Grace - Project Engineer
For this next blog entry we have decided to share with you the story of Project Engineer, Grace Cannon. Although not seen as your typical trade, here at Ladies in Trades we thought Grace’s story fitted perfectly in with our beliefs and goals. Grace has overcome and still faces many of the challenges and pathways seen by woman in trades. We believe Grace’s job embraces every aspect of being a tradie, through her work, beliefs and passions and I am sure you will agree with me when reading her blog. At Ladies in Trades we aim to share the stories of all woman from every different avenue of the construction industry and to share with you Grace’s story is seen as a great achievement at Ladies in Trades. Enjoy!
When I was in prep, I used to draw recycling machines; the soft drink cans would snake through crushing machines and melters to be moulded into cars or planes. My spare time was filled with making toys and contraptions out of cardboard boxes and egg cartons. I would pester anyone who would listen with questions of why and how does this work. I was the kid who played with the boys, spent every lunchtime playing soccer, loved matchbox cars and built planes. I was labelled a typical nineties ‘Tom Boy’.
This ‘phase’ and the support from my family set me up well to believe I could do anything I wanted. I was surrounded by strong women, my grandma began architecture at RMIT not long after it had just changed its name from the Working Man’s College. As World War II began soon after, she was deployed to work as a decoder, and her contributions awarded her a military cross! My other grandmother was one of Melbourne’s first female oral surgeons, yet couldn’t go to her graduation as pregnant people weren’t allowed.
At eight, me and my sister joined a boys cricket league. Our team had our backs every step of the way, and we played there until adults. However, as I grew towards teenagehood and moved to an all girls school, my confidence started to drop, and expectations change. Detentions were given for not wearing ribbons; I rarely shaved my legs, let alone wore ribbons. I was a rebellious teenager, to say the least, so I enjoyed doing what people told me I couldn’t or wasn’t supposed to. The school refused to put me in higher maths classes and said I was better off studying fashion. I ignored them, and found advice from friends at the local boys' school. About eight years later, I ended up interning in data analytics and AI with one of those boys!! I did have fabulous economics teachers who took me under their wing and taught me how to study. Motivated by these teachers, I then planned to study commerce at Melbourne (just like my mum), my ATAR pointed me in a different direction. It was great having two weeks what degree I wanted to do - I could truly make this decision on my own and listen to my gut. I chose aerospace engineering and business management. Playing competitive sport had taught me failure is okay, so I thought I am probably going to fail so why not give it a crack.
Walking into RMIT Bundoora on my first day was a shock; I went from an all girls school to an all boys school. In the same sense, it was the escape of my bubble I needed. I was surrounded by fellow nerds from all different backgrounds (some of whom did their degree through the army), and many would go on to do amazing things (a couple of my closest friends are now working at Boeing)! I travelled to Cambodia with Engineers Without Borders, where I learnt the power engineers have to make positive change. On this trip, I realised the strength of the typically feminine attributes of compassion, empathy and desire to bring people together. I discovered that by listening to people, we could create spaces, infrastructure and equipment that could make the world a better place.
From this trip I was inspired, I wanted to make the world a place our future generations could enjoy. I changed my engineering major to Stainable Systems, and elected to go on exchange to Vietnam. In Vietnam I studied cross-cultural business management, and travelled to Taiwan to learn mandarin. I loved sustainable systems, I was surrounded by more fellow nerds and even more inspiring women making their way into infrastructure and construction industries.
My combo of aerospace and Sustainable Systems engineering suited perfectly for wind energy. I did my final honours year practically- learning how to model wind climates and their energy yield potential for developing wind farms. I also worked with owners, engineers and lenders engineers on some of Australia’s biggest wind farms. I saw an environment that women thrived in - my two bosses and their boss were women, all their juniors (excluding me) male. There were flexible work arrangements to encourage all those who had families at home, and cheese board Fridays were excitingly welcomed.
After three years in engineering consultancy, I wanted to get my hands into one project and spend time away from the desktop and in the field. I am now a Project Engineer at WestWind for Golden Plains Wind Farm. My role is very varied - which I love - some days, I am out talking fencing and rainfall with farmers, others negotiating contracts in the city or creating climatic models for potential development sites.
As we see the Jacinta Hardens of the world, we are shown those traditionally feminine qualities can excel in leadership. I utilise mine every day in the field. From my experience, I feel the main obstacle seems to be old culture holding back young women from having the confidence to leap into working in the built environment. I see this changing, and can’t wait until the next generation come through, forging their own pathway into construction. The world can be designed and built by all for all.
