“I’ve received an incredible kick-start to my career”
Hello there... Martina Sjölander, student in the Master’s Programme in Industrial Analytics and the second Uppsala University student in a row at to be named Female Leader Engineer of the Year.
Congratulations on the 2021 Female Leader Engineer of the Year award! How does it feel?
“Thank you! I am incredibly grateful and feel very proud about this award, it feels like a very big deal. Fantastic too to be the second Uppsala University student in a row to receive this award. It’s great that students from Uppsala University are getting noticed in these contexts, since it is important that we work to get more female engineers in leading positions and in business and industry.”
You received the award for demonstrating a good capacity to lead and engage your team. What are you like as a leader?
“As a leader, I’m dependable and calm. I feel that I am quite sensitive to what's happening around me and I’m able to see how I can best support and lead the team or an individual.”
Where do your leadership skills come from?
“I had the honour of leading teams in school, but I’ve also learned a lot as a section leader in the Swedish Armed Forces. These have been rewarding experiences of leadership, but basically my family has had a lot to do with who I am today, for which I am extremely grateful.”
Female Leader Engineer is a leadership programme that annually rewards a female Master of Science in Engineering student. What is the most important thing you took away with you from the programme?
“The programme challenged me and made me think a lot about what I am like as a person and a leader, and what I value in the people around me and in myself. It’s been a fantastic opportunity to have got to know these big industrial companies and to make many new contacts. Perhaps the most important thing I will take away with me is all the good, strong people and participants I’ve met and got to know, who I hope will remain in my life for a long time to come.”
How will the award affect your future career?
“I’ve received an incredible kick-start to my career through being given the opportunity to create a unique trainee programme for three of the partner companies, which I can also choose for myself. That’s going to be a tough decision. It will give me an extremely valuable educational insight into big industrial companies and an opportunity to really find the right path for my life. And being able to participate in a well-established leadership course with Kvinnokompetensen (a Swedish company with 30 years’ experience in developing and training leaders and managers in industry) will not only develop my leadership skills, but also myself as a person. An incredible kick-start to my career quite simply.”
Sara Helperin