Name: Kia Marie Jerichau
Title: Senior Director
Company: Energinet
Please introduce yourself
Kia Marie Jerichau, I’m 34 years old and I hold a MSc in International Business and Politics from Copenhagen Business School
How did you imagine your career when you were around 20 years old?
I wanted to be an actress or a diplomat
What does a day in your life look like in your current role?
In my current role my job is to clear the path for my team’s great ideas and make life easier for them. I spend my time checking in and coaching my team, leading and overseeing projects, handling any conflicts or problems that might occur, and making sure our work is in line with the strategic priorities in Energinet.
What motivates and excites you the most about your career path and the leadership position you hold?
I really like to see different people and skillsets coming together and being successful. Especially when we manage to have many different opinions and points of views, perhaps even arguments, and everyone still feels good about the final solution and that their input has been respected.
Share with us the biggest lessons you learned on your journey to where you are today.
I really spent too much time learning how to ask for help – still not quite there yet.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, or to other young female students today, what would it be?
Spend more time on improving your strengths than worrying about your weaknesses
How do you see STEM education shaping the future?
STEM education has already made a large contribution to the world we live in today and will continue to do so in the future. Today we are experiencing a poly-crisis, where we are facing multiple different crises at a time and we need the STEM approach and skillsets to tackle them. I hope to see new ways of including a STEM mindset in other educational fields as well.
Why is it important for you to promote diversity and inclusion within STEM?One of the main features of STEM education is innovation. In my opinion innovation needs perspective, different experience, curiousity and the abilit