"What are some challenges you’ve faced starting a career in a male‑dominated field?"

Sexism in the workplace was one of the biggest surprises of my early career, and I know it shaped some of the choices I made about where I worked. I avoided environments where sexism was obvious — or where I had every reason to expect it would be.

One example came when I was working 12‑hour shifts at a remote job site. I was told to share a hotel room with a male coworker “to save money,” and because our opposite shift schedules supposedly meant we’d never be in the room at the same time. Of course, that wasn’t true. There were plenty of times we overlapped, and beyond the basic discomfort of sharing a room with a male colleague, all of my belongings and personal care items were on display. It felt inappropriate and unsafe, and I told myself I would never agree to that again. The manager should never have put me in that position.

Another moment that has stayed with me happened during my first days on a large construction site. I used a porta‑potty and found graphic drawings of female anatomy covering the inside walls. I was immediately uncomfortable and honestly shocked. When I walked out, I felt like I was under a spotlight, as if people were waiting to see how I’d react. I told my manager, and he responded by saying I was “supposed to use the pink porta‑potties,” which were designated for women. I hadn’t known that — but what bothered me more was how normalized the behavior was. No one questioned it. No one cleaned it. No one seemed to care that women were being degraded in a space we had no choice but to use.

It still disheartens me that this kind of behavior was accepted, even by managers. And I’m not sure I’m any less naïve today, because it wouldn’t surprise me if similar drawings are still being made. These experiences didn’t just make me uncomfortable — they made it clear how deeply ingrained the culture was, and how much work remains to create environments where women are respected by default, not as an exception.