Roya Rahnejat & Haida Liu, WiRE Academic Advisory Committee Leaders
Haida is a graduate from the Integrated Engineering program at Western University. She is currently a Project Manager at Kinectrics. Roya has an Engineering Sciences degree from the University of Toronto. She is currently working at Arup as an Advisory Consultant. Both Roya and Haida aim to become leaders in the industry while giving back through their involvement with WiRE. Meet two women, Roya and Haida, who are making an impact in the energy sector through their involvement with WiRE.
Their First WiRE Experience
Roya first heard about WiRE in 2015 during an university internship. Through the Mentorship program at the University of Toronto, she got connected with Julia Cushing who is on the board of WiRE. She was encouraged to attend her first WiRE Speed Mentoring session at the annual APPRO conference. This session gave her an opportunity to learn about what people are doing in the sector as well as the companies they are involved with. She is still in touch with one of the mentors that she met at her first speed mentoring session. The seed was planted, and she wanted to network and learn more.
Haida also got introduced to WiRE through a coworker while completing her masters at UofT. Her first WiRE event was a networking event held at KPMG. This was her first networking event and the experience taught her how to network. This included what questions to ask as well as how to build connections with peers and senior professionals. Through this networking session she was able to make a connection with a professional. Following the event, this connection continued, with periodic conversations on Haida’s career goals and growth. Half a year later, her mentor presented an opportunity at Kinetrics, her current workplace.
As she puts it, “You never know who you may meet at these events!”
WIREs Speed Mentoring Sessions – A Brief Overview
WiRE’s Speed Mentoring Sessions consist of mentors and mentees. Typically, each mentor is in conversation with 2-3 mentees at a time. Every 10-15 minutes, the mentees are mixed around. This gives the time and ability for the mentees to meet all the mentors. Mentees can be students or anyone who wants to join the energy industry. Mentors are working professionals who wish to share what their company and the industry has to offer. An added bonus is that they get to see the next generation of talent. Running now for 6 years, the Speed Mentoring sessions are a huge success for all individuals involved in these events. Mentee and mentor feedback have been great as they have described it as a welcoming experience and a great place to have a conversation on their careers and work life balance. Companies such as S&C Electric and Kinectrics have expanded on the concept and now hold speed interviewing sessions for new grads.
These sessions are fast and help cut the long journey to finding a job or a career path.
WiRE Advisory Committee – Planning for the Future
Earlier in 2020, both Roya and Haida were appointed to the WiRE Advisory Committee. WiREs Advisory Committee works to develop WiRE as an organization while carrying out programs and expanding WiREs presence worldwide. For Roya and Haida, this meant gaining more responsibility and having more involvement in WIREs direction for both the present and future.
In particular, these two women are focusing on the Student Ambassadorship program. They are continuously developing the framework behind WiRE’s stance to provide students with opportunities to learn more about the industry.
WiRE opened their first student chapter at the Ontario Tech University in September 2020, and its second chapter at Western University in November 2020. A few other student chapters are in the works for other universities such as York University and the University of Waterloo. From there the hope is to expand internationally as well!
The aim would be to make opportunities available now to young professionals available to university students as well. This would include bringing industry professionals to speak to students at university. As Roya says, “It will be a bridge that connects academia to the industry”.
Both Roya and Haida agree that it has been an amazing journey, coming back full circle. From attending their first WiRE event, to hosting their first WIRE event and finally becoming a part of the Advisory Committee. They are now able to give back to students and young professionals opportunities that they did not have. At the same time, they feel great to be working with the great team behind WIRE while making new connections with WIRE industry partners.
Working in the Industry
Along with being involved with WiRE they are both young professionals in the energy sector.
Roya works at ARUP as an Advisory Consultant. Here she works mainly with the Advisory group on merger and acquisitions projects. She is also involved in carrying out energy and infrastructure development projects. She attributes her career in energy to her upbringing in Tehran, Iran. She remembers pollution being a big issue and wanted to fix that.
Haida loves the field of science and technology and is fascinated by its constant growth. Haida works at Kinectrics as a Project Manager in their Transmission & Distribution department, specialized in overhead conductor qualification. As a Project Manager, she is tasked with all aspects of the project life cycle. This includes responding to RFQ requests, resourcing, development of specifications, final testing and validation as well as correspondence with the client. The majority of her clients are based internationally and normally would fly to Toronto to witness the testing program. With the COVID-19 pandemic, she has had to adjust to running online conference calls with client to ensure that the end product met her clients’ expectations. Given the duration of these types of projects, she loves seeing a project complete a cycle, from start to finish.
Their Inspiration
Roya considers Joanna a role model, starting WiRE, expanding it; It continuously amazes her. She finds that Joanna has also had a positive influence on the men and their views in the industry. She also finds her female consulting leader at Arup her role model as she has led many projects in wind engineering and advanced technologies. She wants to become an expert in delivering energy projects in Canada.
Haida considers her dad as a role model. He started his own business two years after she was born. Growing up, Haida found her dad’s schedule filled with work. She would listen in on his calls to colleagues or clients and remembers hearing key words such as “quality”, “deadline” and “continuous improvement”. That was her first lesson in project management. Over the years, it was great to see how her dad overcame difficult times and grow his business and profession. Now on her own career path, she enjoys discussing work challenges with her dad while gaining advice on his experiences. Haida enjoys the opportunity to work with international clients. She aims to continue her passion in project management while contributing to the transmission & distribution testing field.
Advice to young professionals
Roya encourages everyone to ask questions from your peers, family and friends. Learn to develop long-term relationship with your colleagues and get involved with an organization that you care about.
Haida encourages, “Don’t worry if you don’t know everything”. Starting her first job, she learnt how to do 70% of the tasks by herself. Having the passion to learn and spending time on developing skills you may lack in.
Closing Remarks
Both Roya and Haida enjoy working in the energy industry. They are excited about the future outlook on the industry and WiRE’s role in it. They encourage people from all genders to attend the events and follow WiRE on their journey. Relationships you develop while networking, may last for years to come!