Leveraging undergrad experiences to advance your career with Monica Kwong - Operation Leads
Monica Kwong graduated from the Chemical Engineering program at Ryerson in 2018 and is currently working toward her P.Eng license. Having worked at Sofina Foods as both a co-op student and full-time Process Engineer, Monica leveraged her expertise in the food industry to advance her career as Operation Leads at Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global ingredients solutions company. Besides that, she has demonstrated excellent leadership volunteering for various organizations, including her role as CIC Toronto’s chair in 2017.
In celebration of National Engineering Month, I had a chance to sit down with Monica (virtually) and talk about everything, from chemical engineering, her exciting journey, lifelong learning, career advice, to DJing! Check out the full interview below:
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I originally pursued chemical engineering because I wanted to make a positive impact on the environment. In the beginning, when I was in high school and the first couple years of university, I thought about pursuing something related to environmental engineering, like wastewater treatment or air pollution control. But after my undergrad and the exposure I got from the co-op, I appreciate the discipline a lot more and it broadened my interest because I didn't realize at the time that chemical engineering can be used for food manufacturing, plastic manufacturing, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. I came to that realization and was very grateful that I took this program.
The first one I would like to mention is time management. You're constantly juggling priorities during school and that won't discontinue in your professional career. It's important to be aware of where your time goes during your projects, networking and building skills. Problem-solving is also important. Whether you're doing firefighting in your day-to-day or finding ways to improve a process, schools trained you to think structurally. Another one would be to have a strong work ethic and self-discipline. The heavy workload encouraged me to continuously work hard and to keep myself going, even when times were tough, which also is also applicable to my professional career. If you really want to expand and diversify your career, you need to carry those same work ethics and keep learning even after you finish school.
Regarding courses, I would say process control, equipment design and your capstone are a few of the most useful courses in your undegrad. Those are the courses taken later in your undergrad where it's a bit more practical like the things that you will see in the workplace. Sometimes, when I think back about what I learned in school and I see them in real life, there's a satisfying feeling I get, like “Oh, that all makes sense now.”
I learned several things, and one of them is being able to adapt to different environments and work cultures. Every organization runs differently, whether it’s the way budgets get approved, how people work together, how people navigate through projects or even how achievements are celebrated. I also learned to be open-minded about navigating my work as there's never one straightforward way of doing things. Relationship building is essential as well. It's important to build trust with your colleagues as that will enable an organization to move forward faster. Take initiative to initiate a conversation first, then you will naturally build that relationship from there.
I was looking for ways to improve on my leadership skills, along with the other skills I mentioned before: time management, problem-solving, and developing a strong work ethic and self-discipline. I also just saw them as a way to challenge myself because you don't grow without trying new things. These skills have allowed me to navigate my personal and professional life in a fulfilling way. Also,
“I also enjoy meeting new people in general and engaging with the community to see where I can help out. It gives you that intrinsic satisfying feeling.”
In this day and age, social media is a big thing. However, on social media, we only see the highlights of people's lives. If you're crying or having a really bad day, obviously you're not going to share that. I do think people come closer together by sharing these vulnerable experiences with each other, which is why I don't mind answering this question.
One of the challenges I still face today is avoiding comparing myself to others. It's something that I've gotten better with, but there are times when I have an off day and I question if I should be further in my career than where I am currently. In those moments, I have to constantly remind myself that everyone's journey is different and they're incomparable. Their upbringing, their network, their priorities, their personal situation is unique from yours. I continue to remind myself that as long as I'm on the right track towards improving myself, that’s what’s important because that's what's in my control.
A way for me to remind myself of that is through journaling. You do a brain dump of what your thoughts are, then when you reread it, it helps put things into perspective. It almost feels like being a third person looking at your thoughts in a different way rather than allowing it to be stuck in your head.
I'm currently taking a Project Management certificate program through Ryerson's Continuing Education school. Right now, my course is focused on leadership in project management. I look forward to learning about project costing and procurement as my next course. For the soft skills side,
“I want to become better at negotiation and conflict management. I continue to be open to more experiences that will enable me to be better at becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable.”
A funny story: In my leadership course, I had to do this survey to learn about my conflict management style and where you rank with 8,000 other people who also did these questions. Pretty crazy, but I learned that I'm ranked at the 100th percentile in terms of using the accommodating conflict management style. I joke that this implies that I'm a big pushover. At least I'm now more aware of where I stand, and that's why I want to get better at negotiation and conflict management.
Yeah, I mean it's so challenging. I also live by myself, so cooking and doing chores don’t get done on their own either. It's not easy and there will be days that you cave into your vulnerable side. That’s why it's helpful to have your priorities set. If there are a couple of things I have to get done, then I’ll make sure that they get done. Even if there are things that you don't want to do, just start on it; chances are, you will automatically continue and have built yourself momentum. If I tell myself I really need to get this particular thing done, I might drag it during the first 10 minutes, but then after the 10-minutes mark, I usually get into the groove of the task. That first 10 minutes will force your brain to switch, and then you become motivated to do that task. I won’t lie though, it's hard and you just have to choose which battles you want to take on day by day.
I've been dabbling very, very slowly at it, but I've been wanting to explore more in DJing whenever I get the spare time. I really want to pick myself up and allocate more time to experiment. If I ever become really good one day, I want to do a mix of top 40, some electronic dance, some hip hop, some R&B - a bit of everything that makes a good night. Honestly, that's where I want to get to and I am working toward it slowly but it's something I’m excited about.
If you had a chance to give yourself a piece of advice when you first start your career, what would it be? 👶
I recently read somewhere on social media and it really hit me: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The next best thing is the worst thing. And then the worst thing you can do is nothing.” I think when we get stuck in decision paralysis, it's often better to just make a decision and see where it goes.
“And if you happen to make a wrong decision, then at least you’ll know more about it and have more data points on it, and more importantly you'll learn from it.”
I would say oxygen simply because you can't live without it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
What skill sets do you think are the most useful in your professional career?
How did your extracurriculars in school help you grow personally and professionally?
Is there anything that you want to learn more about further down in your career?
How can you even manage everything with so many things going on?
What’s one thing you’re working on now that you’re particularly excited about?