Catherina Forde
Global Industrial Operational Excellence Manager, Valeo
Lucie Yahiaoui
Artificial Intelligence Architect, Valeo
Two women share their inspiring stories of thriving in STEM roles within the automotive industry. Explore their journeys and insights on innovation and career growth.
Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) have garnered significant attention and discussion in recent years, reflecting a broader commitment to gender equality, innovation and economic progress throughout the industry. Highlighting success stories from the automotive industry can provide significant encouragement and motivation for the next generation of female engineers, technology experts and more.
Passion for cutting-edge STEM
Catherina Forde, Global Industrial Operational Excellence Manager at Valeo, discusses her role and the motivating factors behind her career. “I enjoy working with leading-edge technology. My current role is interesting, deploying our new platform, discovering the different challenges and working with teams globally to find solutions — plus seeing what is potentially coming at us years ahead of the products being in the market.”
Showing an interest and passion about a topic is a highly motivating factor, cites Forde. “But I also believe that, through your experience at work, you can develop a passion for something you may never have thought you would be interested in.”
You don’t have to be a mathematic genius to find a role in STEM.
Lucie Yahiaoui
Finding solutions as an AI architect
Lucie Yahiaoui started as an intern at the company. Seven years later, she is a successful artificial intelligence architect. “AI architects ensure that final products and solutions meet the requirements of current and future project needs, collaborating with other architects and software engineers to design AI architectures,” she says.
“Since I was younger, I always liked to find solutions to problems. When I chose to pursue my studies in the engineering field, I discovered all of the different areas that engineers can work on.”
Role diversity and collaboration
Forde and Yahiaoui stress the importance of acknowledging the multitude of roles available for women in STEM. “For many people, there can be a perception that engineering is one role, but the opportunities are endless,” says Yahiaoui. “You don’t have to be a mathematic genius to find a role in STEM.”
Forde states: “Women can reach the highest level in technical or engineering roles.” However, more efforts should be made to emphasise that women are just as capable in engineering as men. “In fact, it’s diversity and collaboration from all perspectives that bring the best end products to market,” she adds.
