When we met this awesome engineer at The Assembly Show last month, we had to nominate her to be an Industry Person of the Week! Meet Michelle Bryant, Quality Engineer at ECOLAB. Here is what she shares:

Q. How did you get started working in your field?

Michelle: I went to Bradley University for a degree in Mechanical Engineering – concentration biomedical. I wanted to be an engineer that related closely to the daily lives of people in society. My first position actually was as a project engineer in the aerospace industry, and currently I moved into being a Quality engineer in the chemical industry at ECOLAB.

Q. What do you love  most about your job? What are you most proud of?

Michelle: I enjoy the ability to work as a team and being able to solve issues. I love interacting with our technicians and operators and being able to learn from each other to solve issues. I am proud of the company I work for because having a bigger picture for your day-to-day tasks is important. The fact that everything you do is valued.

Q. What advice would you give to someone considering this line of work or new to the field? 

Michelle: Be open-minded to opportunities and challenges. Being a woman and a minority in the engineering field is a challenge, but never let others stop you if you want to pursue engineering. You are going to face challenges and overcome them if you choose to. Nothing in life worth having is going to be easy. Key thing in all your knowledge and degree is having the ability to work with people and network. It’s not what you know, but who you know that will get you to the next steps.

Q. Can you talk about a project you recently worked on?

Michelle: I work in the refurbishment of commercial dishwashers that are often found in restaurants, hotels, etc. I have had the opportunity to figure out how to refurb a challenging machine and being able to help the assemblers with the steps on how to accomplish some of the difficult issues. As a team we were able to complete over 20 machines; it was challenging, but ‘teamwork makes the dream work’. These machines will be helping to save the amount of water being used, which is very important. Reducing  water usage will impact the environment in a positive way.

Q. Anything else you would like to add?

Michelle: If you grew up poor or never really had anyone to believe in you, don’t make that as an excuse for not being successful. If you’re having a problem getting a job in your degree, network more and get out of your comfort zone. Oftentimes, we are the ones that stop ourselves because of not believing we are able. In case you need to hear this today: You are more then enough to accomplish any goal you seek. So go out there and make some things happen!

Michelle Bryant with Cieana Detloff at The 2019 Assembly Show

Thank you, Michelle, for being our Industry Person of the Week and for your strong words of encouragement! We look forward to keeping up with you through the #PumpTalk Community!

Know an Amazing Person who is making valuable contributions within Industry? Nominate them to be a “Person of the Week”!