Motivation as a Critical Factor Towards a Solid Career of Leadership

Being motivated is a critical factor towards a solid career of leadership. As a woman, being an oilfield engineer is not easy. Not because it is an arduous job, but because people assume you will fail and give up. I am stimulated by challenges, assuring I overcome any obstacle through hard working. Joining a Schlumberger campaign for progressing women’s career was an important step to broaden my viewpoint over the circumstances. Seeing co-workers struggling to manage the hard working of fieldwork and still keep a marriage is overwhelming. Lamentably, most of the women concede defeat. Through reading and deep thought, I oversaw the root of this hindrance is not on the arduousness of the job or even with husbands or male co-workers. The problem is actually impregnated within the society itself and the key solution should be devised from that root which is education.

Accordingly, being an emissary of changes in my work field has become a matter of honour. I decided to speak upon the values of our profession and how to triumph over impediments. It aroused the decision to found the ANGOLAN Association of Women in Geosciences (AAMG) which is an organization aiming to empower women in the geoscientific community. I was elected the first president because amongst several women who were emotionally devastated, I urged them to pursue a common goal. Seeking for gender equality and breaking negative stereotypes that women are only right for specific jobs, inspiring young ladies to do fieldwork and do not be apprehensive about their personal lives. I started to plan visits in orphanages to check all girls are within the educational system, going to public schools to understand from the root why young ladies avoid studying complex subjects.

At university, I make sure they are all happy with their specific choices. As a leader, advocating for female education I started to advise girls and young ladies. I am currently mentoring five young ladies who live in Saint Barbara orphanage. I believe in my girls capacity and I expect them to grow as a person and explore their academic potential, challenging themselves and choosing consciously their career paths. I was pleased to lead Fernanda in starting a bachelor in Geology. She is finishing her studies and is delegated to join me in transmitting to other mentees the knowledge obtained. Along with this journey, it is challenging to convince girls to adapt to suggested schedules. The process commences with conversations showing them we are good listeners. Persuading them to achieve organizational objectives according to their talents and needs, we encourage them by offering our opinions to find solutions, guiding them in meeting their needs, finding part-time jobs to self-funding their studies in order to avoid them to engage in whoring. In this way, they grasp the relation between their careers and personal lives by changing social paradigms. I hope to be chosen by Chevening to magnify my leadership skills and develop my abilities to influence girls and young ladies upon returning home.