Journey in Energy Transformation: From Oil to Sustainability-Akanksha Mathur

Akanksha Mathur discusses her journey of transitioning from the oil and gas industry to sustainable energy. We talk about the importance of having support systems, especially for women in STEM fields, and how finding a community is important when transitioning to a new workplace or school. The conversation touches on the need for professional support, such as mentors, allies, and buddies, to make the workplace safer and more supportive for women. The episode also explores the importance of conversations around climate sustainability within younger generations and the need for people to take opportunities and make pivots in their career paths. We also  highlight the significance of transferable skills when switching to a new industry. So join us on this episode of Life Beats as we explore the importance of mentors and transferable skills in the changing job market of today.



Akanksha Mathur is an accomplished engineer and manager with over 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. She completed her undergrad in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi, where she stood out as the only female student amongst 70 males. After starting her career as a field engineer on offshore rigs, she went on to work on onshore and offshore rigs in various countries for eight years. Akanksha then pursued management roles, leading global digital transformation projects for seven years. Last year, Akanksha made the switch to the green energy space, joining Walbox Chargers. She is honored to be a part of platforms that bring attention to important topics and is excited to share her knowledge and experience with others.

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Transcript

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:02:44]:

Hello everyone, and welcome to Life Beats with Sirisha on Radio Caravan, 104.1 FM and 700 a. M. I'm so excited you're here. Summer is almost here. It's like 80 degrees starting to get warm. Many of you may be busy with graduation happening. You are either graduating someone in your family, maybe your kids. Well, congratulations. It's an exciting time. They're entering a new phase. Either they're entering college or they're heading off and graduating from college or trying something new. So congratulations and enjoy the summer and the time that you get to spend as the transition is happening. I'm your host, Dr. Sirisha Kuchimanchi. I'm a former tech executive, a podcast host, and an entrepreneur. I host the podcast Women Career and Life. It's spelled womencareer and life. It's a top 30% spotify podcast. If you're looking for career advice on how to grow your leadership or advance, check it out. You can find it on any of your favorite podcast platforms. And if you're looking for a community to join for South Asian women for career and financial independence, check out Sahita. It's by looking at Sahita live. Sahita Live. You can click on the button on the website to the right called Join. And you can meet other women from across the globe who are walking similar journeys as you and find guidance and support as well. So let's dive into today's conversation. So today I have Akanksha Mathur. And Akansha and I met in interesting circumstances. So we actually met at the Indian Association of North Texas Women's Day celebration where we had a bunch of us, maybe like ten women, talking about our own journeys and what our experiences were and what we were passionate about. And if you've heard me talk about on this show, I talk about financial independence a lot. And really, that's what my platform was for that day. And Akancha talked about her journey, which she will share today. Excuse me. And about her energy transformation. So Akansha welcome. We are topic for today's energy transformation from moving from oil into sustainable energy. So Akansha, why don't you start with introducing yourself a little bit and then we will segue into a lot of the things we want to chat today.

Akanksha Mathur [00:05:11]:

Thank you so much, Arisha. It's an honor to be here and I'm looking forward to a fun chat. And I would like to start by thanking you for starting and initiating all the platforms to bring up the topics, which need a lot of attention but are not much talked about. As for my introduction, I completed my undergrad in mechanical engineering from IIT Delhi, where I was the only girl amongst the 70 boys. And I completed my BTech and started my career as a field engineer on offshore rigs with an oil and gas service company. I followed, I traveled around different countries, worked on onshore offshore rigs for eight years, and then I was done with operations, so I wanted to move into management. So I spent the next seven years working in management, leading some global digital transformation projects. Last year, I made a huge, I would say, switch, where I moved out of oil and gas and moved into green energy space when I joined Walbox Chargers.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:06:20]:

Okay, so much to unwrap in that I was going to ask you this question, but I'm so glad you brought it up. By the way, the phone lines are open if you want to join this conversation and have questions for either Akan Xiaomi, the number is 2148-1733. Number again 214-8173. You will go live on air. When you call in, you said one out of 70. I was going to ask you how many girls were there in your IIT program? So not many.

Akanksha Mathur [00:06:49]:

Looks like yes, it seems like it was an unconventional, I would say department for girls. I would say I chose. However yeah, it was challenging. I'll be honest. I remember my next year also was pretty much same one girl and similar ratio the first two year. Like, a little bit about that. I would say first two years, it was a struggle. Nobody would talk to me. Right?

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:07:20]:

Yeah, I can imagine.

Akanksha Mathur [00:07:21]:

And when you start with one girl, 70 boys like, oh, you must have that VIP treatment. And trust me, it was completely opposite.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:07:29]:

Because no one wants to step out and have that first conversation and be bragged by their friends. Did you go to a girl school or a coed?

Akanksha Mathur [00:07:36]:

That was another thing. I always studied in coed, so it was a new thing to me. It was like making connection to a girl or a boy was a norm. I never had to think about it. So I was like, thrown in this ocean and no one would talk to me. And anyways, I would say in engineering colleges, the groups like study groups and exchanging class notes, those are key part of your journey. In college, I didn't have a chance to do that. And in the end, I think by the end of two years, I was like, I have to do something about it. So I ended up taking the initiative. I took the first step, starting reaching out to the boys in my class, let's do this project together, or things like that. I would have to give credit to some of my professors who helped me sustain those four years. And I think taking that initiative did help me a lot over the next two years and made a lot of memories, lot of lifelong friends. Ended up doing my final BTech projects with two other batchmates boys, obviously. And we were graded like among the top and we got the best BTech project in that year. So lot of life lessons during my four years in the college.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:08:53]:

And you know, it's interesting. I just want to make sure that for many of the people who are studying now in those fields, the numbers are still the same. Which is kind of sad, right? I mean, you're talking about more than a decade ago and I think it's important for teachers, people who are in, I would say position of power at this point to see that there is this discrepancy, this factor that a lot of people find challenging to get over. Maybe in the US, maybe the culture is slightly different. So it may not be so much. But you need to understand that these girls need support, that they need that advocacy and breaking down. Because for me it was a reverse. I went to a coed school. Yes, we had boys, we talked to them a little bit, but I went to a girls college and it was such an eye opening experience because most of the girls in the girls college are from girls schools. So for them, your coed experience is so out of the norm, they're curious about it and it was best thing because it gave me a much bigger, diverse exposure to people. So we are going to come back to this sort of women in Stem which we'll be touching upon. I know when we met last time you were talking about this experience and your mom saw you come off the oil rig and I think it's something that people need to hear to normalize a lot of these jobs that we think about and why it's important to get different experiences and really touches on the same thing. Very similar to your college experience. Yes.

Akanksha Mathur [00:10:24]:

So this was when I was working on land rigs in Middle East. There are always specific stories from your work time you will never forget. So this was one of those operations. Very hard, very stressful. I was up for 72 hours straight on the operation. So by the time we were done rigging down and be done with the job, I had no energy or enthusiasm to change into nicer clothes because we were going back home. It was a four hour drive and I literally just I was in my coveralls all like as you can imagine, for 72 hours. It's like swimming of sweat and grease.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:11:08]:

And everything possible and tanned.

Akanksha Mathur [00:11:10]:

It's like 60, 70 degrees outside. In Oman. This was Summer. Completely skipped my mind that my parents are home. They were visiting me. I reached home and I knocked her door. My mom opens the door and she literally went into shock. She knew I work in oil and gas and everything, but it was real for her in that moment. And I still remember the drastic differences. She has been always huge supporter of my career and I've learned a lot of things. And I'm able to do a lot of things as a woman because I saw her doing. But as a mom in that moment, I still remember she was like, how are you going to get married? You don't look like a girl and my dad had this huge smile on his face and he was like that's my girl. And that's when I think my family, my parents actually realized what I really do on day to day basis and.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:12:09]:

I think beyond the shock your mom's pride right as it catches up. Exactly. And it goes back to this thread of college when you're talking about professor supporting the parents support, the ecosystem support because what we see of careers is very often a sanitized version. Most of what we take is a video that either a company or an association or an advertisement has put out. And nothing actually is the reality of what it is other than if you're watching a documentary, it's probably what you come close to, seeing something. And it must have been such a learning experience, because I'm sure the proportion and the ecosystem around you is quite different because there are probably very few women on the audience. Because I remember on my podcast I had this lady who did essentially the same job you did just in the US. And she said she had a lot of support from her colleagues. But it is a contract because facilities are not there, because they're not expecting so many women. So it does become a bit challenging from time to time.

Akanksha Mathur [00:13:07]:

Yes, I would say in my eight years and when I worked in different locations in the field, 30% of the time I would have a female colleague but it was always like me and rest of my crew, but I also would like to mention at the same time I never felt unsafe anyway, it was probably the safest place I could be as a girl because you being only girl is a lot of I don't want to use the word liability, but the customers have the responsibility the people who are running the rig have that responsibility in terms of facilities. Yes, not always. It has changed a lot I would say I hear stories from my juniors now but depending on what rig you were in and it was same for maybe once or twice I had the luxury of having my own room and rest of the time it was more crew rooms with the bunker beds and.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:14:05]:

Stuff but as I said, I ended.

Akanksha Mathur [00:14:07]:

Up making lifelong relationship. I'm not in oil and gas anymore but I still go back to my friends and my managers from those time for advice.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:14:16]:

Yeah, and it's so important to have such strong ecosystems of people, allies, support managers and everything to feel I mean as women to feel safe. It is an important thing no matter where your workplace is. Not just oil rig, right? Any place, even when you're traveling and stuff, and just the support in the organizations and even for young men or others who are entering school, college, transition, new workplace, we all need to find community. We all need to be able to lean in. So if you are the person greeting them, you're a buddy, you're a mentor, you're in any position of being an ally, a peer, reach out that hand because that thing makes a huge difference on how someone settles in and doesn't. And often it's found that the first week, the first two weeks makes such a huge difference on what that impression they get on. So if you're an employer, even thinking about retention, be gracious about it, even as the economy is changing and jobs might be scarce, you want people to come and enjoy because they are your advocates about the job, no matter how much you advertise it's what people speak that sticks, not everything else. And with social media now, it sticks even more than anything else you can think of. So the phone lines are open if you want to join this conversation. We are going to be talking about electrification and sustainability. So the number is 2148-1733. You're listening to live feeds with Sarisha on Radio Caravan. I host the podcast women Career and Life. You can check it out on any of your podcast platforms and join Sahita Li ve Sahita live. Go join the communities for South Asian women for career and financial empowerment. And we are talking to Akansha Matur about her journey in energy transformation. So now we're actually going to go from her journey. We've been talking about her experiences and as a student in IIT, being one of few women in MEC and also as working on the oil and gas rigs. But there was a pyramidal moment. You took a vacation and it kind of has segregated you into a different sector right now.

Akanksha Mathur [00:16:18]:

Yes. So I would say around 2019 we did this family trip to Iceland, which is I found out when I reached there is a country where their whole grid is sourced out of 100%. And there's this museum they have in the capital, Rikjavic, which goes into a lot of detail on the climate change and the impact on the climate and the whole energy transformation movement. And I think that was the initial trigger on making me think. And me, as a mom of a two year old at that time.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:16:59]:

I.

Akanksha Mathur [00:16:59]:

Wanted to do something to leave a better planet for our next generation. And I think that's when I started having thoughts about it. And then I would say last year is when I actively started working on it. I'm super grateful for all the learnings and experiences I got in oil and gas. And I would like to mention that a lot of what I learned I use in my day to day life in my today's role, right? Different industries, same basics. And then last year I got the opportunity when I joined Ball box Chargers, which is basically we are a manufacturer of electric vehicle chargers, both home chargers and public chargers. And I am leading the business operations and the sales operations department. So learning a lot daily, but at the same time I go back home with this fulfillment, the feeling of that, yes, today I did something which is towards my bigger goal and I knew this was my second innings in my professional life.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi [00:18:12]:

Yeah, and it makes a difference, right. When you're saying chargers picture that comes to mind and probably to a lot of people listening is the Tesla charges you see or the charges you have in the office that the electric vehicles are plugged in and climate sustainability. A lot of this conversation is happening, but I think also, obviously because the younger generation, people in school and younger people are more vested in it, the conversation seems to happen often in those spheres, not always in the ecosystems. We may move in, we may talk about it, but not often. And it is so important to if you have the opportunity and sometimes even frankly, the luxury of making pivots and changes. So I do want to acknowledge that because I think there is a sense of opportunity cost that everyone may not have the privilege to do. Think about where you want to. Maybe there is something that's lagging at the back of your mind and you want to pivot. Think about what it is that you can use to pivot. And I just want to make this point that because a lot of layoffs are happening and people are obviously challenged, it's an emotional journey and are struggling through it, it's possible to step back from it and think about what is it that you want to do and how you can take those skills and move forward. I got laid off, but I got laid off early in my career and I realized when I met somebody yesterday that depending on which stage of your career you get laid off, the experience is obviously vastly different. For me, it was a huge opportunity that looking back was the best thing. It happened because it made me a bit more less discovered and willing to take it and realize that I can always make a comeback. Oftentimes I got called back to the jobs or to other jobs that I had left. So there's that opportunity that exists. But obviously economic reasons happen in the background. So when you moved, I think it's important to talk about this, you moved from oil and gas to sustainable energy. What were the conversations when recruiters called you? Like, what did they say that you had? And what did they say that you didn't have? And what is it important? Because there are skills we take to every job, I guess the power skills, let's not call them soft skills. Those are the important execution, the management, all of that goes with you. What was that like?

Akanksha Mathur [00:20:28]:

So it was, I would say, a lot of mixed reaction. I wrote to more than 100 companies. Literally, I was desperate. I knew this is where I have to be. I had a whole project plan and everything. But then I wrote to whoever based on LinkedIn search, like we all do, and I would write to recruiters, landed on some of the first rounds and got a lot of mixed reactions. Some were quite positive, but at the same time, some were like, oh, oil and gas is all you have done for 15 years. We don't see any of those skills being useful in this industry. However, I would say I just kept my rigor. I always felt that a lot of basic functions, starting with the support functions like HR and finance, they are industry agnostic. Every industry, every company needs those functions, right? And then if we move further than.