758: What It’s like to be a Chemical Engineer With Brenda Denbesten, Orica [Main T4C Episode]

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Brenda Denbesten has been a chemical engineer in the manufacturing and mining industry for over 15 years. Currently, she is a continuous improvement manager in Australia at Orica. Brenda is also the founder of a YouTube series called “Chronicles of a Female Engineer,” where she explains what engineers do, how to get ahead in the industry as well as how to work in a male-dominated field. She is a Victorian branch committee member of the National Association of Women in Operations. Brenda got her Bachelor of Engineering in chemical engineering from the University of Newcastle. After graduating she worked as a chemical engineer and a health and safety representative at ANSTO, a senior metallurgist and a superintendent production execution at BHP Billiton as well as a shift superintendent at Orica. 

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• What some common misconceptions surrounding engineering (5:35)
• What Brenda does as a continuous improvement manager at Orca (9:24)
• What a typical day is for Brenda, before versus during COVID (10:30)
• What Brenda did when working in solvent extraction (15:17)
• What a metallurgist does (16:55)
• What a typical shift at mining sites are like (20:56)
• How the engineering world is adapting to more women workers and what to expect as a women (25:30)
• When Brenda struggled in her career and was able to push past it (34:21)