Several years of thoughtful planning went into the recent Women in Mining National Annual Conference in Salt Lake City and it showed. I enjoyed my time there tremendously and the message, Changing the Face of Mining, was on point. The conference allowed participants the ability to visualize changes for everyone in the industry through diversity, inclusion, eradicating unconscious bias and more.
One of my favorite takeaways from keynote speaker Elaina Ware, Regional General Manager of Couer Mining, was to be bold, push back and dig deeper. That sentiment was echoed in some of the breakout sessions, too. In an effort to solve age-old problems, like how to attract new talent to our industry, participants produced some interesting (some may say radical) concrete ideas. Those included creating virtual field trips to mines, using Tiktok’s video platform to educate non-mining people about the industry’s importance, or even using Minecraft, yes, the video game, in novel ways to show what myriad products mining brings to the global economy.
And as part of working collectively and embracing diversity and inclusion, I enjoyed that the conference catered equally to in-person and virtual participants. No matter how one attended, we were encouraged to actively participate in advancing our industry by being creative, solutions-oriented and collaborative.
The speakers and contributors were well informed, authentic and shared relevant relatable stories. It isn’t just a conference for women in mining, but for anyone who wants to take an active stance in advancing each other and our industry.
I was also impressed with my peers and their willingness to collaborate, to be solutions-oriented and say thank you. Many of the organizers, notably Anita Bertisen and Amanda Adams, really took note of each other’s hard work and gave credit where credit was due. I’ve been to a number of conferences over the years (though not recently!) and these leaders’ actions stuck out for me. The power of gratitude and awareness of others’ contributions can really help push us forward in difficult times. The group did a fabulous job of exemplifying this.
I’m looking forward with energy and optimism, fueled by the warm, intellectual conversations at this conference, to helping change the face of mining, in my own company and in the industry as a whole.
If you’re looking to make a career change, MRC can help connect with us or submit your resume.