Virtual talks organized by the California Local Section Woman Chemists Committee are opened, as in the past, to the Permian Basin Local Section members to attend. The first talk of 2023 was the February 25, 2023, presentation “Nonlinear Career Path: A New Normal and a Fun One”. As with previous sessions, time was allotted preceding the talk for attendees to participate in breakout sessions for chatting/networking. The talk concluded with a Q&A with the speaker. All talks were via Zoom.
Dr. Atefeh Taheri
Dr. Atefeh Taheri received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Analytical Chemistry from the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University with Prof. Jerry Meyer and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis with Prof. Louise Berben. Atefeh started her first industry position as a product developer and formulator for the Clorox company. She then joined Chevron corporation, initially as a fundamental scientist, followed by various other roles. Currently, Atefeh is the Reliability and Maintenance Team Lead for the Western US plants and terminals of the America Fuels and Lubricants business unit of Chevron. In addition, Atefeh is the 2023 Chair for California ACS, on the leadership team of the Association of Women in Science East Bay chapter, and one of the leaders of Chevron PRIDE in Richmond (an Employee Resource Group for LGBTQA+ employees and allies).
People often ask children what they want to be when they grow up. It took Atefeh some years to realize that she had a broad interest in many topics and wanted to try various roles and responsibilities. She has embraced what Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta, has said, “Careers are not ladders, those days are long gone, but jungle gyms. Jungle gyms offer more creative exploration”. In this talk, Atefeh shared her story and career journey and discussed how nonlinear career paths can be challenging but very rewarding at the same time. She provided her perspective on what she had learned during her journey that may be helpful for others in navigating their careers.