I have been a lawyer for 30 years. I like to help solve problems, and work with engineers, geologists, environmental scientists, computer scientists and lots of people who know a lot about STEM. I am also a STEM cheerleader because my 20-year-old daughter is in college for math and physics. My 17-year-old son wants to be an engineer who design cars that are better for the environment. One of my jobs is to make sure they do their homework.

What inspired you to explore STEM when you were young?

I loved math when I was in school. I liked solving problems that had an answer. When you write an essay, there isn’t a right and wrong answer, but with math, I liked that there was a right answer (even if sometimes I got it wrong!). I also had good math teachers who cared a lot about their students, which gave me confidence.

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

I work for a gold mining company, and I am actually a lawyer who gets to help the engineers and other people at my company who are in STEM careers. I like learning about what they do to get gold out of the ground and protect the environment while they are doing this. I help make sure that they follow the laws when they are doing their jobs.

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

Some lawyers say that they became lawyers because they weren’t good at math or science. But I don’t think that’s true. I think understanding math helps me think logically and solve difficult problems. It’s like a puzzle–but instead of a math puzzle, it’s a legal puzzle.