of them were Emirati and dressed in traditional black abayas (picture below for those not sure what one looks like).  These were not your average engineers.  They were highly educated (PhDs) and high ranking managers at their respective major companies.  If I ever believed there was any repression linking their clothing to their day-to-day life, that was shattered.  They were very open to discussion and were willing to indulge my curious questions about their career paths and what work life is like for them in such a traditional and conservative culture.

Ladies in fancy abayas

Keep in mind that with occasional flips of the wrist or positioning of feet, you could easily spot uber-designer clothing and shoes...not to mention their handbags and briefcases!  My sweet little leather Michael Kors tote was put to shame next to their Hermes Birkins and Fendi bags and briefcases.  These ladies, though all business, had serious (and expensive) style!  

I learned so much about how they view themselves in their own culture, their respect for themselves and family and that their ambition, though dressed in long black covers instead of business suits, is no different than that of any modern woman in the business world.

We exchanged business cards and agreed to meet for lunch at some point in the future.  They were equally curious of how I planned on balancing my corporate aspirations with my VERY visible pregnancy.  I walked away from the event feeling that even though my culture has a much more lax view on clothing, their culture is actually a lot more welcoming of women into the workforce.

The population in the UAE is made up of about 80% expats.  So, there is a major push to get all of their citizens educated and empowered in the workforce, be it men or women.  I learned that more than 70% of the current Emirati students pursuing high level degrees (especially in maths & sciences) are women!
Incredible!!

So with all of that, my final major projects for the year are wrapping up.  The holidays are approaching and I'm getting ready to be a momma, that is, a momma with sky-high career ambitions!