Can you share a bit about your journey and what led you to work in water?

My name is Jessica White and I grew up in an engineering family with both parents being Chemical Engineers who worked at NASA and my older sister went on to be a Biomedical engineer (now has her PhD in polymer science). When I went off to college I knew I would be an engineer, that had been set since an early age, what I didn’t know at the time was that I’d end up in the water sector. I chose Civil engineering due to my love for concrete and breaking things but found my true love in Construction while doing my Co-ops. I took an opportunity on my last Co-op to come to Atlanta from Ohio and work for Western Summit building treatment plants and absolutely fell in love. I have since switched to the Consulting side as a Program and Project Manager as I love solving problems and figuring out ways to keep the systems operational for the end users! This new role allows me to still be involved in the Construction side of the industry while also managing work and a new program that Gwinnett County is working to get off the ground.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Driving work forward is the most rewarding part of my job. I truly enjoy helping make sure that the work can be completed safe, in a timely manner and with as little disruption to the facility as possible. It’s easy to ask for work to be done, but to actually execute it efficiently while keeping people happy is what I excel at and feel the most fulfilled with when it goes well. While many people see problems and want to run away, that is what I want to run towards and gets me most excited about my work!

Why is celebrating women in water so important?

I am raising 3 young women and want to make sure they know at all times their worth and that they are capable of everything and anything. Celebrating women in general shows them, as well as many other young women (and kids) that we CAN. Adding water to the mix is important as it’s a constant need, it helps people that don’t even realize how important and vital to our life water and the cleaning and management of wastewater is to our futures. Add to it that this industry has a very small percentage of women in it and joining forces to show our abilities is important. Lastly, I want them to know they can be successful AND have a family if that’s what they want. They can make their families a priority and have a career and independence to show for it.

What is a moment or project you are most proud of?

To be honest, the moments I am most proud of are being there for my family while managing work. I left the Contracting side because I wasn’t able to manage both sides well enough for what I wanted when our family grew. Everyone has to decide for themselves what that looks like and when I realized what my goals were, I went after finding a job that would support that. I grew up with parents who worked and didn’t attend our events, I made the choice I would be at EVERYTHING my kids had and have been able to do that in my new role. The team around me has supported that and understands my priorities, so seeing this team gather together to cover when others have to do something else at home (whether that’s a sick child, COVID homeschooling, softball, etc.) is what this is all about.

What advice would you give to young women just joining the water industry?

Be willing to help anyway you can, but also to know how to stand up for yourself. If you feel you can run something more efficiently, step up and say something, if you have ideas, speak up, if you need to change things to work better for you as your life changes, don’t be scared. We are working to live, and finding what your passion is, as well as what your drive is, will help you build the career you can love long term. Don’t ever feel like you are stuck, sometimes change is important to reignite your passion.

We thank Susan and our Partner, Gresham Smith, for supporting Women Leading Water and sharing their perspective with our community!