UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH EXTRAORDINAIRE MIREILLE TOULEKIMA

WOMEN’S EMPWERMENT

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH EXTRAORDINAIRE MIREILLE TOULEKIMA

Interview by Jasmina Siderovski

Global extraordinaire Mireille Toulekima is a citizen of the world having lived and visited more than 30 countries and born in the Gabon (Former French colony in West Africa). She grew up in this region before leaving at the age of 14 to board in a French family and study in France before going back to Gabon to work in the oil and gas industry after the tragic death of her beloved father.

“I always tell people that my relationship with the oil and gas industry was love at second sight. I got into that industry because I needed the money and needed a job after my dad who was the main bread winner died. I’ve been working in the oil, gas and energy sector for the past 25 years in a range of technical and leadership roles while carrying out empowerment work with particular focus on the resources sector, STEM, women empowerment and global leadership for the last 10 years. I am on a mission to help individuals to become the best that they can be in order to come out of the mass and stand in their own shining light. I want them to understand that they are unlimited, and they are only limited by the limits they put on themselves.”

When and why did you decide to advocate for women in engineering and STEM?

When I started working in the oil and gas industry back 25 years ago, the industry was very white Caucasian male dominated. I was the only black Petroleum Engineer woman of the company I was working for. I had zero support and had to figure out things by myself for several years before getting the confidence to ask my male colleagues to sponsor, coach and/or mentor me. Going through this challenging experience led me to not only position myself as the role model I was looking for early in my career but most importantly led 10 years ago to start my advocacy for women in engineering and STEM with the objective to grow the number of women in those very male dominated industries. The advocacy is not just about growing numbers, it is more about bringing more diversity in the leadership and create substantial added value for those industries as proven by statistics and numerous global studies.

Can you walk us through your journey, mainly finding the motivation to inspire others through your live shows?

My journey is one I think is inspiring people around the world. I come from a very humble beginning. Education (Formal and unformal), my extended family strong support and my determination to become the best version on myself have helped me get the confidence and courage to step into my power and unleash the greatness I knew I had inside of me. I am guided by the fact that challenging times are part of journey to greatness. My motivation to inspire others is routed in the mission I have to help individuals become the best version of themselves and understand that they are unlimited. I have myself been inspired by hidden heroes like my mum and my dad who put all their energy and have sacrificed almost everything they had to make sure my siblings and I get the best education. I still hear my dad’s voice saying: “I will not leave you any inheritance, the only thing I will make sure I leave you is a great education because education is the real wealth!!”. As I echo my dad’s words, education is central to what I do! Through the Greatness Engineering Hour Show I bring to light hidden figures, champions, people with stories of triumph, inspiring people who come on my show to share their stories, knowledge, tool and success strategies. My guests are living proof that challenging times are part of the journey of success and that through challenges we have an opportunity to expand, grow and go to the next level of our greatness. The Greatness Engineering Hour Show is a classroom of inspiration. For me when you can see it, you can be it hence my drive and commitment to share my story and get people to share theirs through the different platforms I created.

What are valuable lessons you have learned along the way in the industry as a woman?

My journey working in a male dominated industry has taught me several lessons:

1- Work hard and always be prepared! When you are a woman in a male dominated environment, a majority of People expect you to fail, it is up to you to prove them wrong

2- Be proactive and verbalise what you want. If you want something or more responsibility, you need to go after it. No one is just going to hand it to you on a silver platter. I’ve seen so many talented and smart women in the industry make the mistake to wait to be noticed or to be 100% sure before asking for a promotion or to work on a big project that could have been the catalyst to propel them up the leadership ladder.

3- Show off your ability to bring results to the table and Play to your strengths and authenticity

4- Leave nothing on the table irrespective of the challenges and obstacles you face. Always look for the opportunity in the challenge. Challenges are plenty for women

5- Focus on what you can control and not what you have no control on

6- Don’t disqualify yourself because of temporary failure or challenges from men

7- Understand that men whatever their attitude or reaction toward you always teach you something consciously or unconsciously from which you can create an opportunity

8- Forgive your male counterparts for the assumptions they make about you. Don’t take things personally. Cultivate confidence. Be assertive

9- Transform what people see as limitations of being a woman into opportunities

10- Know that everything happens for a reason. Adopt the mindset of thinking that everything is happening for you not to you

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Is there any advice you would like to offer anyone else who may be interested to pursue the same path?

The advices I have are:

• Be intentional and strategic from day one. Take the lead. Have a professional development and strategic plan, be abreast of what’s happening in your industry. Continue to educate yourself, to grow your skills, network and influence. At a higher level it becomes more about who know not solely about your skills and expertise anymore

• Get a sponsor who will promote you. It can be very difficult to advance as a woman in a male-dominated workplace without a sponsor.

• Have many mentors. Create your personal advisory board with each adviser with their own distinct skills and areas of expertise. It’s about building a support network you can turn to and lean on.

• Work hard, be confident and don’t try to be someone you’re not. Capitalize on your feminine leadership and your authenticity. Play to your strength

• Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone, seek the support you need, and, most of all, rise to the challenge to be the best you can be. Show people your talent.

What motivates you to continue being a change-maker, especially during these challenging times?

For me change and challenges are constant. Whatever the challenge, I always try to see the bright side of things and I help people who are connected or interacting with me do the same. I have experienced greater hardship than this before and it taught me to not let challenges become the main focus of my thoughts and purposely focus on what’s positive in these challenging times. I personally think Covid happened for me not to me. It pushes me to challenge the status quo and really play on my strengths. I see numerous opportunities for women like me to take on leadership roles during this period of crisis because I know that men tend to take the back seat in such time when the risk of failure is high. It is the right time for woman leaders to be or continue to be the change-makers and position themselves as the leaders they have been waiting for years! I am actually more motivated than ever because I see a great opportunity for me to use my authentic leadership to help bring solutions to the major problems various communities around the world are facing right now.

Who is your inspiration and why?

I’ve been inspired a lot by my dad. My grandparents were very poor, and my dad did not get the chance to go to school before I was 12 years old. He got financial support from the catholic church which was generous enough to pay for his education. This generosity gave my dad the chance at age 19 to go to France to study (all fully supported by the church). Because he started school late, dad was always by far the eldest student in his class. His colleagues in France were always making fun of him even nicknamed him “grandpa”. Despite all the name calling, my dad finished his engineering degree and become the 1st Engineer in his family. Hence his words: “education is the real wealth.

Is there a challenge, story or event in your journey that stands out that may inspire others?

When I started as a graduate in the oil and gas industry, I could barely speak English. I knew few words here and there. This led the majority my then team mate and my supervisor in particular to think that I did not have the skills to be in the team and work on high profile technical projects like the ones we were working on in the team.

The supervisor in question even suggested that because I was a pretty girl (in his terms) I should thing about a different career, forget about engineering and maybe shift to a career that is more conventional for women somewhere in the HR department. My first reaction was to take his feedback personally and start to believe him. But then after thinking deep about it, I realised that his opinion did not have to be my reality. I shifted my thinking and decided to use this experience as a catalyst for me to excel in the energy sector and prove him wrong. Today I am proud to say that I have proven him wrong.

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What are you plans for the next three years?

It is very difficult to make long term plans these days because of the constant disruption! In the next three years I want to continue to empower people and roll out the greatness engineering philosophy and the D.A.R.E leadership method internationally. My dream is to have them integrated in mainstream education around the world. In parallel, I want to expand our STEM QUEENS program in Africa and internationally. STEM QUEENS has for objective to empower at least one million women and girls in STEM by 2025. I believe STEM can be a key enabler for women economic empowerment in developing countries.

What is your favourite pastime when you aren’t working?

My favourite pastime when I am not working are running and reading. I’ve been a long-distance runner for more than 15 years. I also like spending time on my own in a remote place just by myself!

If you want to know more about what I do, check the following platforms

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mireille-toulekimaTwitter: https://twitter.com/MToulekimaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mireillemtFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mireilletoulekimaglobalYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MireilleToulekima

Websites: http://mtenergyresources.com http://stemqueensug.com https://thegreatnessengineer.com https://mireilletoulekima.com

Email: mireille.toulekima@toulekimaglobal.org

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