What attracted you to the transportation industry?
My earliest memories revolve around bicycles, motorcycles, and wanting more than anything to drive a car. My dad was a small plane pilot and often took me with him. We’d build airplane models together, he’d let me shift his VW bug while driving to the airfield, and of course, “fly” the plane. I suppose it’s natural I’d be interested in moving people in machines.
What has been your greatest professional achievement?
For some reason, though I didn’t grow up around trains or have any particular interest in them, the entire 22 years I’ve lived in New Mexico I’ve made a living working with railroads. I guess my greatest professional achievement is that I actually developed a rewarding, multi-faceted profession I couldn’t have seen coming or expected to last this long.
How have women made a difference in the transportation industry?
Women seem to have a more obvious heart-felt approach to their work. For instance, the general manager of Santa Fe Southern Railway, when I started in 2002, was a very caring woman who, for example, did many things to improve people’s lives, including trying to help itinerants who sometimes camped out under the train cars. She and her husband often stood on the Santa Fe Depot platform waving goodbye as our train left the station. In the bigger picture, women add another dimension and round out the workings of any endeavor. There is a great complimentary effect when women and men work well together, bounce ideas off one another, and respect, though not always agree with, one another. It brings balance.
What was the biggest influence in your selection of a career in transportation?
It selected me! I’m fascinated by the notion of humans animating the machines they create. A locomotive, an ocean liner, an airplane, while attractive as a creation it its own right, remains inert without human habitation. In a sense, we’re the spirits of the vehicles we create, and when things go well, it’s really liberating!
What is your favorite aspect of your job?
That has changed over the years. When I first started as a conductor at Santa Fe Southern, I loved being in the caboose when we’d be pushing back to town—it’d just be me with the scenery and the sounds. Although, as “the eyes” and person on the point of movement I was responsible for the safe movement of the train, it was usually a serene and focused task. Today, I love working with our younger generations of operating crew and onboard staff, imparting all the nuances and lessons I’ve learned over the years.
What lessons have you been taught from the important women in your life that you have applied to your own life?
My mother showed strength, conviction, and courage from her adolescent years selling potholders and candy, then as a teenage secretary for government contracts at RCA in Camden, New Jersey, and then upped the ante and moved us overseas when I was young. She worked hard as an entrepreneur and built a good life for us. I never heard her complain. I think the saying goes something like “you could fall into a pile of crap and come out smelling like roses.” That’s her. I’d like to think I inherited a small piece of that pie!
How have these lessons helped you succeed as a woman in transportation?
I never heard my mother bemoan the fact that she was a woman in a man’s world—and I’ve never bought into that either. I’m a woman in a field that happens to be overwhelmingly staffed by men, but most of my experiences always led me to feel like those men were my brothers.
What natural talents do you possess that help in your chosen career?
Endurance, flexibility and creativity to weather storms and changing dynamics. These qualities no doubt come from my competitive nature on the tennis court and growing up as a foreigner in a 3rd world country.
What part of your career story would you like to share with the world?
Perhaps because my upbringing was ungrounded in a physical sense, I tend to have an open-ended, non-linear view of things which doesn’t always fit in with the conventional approach of our culture. I was once on a commercial flight and a fellow passenger, actor Bo Svenson, got to chatting with me. I must’ve been around 16. He said something that stuck with me: “if it feels right, do it.” Well, in a sense, that’s a great pick up line by him! But he sincerely imparted a solid piece of wisdom that day, one I’d like to pass on.
How long have you been working for the company/organization? And what positions have to you held prior to your current one?
Started as a front desk employee at Santa Fe Southern Railway in 2002. Soon thereafter, trained as conductor, then engineer, became Asst. GM somewhere along the line in those early years. In January 2006 joined the NMRX startup and became the first female engineer. In 2011-2014 worked as an NMRX dispatcher. Been involved with Santa Fe Southern on and off through the intervening years—it’s my railroad alma mater. Re-booted Santa Fe Southern in 2020 and been with them (again) since 2021.
How does what you do/what the organization does make a positive impact in the community?
Lately I find myself frequently saying “I was the first female engineer for the Rail Runner”! I’m sure my age has something to do with it—let’s just say I can now ride free on Wednesdays!—and a certain amount of pride in my achievement. But there’s more to it. I love being a woman in a non-traditional role. I recently got to give a big hug to one of the current female engineers of the Rail Runner who had been a ticket agent when I was there. We counted on less than 10 fingers who among us women had become engineers in the 18 years since service began. Not sure what exactly that says, but it says a lot.
What do you think is needed to further attract women to the transportation workforce?
More women operating crew! When young girls and boys stare at you in awe, wonder and sometimes confusion, and you take them aside to show them something special about the equipment or your job, it can help them think outside the box and open up possibilities they might not have thought about if they hadn’t seen it for themselves.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to enter this industry?
Be willing to take the next step. Have an exploratory attitude—outcomes are never assured. Learn different aspects of the transportation sector you would like to be involved with. You never know what opportunities might arise—be ready, and at the same time, stay focused on and learn to prioritize the many tasks at hand. Reflect and if, overall, “it feels right,” know you’re on the right track.
Anything else you would like to add?
People enjoy themselves on trains. It gives them a sense of community; it’s a shared experience of camaraderie.
As told to Allyne Clarke, Marketing Manager, Rio Metro Regional Transit District.
