March 7, 2025 Women Powering Manufacturing

International Women’s Day is a holiday celebrated annually as a focal point in the women’s rights movement.

By David Soyka, Senior Editor at Industry Today

This Saturday, March 8th, is International Women’s Day (IWD), a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievement of women, as well as a call to action for accelerating gender equality. IWD seeks to make a positive difference for women by promoting strategies, resources, and activities that promote women’s advancements in overcoming significant barriers to gender equality that continue to exist well over a hundred years since its founding in 1911.

For 2025, IWD’s big call-to-action for all IWD events is to incorporate an element of women-focused fundraising. To help honor the achievements of women and further advocate for gender equality, use #AccelerateAction for IWD 2025 and beyond.

At Industry Today, a woman-owned business, we’ve long maintained that the future of manufacturing depends on women. One of our readers, Alluxio Senior Technical Manager Hope Wang, shared with us that, “As an Asian woman in tech, I’ve witnessed firsthand the barriers women face in STEM fields…This International Women’s Day, I celebrate how technology can amplify our voices and accelerate inclusion, creating pathways for more women like me to thrive in spaces where we’ve been underrepresented for too long.”

Industry Today’s upcoming March digital issue features four women who are models for women’s achievement in STEM careers as part of our focus on International Women’s Day. Helping U.S. Manufacturing Thrive in Manufacturing profiles two members of the ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute leadership team, which is 50% comprised of women, Suzy Teele, Chief Strategy Officer, and Lisa Masciantonio, Chief Workforce Officer.

Teele, who is responsible for strategy, research, product development, and communications, comments, “I began my career in what was the first generation of computer programmers/software engineers back in the early 1980s, when there was a higher percentage of women in STEM careers than there are today, sadly.  One of my early heroes was Grace Hopper, who had an enormous impact on computer programming, some of which she did while working with the U.S. Naval Reserve. My favorite quote that I still practice today is, ‘A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for’.”   

Masciantonio is responsible for ensuring that the nation’s workforce stays on pace with the technological advancements through the capabilities within RoboticsCareer.org, a national resource that guides workers through career pathways and training programs that advance skills and careers through SkillsMatch™. She notes that, “A significant portion of my career has supported the U.S. Government at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and the ARM Institute. I’ve watched the changes for women in technology evolve in software engineering, cyber security, and robotics over many years, but these jobs remain male dominated.  According to WomenTech Network, women currently make up about 35% of the tech workforce. There remains tremendous opportunity for women to enter and succeed in these exciting careers.  Eleanor Roosevelt said, ‘You must do the thing you think you cannot do.’  This is my advice to women everywhere.”

Olivia Morales, a Senior Solutions Architect on the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Technology Team, works with both manufacturers and technology providers on the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Platform, advising on architecture, development and implementation, and by expanding resources for developers. Previously, she was with Rockwell Automation where she received a patent for her work on an innovative product that delivered an industrial hardened AI directly to the automation control platform. 

Morales writes about the importance of personal connections and women’s stories as the best form of outreach to attract women to manufacturing careers.  “My earliest inspiration was my grandmother, known as Little Jean. At age 50 she became the Executive Director of her city’s Habitat for Humanity Chapter. She was an incredible mother, grandmother, friend, and leader. She insisted I could be whatever I wanted. Because of everything she was, I am everything I am and I am honored to tell part of her story.”

Carolyn Lee, President and Executive director of the Manufacturing Institute (MI), the 501(c)(3) nonprofit workforce development and education affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers profiles how, beginning in 2017, she has guided the MI’s growth and evolution, expanding its impact nationwide to strengthen the manufacturing workforce and change perceptions of manufacturing careers and build a strong pipeline of skilled workers and close the industry talent gap. Parts of the MI portfolio include the Women MAKE America initiative, which empowers and elevates women in manufacturing to create role models and opportunities for the next generation, and the Heroes MAKE America initiative, which builds military-to-manufacturing pathways for veterans and transitioning service members.

We look forward to sharing these stories of women leadership in STEM and manufacturing careers. And we look forward to featuring even more women and their industry achievements both on our Industry Today website and our quarterly digital issues.

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