Credit: iStock/gorodenkoff

For Alyssa Rodrigues, director of the Alaska Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), helping women achieve success in manufacturing is more than a job, it’s a calling. “You know a lot of us, especially women, we make things,” Alyssa says. “We make jewelry, we make clothing, we manufacture on a very small scale – things for ourselves and things for our family and friends. And when you expand that, you’re a manufacturer.”

Alyssa says diversity is important to the future of manufacturing, especially when it comes to including women at the leadership level. This is why she and her Alaska MEP team hosted a CEO roundtable during Women’s History Month to help create more opportunities for women at the leadership level. “Representation matters,” she says. “If you’re a woman manufacturer and you see yourself in the faces of women at our Center, I think it makes our MEP Center’s services more approachable.”

Alyssa’s efforts go beyond empowering women. The Alaska MEP is helping smaller manufacturers and startups make connections in the state to become part of a larger, wealth-building community. “Manufacturing is one of those industries where you can start out making a living wage,” she says. “Those living wage jobs can build generational wealth and change long-term family outcomes.”

Alyssa is heavily invested in Alaska's economic development and the future of manufacturing in her state. In this article, she shares her unique career journey and offers some words of wisdom for other women who want to blaze their own paths in manufacturing.

The winding road from forestry to manufacturing

As she pursued chemical engineering at a young age, Alyssa learned that sitting behind a computer was not her ultimate calling. She changed her career trajectory to forest economics because she enjoyed the outdoors and learned how all the pieces of the forest, like the landscape and the watershed, connected to labor economics.

After working as a labor economist for more than a decade, Alyssa learned that she could use her experience to help empower the economic development of local communities and businesses. This led her to go into economic development for the state, working with Made in Alaska, a program managed by the state’s Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Today, Made in Alaska serves as the brand for products that have at least 51% of their source material produced in Alaska. “Through overseeing that program, I learned about all the things that were manufactured here,” she says. “I had really no idea! But I wanted to learn more about the challenges and positive aspects of manufacturing in Alaska. There was so much to learn about what makes our industry so interesting and unique.”

Learning the industry

In July 2019, Alyssa was selected to be the director of a new MEP Center that was opening at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Upon taking office, she reached out to directors at other MEP Centers to learn how to replicate some of their success stories. She was especially interested in empowering manufacturers from an economic perspective at the local and state levels.

“Maybe it was kind of a circuitous role going from forestry to manufacturing, but they're still related,” she says. “Whether it’s managing forests for the best, long-term use or helping somebody to run their manufacturing business better, what’s going to allow them to get the most out of it for the longest amount of time and achieve their goals? It all comes down to helping people. There are just a variety of different avenues through which to do it.”

As Alyssa transitioned to a career in manufacturing at the MEP Center, one of her biggest challenges was a lack of hands-on experience in the industry. She began educating herself online and reaching out to Alaskan manufacturers to learn more about their specific challenges. “Fortunately, I have no shame when it comes to asking manufacturers questions,” she says. “I don’t need to be an expert in brewing or clothing manufacturing or metal fabrication. Manufacturers don’t expect me to be the expert in their businesses. They are the experts in what they do. But what I can do is dig deeper to learn their processes and find ways that I can help make them better and overcome their challenges.”

Advice for women in manufacturing

As part of her responsibilities as the director at the Alaska MEP, Alyssa often mentors other women new to the manufacturing industry. She understands the importance of mentors after reaping the benefits of having multiple mentors at the MEP Center. “I’ve received a ton of support from my direct supervisor at the MEP, Christi Bell, who is part of the Business Enterprise Institute at the University of Alaska Anchorage,” Alyssa says. “I’ve also received a lot of mentorship support from those who run other MEP Centers. I’ve always sought out mentors in my personal life. I’ve learned that if you are open, there are so many people who can be wonderful, wonderful mentors to you when maybe they don’t even realize that is what they’re doing. My wife, who’s an engineer, has been one of my best mentors, and I don’t know if she even realizes it!”

Alyssa says having a passion for manufacturing is a great entry point for other women looking into manufacturing as a career. She advises women to reach out to their local MEP Center, which can connect them with local manufacturers to learn more about these processes. “This is such a cool industry,” she says. “You drink coffee every day. I drink coffee every day. That is a manufactured product. Do you think that’s really cool? Well, let’s go see a coffee manufacturer. Let’s talk to them! What is it that you love about it? Is there a connection there to get you started in manufacturing?”

Empowering women manufacturers

When Alyssa first started working with Alaskan manufacturers at the MEP Center, she was surprised by how many women owned their own manufacturing businesses. She says she sees an increasing number of women going into the industry every day. Virginia Lynn Peterson owns a company called Swoop, which makes the lives of busy, active women more comfortable through their undergarments, shorts, pants, and tunics. “Her business is a few years old and is just getting out of the startup period. Before she started working with our MEP Center, she never really thought about herself as a manufacturer. But after going through our programs and connecting with our third-party resources, she really is stepping into the mentality of being the owner of a manufacturing business. Virginia is simply amazing.”

Alyssa says she is seeing more “loud and proud” manufacturers like Virginia, who are becoming empowered and less fearful of going into an industry that has been typically led by men. She says that no matter your gender, if you make something and run your own small business, then you are a manufacturer by definition. “No matter your size, if you’re producing piece after piece, you’re in manufacturing,” she says. “We’re going to treat you as a manufacturer. We won’t say something condescending like, ‘Oh, you’re making jewelry! How adorable.’ We’re going to provide resources to you like we do every manufacturer. We’re going to talk about where you’re going as a company and how these resources can help your business.”

Find your passion in manufacturing: Your MEP Center can help

For women or for anyone looking at developing a manufacturing career or new business, Alyssa says your local MEP Center is a great place to start. “There are other MEP Centers like us that want to talk to you about what you’re interested in and what you’re passionate about,” she says. “I want you to realize the potential there is in manufacturing.”

Want to learn more about connecting and networking with the manufacturing industry? Contact your local MEP Center to learn about programs and initiatives in the MEP National Network^TM that support small and medium-sized manufacturers and help more women become involved in manufacturing.

Blog originally appeared here.