Hello! My name is Sivan Zouela and I am 23 years old. I just moved to Colorado in July to start working for Gates Corporation as an engineer and so far it’s been great! I I love taking trips to the mountains and hiking and skiing on the weekends. I’ve also been able to get in to rock climbing and lots of other outdoor activities. I feel so lucky to be able to have so many exciting adventures. Aside from that, I love to cook, read, and make art, especially pottery. There’s never a dull moment!

What inspired you to explore STEM when you were young?

I’m very stubborn, so the idea that boys were better at math and science and girls were better at English always bothered me. I think I tried so hard at those subjects just to prove that I could better at those subjects than my male counterparts. I was lucky too that those come easy to me and I was encouraged by my teachers to pursue STEM.

What do you enjoy most about what you do in your STEM career?

The unexpected creativity. STEM fields can have this connotation of being regimented and boring but what’s been asked of me the most since starting my career is to provide creative solutions. It’s truly a mix of art and science.

What is a fun, bizarre or insightful STEM fact about your field?

Our technology is so diverse! We are found in all sorts of products from vacuums to lumber mills and vary in size from a belt no bigger than a hair tie to a massive belt three times as long as me.