Natalie is very outgoing, she describes herself as extroverted and gets her energy from speaking with and being around others. In her time at bp, that’s translated into a passion for fighting for and opening up conversations about equality in the workplace.
Growing up, Natalie didn’t really have an understanding of what an Engineer did until she was inspired by a school teacher to understand more about all of the different problems Engineers around the world were helping to solve. This led her to apply for Mechanical Engineering at university. There, she thrived, enjoying her energy modules the most and deciding to tailor her dissertation towards Renewable Energy Storage.
It was this that led her to apply for bp’s graduate scheme.
bp stood out to me more than any other energy company as somewhere I could see myself working. Since joining as an engineering graduate in January 2020, the change in purpose and direction towards the low carbon agenda completely aligns with what I want to be doing in the long-term.
Natalie now works as a subsea hardware engineer and is part of the team designing and delivering subsea xmas trees, which are essentially a stack of vertical and horizontal valves installed on a subsea wellhead to provide a controllable interface between the well and production facilities. She works directly with engineering vendors validating their designs, managing different risks and working to integrate the systems into the wider project for seamless operation further down the line. She sums up her role as a project engineer as “using a technical understanding to performance manage delivery for a project.”
Podcasts and opening up conversations around DEI
Natalie is very outgoing, she describes herself as extroverted and gets her energy from speaking with and being around others. In her time at bp, that’s translated into a passion for fighting for and opening up conversations about equality in the workplace.
I spend a lot of my free time reading and talking about equality and inclusion with my friends and colleagues. At work I do a lot of work to move the dial on equality through different forums and business resource groups (BRGs).
As a part of her work with bpWIN and the Women’s Network, Natalie created and co-hosts an internal podcast ‘Connect and Reflect’. So far, they’ve released nearly ten episodes focusing on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, interviewing different bp employees– from graduates to VPs – and talking about topics such as International Women’s Day, women in engineering, life offshore, and intersectionality.
I really enjoy chatting to colleagues from around bp who I don’t know and aren’t actively connected to the DEI space. I think any conversation is good as it increases awareness and is a step in the right direction. I love seeing how this type of work can make a difference.
An intersectional approach
Intersectionality is a topic Natalie’s particularly interested in raising greater awareness of.
As a female engineer, I am typically in the minority at work. However, I am also aware that being white in the UK, I am also in the majority. Everyone’s situation is unique, which means that they can be disproportionally affected by different things. It’s really important to make sure that people are aware of these different dimensions of one’s identity and how that makes people feel. Changing D&I to DE&I with the E standing for Equity is a great step in the right direction. Equity is about fair treatment according to each individual’s different needs and situations and it focuses on what people need to achieve fair outcomes for all.
She says the first step is having those conversations, even if they can be difficult at first. “A lot of people will have blind spots and unconscious biases they might not be aware of, I know I certainly will, but it's important to promote ways to increase awareness as to why people feel a certain way and have those conversations together in an open environment.”
Stepping out of your comfort zone
As someone who’ll admit they like to be in control, it’s perhaps surprising that the best piece of advice Natalie’s been given is to push herself beyond her comfort zone. “I once got told that you've got to feel uncomfortable and a bit out of control when learning. I like to learn, and I like to be stretched, but feeling a bit out of control does make me feel a quite nervous. The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is to push past that. Being out of your comfort zone, whether that’s an unexpected career path, a difficult conversation or acknowledging your own unconscious biases, that’s when you have the biggest opportunities to learn and grow.”