Future Leaders of Waterpower (FLOW): A New Networking Group for Young Professionals

ADVERTISEMENT Future Leaders of Waterpower (FLOW): A New Networking Group for Young Professionals

A FLOW meet-and-greet at the NHA Booth at Clean Currents 2021, attended by FLOW members, members of the NHA board of directors, and other waterpower industry leaders.

The National Hydropower Association (NHA) started Future Leaders of Waterpower (FLOW) to attract and support diverse young professionals in the industry. From monthly calls to happy hours at conferences, the group hosts activities that provide a welcoming environment and a clear pathway for professional growth. In this interview, NHA’s FLOW leader Marycella Dumlao talks with Hydro Leader about how the group helps boost retention, transmits industry knowledge to the next generation of leaders, and gives young professionals a chance to make their voices heard.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Marycella Dumlao: My background is in international development. I have bachelor’s degrees in both economics and music. I started my career at a consulting firm, doing management consulting for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Before I joined NHA in 2019, I worked at Maritz Global Events, a large event-management firm, where I planned everything from conferences as small as 30 people to trade shows with over 130,000 attendees.

Hydro Leader: Please introduce NHA.

Marycella Dumlao: NHA represents over 260 organizations in the waterpower industry across conventional hydro, pumped storage hydro, and marine energy technologies. We advocate for our members with Congress, and we also provide educational, networking, and other membership services.

Hydro Leader: Would you give an overview of NHA’s professional development and training programs?

Marycella Dumlao: We just launched a new career center (careers.hydro.org). It is user friendly for both job seekers and employers, and job seekers can post a résumé for free. There are also other resources there, such as résumé-writing resources and interview coaching. Employers can post internship listings for free. They pay a fee to post job listings, but doing so gives them access to a searchable database of résumés.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about FLOW. What problem was NHA trying to solve by launching this new group for young professionals?

Marycella Dumlao: We launched FLOW to address two problems within the industry: a lack of diversity (our industry is 70 percent white and 70 percent male) and the need to replace and retain workers as we face an oncoming large wave of retirement. FLOW seeks to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and give emerging leaders in the industry clear pathways for professional growth.

One of the great things about the waterpower industry is that it is so close and tight knit; the people in it have known each other for decades. But for a newcomer, it is incredibly intimidating when you walk into a room where everybody knows each other. Although everyone in the industry is welcoming, you don’t always know that during your first event. With that in mind, we are helping to build a community by introducing members of FLOW to existing industry leaders in the hope that they start building those connections and those bridges and in the hope that they stay in the industry. There’s so much going on in waterpower, and there’s so much investment flowing into the industry, that it is vital for us to attract and retain the best talent.

Hydro Leader: Is FLOW aimed primarily at young professionals who are already in the industry, or is it also aimed at college students who are considering careers in hydropower?

Marycella Dumlao: When I was building this program, I wanted to make sure that it would be open to NHA members and nonmembers alike. That way, it’s accessible to students. We have had a few undergrads and graduate

students reach out to be part of FLOW. Our monthly virtual calls are open to everyone. I try to get a range of speakers to share their knowledge of the industry. On a recent call, Cameron Schilling, NHA’s vice president of market strategies and regulatory affairs, gave a talk on Markets 101. I also try to get at least one speaker to cover soft skills like how to do a cold approach at a conference or how to advocate for yourself in a room.

Hydro Leader: Are there any other limits on eligibility?

Marycella Dumlao: FLOW is for young professionals under the age of 40 and with up to 15 years' experience in the waterpower industry. We are aimed at young professionals, but since the industry is skewed on the older side, we set that cutoff at 40. We welcome women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us more about the activities you host through FLOW and the opportunities that are open to participants.

Marycella Dumlao: We host social events at all our conferences. At the annual Clean Currents tradeshow and conference, we’ll have a networking social as well as a few meet-andgreets where we show content that is aimed at the FLOW demographic. We had a FLOW networking happy hour at Clean Currents 2021 that was wildly successful and a small, private dinner afterward. FLOW hosted a Taco Tuesday–themed social at Waterpower Week in April 2022. We hold the monthly calls that I mentioned to continue building community and sharing industry knowledge. I also hope to have a few virtual and in-person workshops throughout the year on topics chosen by FLOW group members.

I help NHA plan meetings, so I have some sway in terms of finding FLOW folks to participate and be on the agenda. I also have been able to get FLOW folks on the steering committees that choose content and build programs for our events. I have connected FLOW members with industry leaders whom they want to speak to. FLOW is not a formal mentorship program, because so many great mentorship programs already exist, but I think that many informal mentorship relationships will form through FLOW. Since our monthly calls involve small groups of around 30–40 people, participants often get face time with the speakers, many of whom are industry leaders.

We try to provide opportunities for our members to speak or moderate at our conferences or to join steering committees. Several members have written articles for NHA’s POWERHOUSE media platform. We want to provide them with the exposure and the experience they need to strategically situate themselves when it’s time for promotion. We also want to bring more diversity to our panels. Nuria Holmes, the vice chair of FLOW, and Renee Fernandez-Lipp from Pacific Gas and Electric Company both spoke at Clean Currents. They are amazing women of color in different stages of their careers. Being part of FLOW really does give folks opportunities for exposure across the board.

Hydro Leader: If any of our readers are interested in joining FLOW, what should they do to learn more and to get involved?

Marycella Dumlao: They can go to our website: hydro.org/FLOW. Or they can e-mail me, and I can get them on our e-mail list. We have a call on the third Thursday of every month at 3:00 p.m. eastern. And like I said, we have a presence at our two national NHA-organized events: Clean Currents and Waterpower Week in Washington.

I’m happy to work with people who want to be part of FLOW and to support them in whatever they want to do, whether it’s a research paper, submitting an article, or speaking at an event. I’m happy to coach them through it, and I know other folks in the industry who are happy to help them on their career paths.

Hydro Leader: Is there anything you would like to add?

Marycella Dumlao: It’s an exciting time to be part of FLOW. Elliott Jackson of HDR and Nuria Holmes of SWCA are part of the leadership committee, and they are doing a great job of rolling the program out and guiding the group’s activities. We are still looking for a third leadership person—a social chair—who we hope will come from the utility side of the industry. If someone is interested in that, they can let me know. Our leadership team gets really involved with the industry, so obviously they get a lot of recognition and exposure.

Hydro Leader: What is your vision for the future of the program?

Marycella Dumlao: Right now, our biggest goal is to grow the network of young professionals. What I envision is a program that caters to its members and has a very active membership. Right now, our members are a little shy, but I want them to say, “Hey, I want to learn about this,” or “Hey, I want to speak on our next FLOW call about XYZ,” or “One of my goals is to speak at an energy conference.” At the end of the day, I want them to feel empowered to advocate for themselves and advance in their careers so they can become the next generation of waterpower leaders. H

Marycella Dumlao is a meeting planner and program coordinator at the National Hydropower Association. She can be contacted at marycella@hydro.org or (202) 750-8410.

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