I grew up in rural Georgia, and there, local manufacturers offered summer jobs to high school students. By default, I found my first job at a manufacturing plant that made women’s clothes. I think manufacturing was easy for me to choose because when I was a young girl. My father would take me to work with him on the weekends when he would check on operations at the local quarry. I was constantly around heavy equipment and manufacturing, so it’s what I knew. Manufacturing is exciting to me because it allows me to make great products and grow professionally. One of my favorite things about working in manufacturing has been working directly with people in operations. Being able to do continuous improvement and project work has always kept things interesting and challenging, too. When I started my career in this field, being a woman engineer and often the only woman in my workgroup made it sometimes a little challenging. I overcame those challenges by learning to be assertive and making sure that I did the best job possible. I would recommend manufacturing to all women because it’s rewarding. You will see the results of your hard work in the products you deliver, and it offers so many options for different career paths.
Manufacturing allows you to be creative and grow professionally while making a great income that can support you and your family.
Mary Nutial was a Business Advisor for FloridaMakes. She holds a bachelor’s in industrial engineering, a master’s in organizational management and is a certified Textron Six Sigma Black Belt.