02 Erica D'Eramo: Mechanical Engineer, DEI Professional, & Founder

The Driven Women Project

"Changing the game from within — sometimes you need to create a new path to shine as a leader."

Erica D'Eramo, a trailblazer in the energy sector and champion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), joins us on today's episode. Founder of Two Piers Consulting, Erica is a mechanical engineer with two decades of experience in the international energy industry, now dedicated to elevating DEI in workplaces.

In this episode, Erica and I talk about how she decided to become a mechanical engineer despite initially believing it sounded too boring! Because girls often look at math and science related fields and think it sounds hard or uninteresting, right?

Erica also shares her thoughtful theory as to why so few women enter into male dominated fields, and why the few who do, don’t always last. It isn’t what you may think, and has to do with how girls and boys are socialized differently.

I was most excited to learn what her life was like from being one of two women on a boat out in the ocean for 30 days at a time, to being in the board room being surrounded by men, - these are two totally different environments that she needed to navigate – listen carefully to hear her techniques and how she handled being told that swearing is not “lady-like.”

Make sure you listen all the way through because Erica talks about what well intentioned organizations need in order to make their diversity equity and inclusion initiatives truly effective.

- Learn more about Erica's work: https://www.twopiersconsulting.com/

- Reach out to Erica: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-deramo/

And don't forget to leave a review or share the episode to inspire another woman who might be on her own path in a male-dominated career!