![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/acd817f1ef84f0a8e66c47595c4928d8stacy_maria_trier_easy-resize.com_.jpg\" "\\"Stacy-Maria")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nStacy-Maria Trier<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trier said throughout her career, she has often been the lone woman in the room or on a plant. In the downstream industry, she encountered other women who were production technicians but in the upstream industry, she has been the only female doing what she does offshore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOver the years I haven\u2019t seen as many women as I would have liked to. Unless the numbers are there it is difficult to reach the tipping point of breaking the bias, which is the theme of this year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day. A lot of young women don\u2019t know that this exists as a career. Nobody understands what I do,\u201d said Trier, stating that she is the only woman in T&T to hold this job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the retention rate for women is low because of various factors. Among them is that many women believe they have to choose between having a family and a job because you could be offshore from seven to 21 days at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trier, who is not married and does not have children, said she has had to make a lot of choices herself but she is passionate and happy about her job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being offshore is a lonely existence for her, she revealed, however. As a woman especially in a leadership position, she has had to be very careful about her interactions with the men around her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing in an environment where I have worked and lived on a shift basis throughout my career has been at times, lonely, frequently being the only female on a facility of over 50 persons for weeks at a time. I\u2019ve worked 4 x 4, 7 x7, 14 x 14 and 21 x 21 rotations. The balance between my personal and professional commitments has been wrought with difficult choices. My intent has been to maintain both aspects. There have been successes and failures but all my choices were wholly mine,\u201d she revealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sponsored by U by Kotex<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other challenges she has faced include deliberate or unconscious bias, stereotyping and discrimination. Trier said being able to identify the difference and calling it out directly but respectfully has been essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At times, throughout her career, those biases resulted in her having to her thought processes, technical decisions and expectations more than her male peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhile some may see this as a negative aspect I saw this as my personal goal to get to a point where my peers and leaders had the trust and confidence in me as a source for valid, honest, technically sound inputs in the decision-making process,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being the first of anything also has its inherent challenges, particularly when it comes to finding success stories and female role models in field leadership within the industry. Trier realised the onus was on her to clear a path for others to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs I gained maturity and experience I recognised that I would have to forge my own path. I made mistakes along the way but navigating them without past examples to draw from was a two-edged sword. While these situations allowed me to grow as an individual, I eventually came to the recognition that my mistakes and emergence through them would be the example for women who come after me,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI began to feel a degree of self-imposed pressure which I learned to apply in a different, positive way by keeping personal documentation of my problem-solution-outcome pathway. I\u2019m renowned for always documenting in my notebook. I am my biggest critic. Good or bad, it has kept me afloat for over two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With so few women in the industry, Trier said she makes it a point to support other women and help them to have a voice at the table. She said it is possible for women to progress and sustainably hold field leadership roles in the Local Upstream Energy Industry but not many girls and young women are aware that this is an option. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor this and other male majority or unconventional roles, the power of support is immeasurable. With fewer numbers, purposeful support amongst women is essential in making our presence move the dial. Collectively we can \u2018Break the Bias\u2019 by believing in ourselves, being self-aware, having checkpoints as life changes where you test if your current position is still the path you want, seeking out mentorship, and using adversity as character-building opportunities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trier said her desire for us as a nation is to get to the place of being able to have a conversation like this one without the need for it to be referenced as unconventional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She said: \u201cI wish to see it become a part of mainstream cultural norms for in-field energy industry roles to be equitable in gender, numbers and progression rates to leadership. Conscious actions by organisations to level the playing field would be a step in the right direction toward gender equality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When it comes to jobs in the energy sector, many people do not know the range of positions available and in this male-dominated sector, many women do not know there is a place for them. Stacy-Maria Trier has often been one of the few or the only women in the room in her 24-year career. Trier is an Offshore Production…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/loopnewslive.blob.core.windows.net\/liveimage\/sites\/default\/files\/0c039401d53cb71b195f0411be7963f7u_by_kotex_logo_easy-resize.com_.jpg\" "\\"Sponsored"){kind=logo}
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