My journey as D&I advocate in the Energy Industry

Colombian by birth, global citizen by living experience, and British as a family. My pathway in this exciting and dynamic industry started in the early 00’s as I graduated as a Petroleum Engineer from ‘Universidad de America’ in Bogota Colombia.

Having over a decade of international oil and gas experience with a pause on my career for parenting, today I am proud to work in an energy company known to be a great advocate for equality.

This path has taken me from my tropical Colombia to the artic weather of Siberia – Russia, various seasons in United States of America, subequatorial lands of Latin America, scorching weather of Australia and finally to the magnificent Highlands of Scotland.

The joy of working with multiple cultures along this adventure has been the best part of it all. The Oil and gas industry is one of the fortunate sectors to experience global collaboration with such high efficiency in knowledge transfer. I do believe the continuity of this success will accelerate energy transition.

I believe that not only multicultural orientation of likeminded people will be sufficient to overcome the energy transition challenges. The Energy industry and its impact on planet Earth requires solutions from different perspectives, and for that we need a broad spectrum of mindsets.

As an advocate of diversity and inclusion my personal goal is to power the inflow of talent from less common sources. This includes empowerment of female and LGBT+ communities, the neurodiverse population, and the underrepresented cultures.

On my destination to achieve my objective I hope to inspire not only the target population, but also attract the attention of those with good representation in the energy sector to showcase the numerous successful stories when encouraging a truly diverse workforce.

I am the International SPE D&I committee representative in the SPE Aberdeen Section working with an amazing diverse team who aim to promote best diversity and inclusion industry practise for our SPE members and our wider communities. I love the challenges this brings with the balance of a healthy family life.

Karen Lorena Sinza Mendieta, Principal Production Technologist – Equinor, Aberdeen – Scotland – United Kingdom, April 2023.