Meet Karen Richardson
Karen Richardson has completed multiple college courses in pursuit of a registered nursing career. She is currently a Senior Staff Associate Investigator in Analytical Services at Science & Innovation at Dupont Canada. In her free time, Karen enjoys spending time with her two grandchildren (Emmitt and Audrey) as well as quiet time at home with her husband and two Boxer dogs (Thelma and Louise). She also really enjoys a good science fiction movie.
When did your love of STEM begin?
I am not sure that I ever categorized the interesting and evolving job that I have as being STEM but I have really enjoyed the learning process with it over the last 27years. I initially went into the field of Nursing right after high school as I had an innate desire to help people and found science/biology very interesting. I have had some mental health challenges over the course of my 54 years of life and got a bit side-tracked from that career. I ended up working in a manufacturing/production environment dominated by men for nine years when an opportunity to apply for a role in Research came up. I was accepted into the Analytical Research team and it has been a never-ending story of learning and helping people in the many multi-disciplined teams within my company.
What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?
Life long learning and the satisfaction that comes from helping people and solving challenging problems daily. I feel very fortunate as my company is committed to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the work I do daily is supporting the very technology that can make those goals a reality.
What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?
I would just tell them to go for it and be confident in their own ability and right to learn. I think it could really benefit them to reach out to role models for stories of both positive and "negative success/failure" to help them at any point in their career journey. FYI-I truly believe that "negative success/failure" moments are where we truly learn the most about ourselves and our own ability to be resilient.