Choose to challenge: International Women’s Day 2021

However, she persevered and was eventually offered a rotating equipment engineer position at bp’s liquefied natural gas plant at Tangguh. Unsure if she could do the job, she turned to her father for advice. 

“My dad told me: ‘Do you want to learn something new?’ I replied: ‘Yes, but I don’t know if I have the capabilities to.’ He said: ‘You can do it.’  It sounded like a magical spell, and I immediately accepted the offer,” says Safira. 

She never looked back. On site in Tangguh, she became a team leader and is now loving her new job based in Jakarta, where she hopes to continue to inspire confidence in other young female engineers.

Working from home over the past year has meant Chan, like countless others, has had to juggle childcare with a busy, full-time job.

Asked which role is more challenging, she says: “Definitely taking care of my five-year-old, Alex. Both Helge and Bernard are excellent at following my instructions; Alex is not!”

Describing how she has coped, she says: “I used what we do best in bp – I did a plan and organized a schedule. I also set up a support network of other parents in the same situation. Humour and self-forgiveness help!”

She adds: “And I have two extremely supportive bosses who just ‘get it’. This makes all the difference – I have been allowed to miss meetings if I have a class with Alex and I just feel cared for with no judgement.”

“Women sometimes get comments or looks that suggest they won’t last in the job, but that just made me more determined to prove them wrong.” 

Even Ola’s father, who is her biggest supporter, had warned her against choosing this career path, saying she’d struggle to find a job. But, she says: “That just inspired me to try even harder and when I received my first acknowledgement for a job well done by the vice president of wells, it really boosted my confidence.” 

That’s why she is keen to see more women choosing a career in STEM and advises young girls “to reach out to people who have progressed in the field and try to get a clear vision of the different opportunities available to them.”

Most of all, she encourages them “to never doubt their capabilities to pursue their dreams.” 

She is determined to see other women succeed, too. “It is important that we are mindful of unconscious bias and anything else that could compromise the hiring process,” she says. “We need to continuously challenge ourselves to ensure we provide equal opportunities for everyone to succeed in the organization.”

Having started her own new role in the middle of the global pandemic, what advice does she have for coping?

“As COVID and lockdown has extended, I think the work/life balance has become harder to achieve. The key is to be quite strict with yourself – don’t allow meetings to creep to later in the evenings, turn off the computer, go for a walk, cook dinner with the family, load up the next episode of whatever series you’re watching and disconnect your mind from work.”

Harry is also a great believer in making sure others get recognition for their accomplishments by championing their ideas as much as possible.

Alongside her role as a technologist, she is a member of UK Pride committee – a community of LGBTQ+ individuals and allies in the company. She also founded the bp Pride Pangbourne chapter.

“To me, Pride is a shining example of what can be achieved with the passion, commitment and courage of a group of people with a common purpose. It’s also a really brave response to the potential expectation of shame, by choosing to define yourself as proud.”

“We are expected to bring our whole selves to work, yet for a long time it felt like I was being asked to change who I was to progress. In order to fit into the stereotypical definition of a leader, I felt I had to change the fundamental things that were core to my being, the part of me that makes me who I am, that makes me good at what I do.   

“And then, with the support of friends, co-workers and great leaders who accepted the unfiltered me, I was pushed to excel, to be my authentic self, which led to my many breakthrough moments and career progression, for which I am grateful.”   

When Keisha is not implementing digital solutions for bp, she is an ambassador for bp recruiting and mentoring the next generation of women technologists and is involved in promoting diversity and inclusion across communities in Houston.