Title: A Mechanical Engineer Unbound by Conventional Career Paths: Dr. Malika Grayson '14, '16

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[00:00:06,320] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Welcome to Engineering Career Conversations. I'm Christa Downey, Director of the Engineering Career Center at Cornell University. 

[00:00:14,200] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: And I'm Traci Nathans-Kelly, Director of the Engineering Communications Program. We are excited to bring you this forum where we will host lively conversations that we hope will inspire you. 

[00:00:31,040] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Today,we are joined by Dr. Malika Grayson, founder of Steminist Empowered LLC and Program Manager at Northrop Grumman. Welcome. 

[00:00:40,629] MALIKA GRAYSON: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me happy to be here and it's sunny where I am, so it makes me even happier. 

[00:00:48,209] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Excellent, excellent. We're thrilled to have you. We know you studied wind energy at Cornell. Can you tell us more about your background and how you got to this place in your career? 

[00:01:01,050] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, I did study wind energy, which is funny because I have a small wind tubine on my desk right now just as a reminder of where I came from. And my background started in Trinidad and Tobago. That's where I grew up. And actually from there, it's where I decided, okay, I know I want to do something with engineering, even though I didn't know what engineering was. And that took me to Adelphi University to study physics. And during my time at Adelphi University, I actually did a summer undergraduate research experience. And so it was my first time going to like an engineering focused university, essentially, at Georgia Tech. And I was there for ten weeks. And during that time, I was in a lab and they were doing mechanical engineering. And it was my first hand on experience with a research project, grad students. And I thought to myself, well, this is great and I actually want to pursue my PhD. And that's essentially what led me to apply to multiple PhD programs. And then of course, I came up to Ithaca and it was cold. Actually, I came end of April. I'll never forget. I told myself, I actually don't want to come to Cornell because of the weather. Because it was raining. I think it was still snowing. And I'm not a fan of the cold because I'm an island girl. And I was looking at some show because people asked me all the time, what made me choose Cornell out of the programs I had applied to. And I said, I remember watching this show and it was like two days before I had to make a decision. And someone on the on the show or in the movie I think it was, had on this t-shirt that said, Ithaca is Gorges. And I took that as a sign and I ended up by Cornell. And then once I got to Cornell, and of course went through the process of finding a professor and eventually figuring out what do I want to study. We really went back to my roots and I thought about that Caribbean breeze and what it means and how you can leverage that. And that's how I ended up doing wind energy. 

[00:03:14,249] CHRISTA DOWNEY: I love it. I love that you took a pause from that Caribbean breeze to join us in gorgeous Ithaca, New York. 

[00:03:22,109] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yes. Of course, I don't do any wind energy now, but that's like another story. 

[00:03:27,720] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Well, let's talk about that story now. What do you do now at Northrop Grumman? And what does that look like on a daily basis? 

[00:03:36,039] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, I'm a Program Manager at Northrop Grumman. The journey to the program management started at Cornell because at Cornell I had the opportunity to go to what we call at Northrop Grumman as achievement conferences. And that's just our student organizations, going to NSBE. So we have National Society of Black Engineers student organization. We have Society of Women Engineers student organization. And I was actually the co-chair for Grad SWE at Cornell. And I went to a SWE conference. I went to a NSBE conference, and this was probably two years before I graduated at NSBE conference. I went to the Northrop booth and I remember saying, well, I don't graduate until like a year and a half from now or something. And the person said, well, hey, come back next year and stop by the booth. I actually went to SWE and saw them, but it still wasn't the time frame. And then I went back again and I said, hey, you know, it's March. I'm already defended and I'm looking for a role, or I'm about to defend. And he said, come back tomorrow and I want to introduce you to somebody. And he introduced me to the director of engineering. And I remember asking the director, look, my background is in wind energy, fluid mechanics, fluid dynamics, What can I do a Northrop Grumman, a defense contractor? I was like, that's a great question. We don't have anything immediately, like on the floor where they were recruiting, but I think you should sign up for this rotational program and that's what I did. I actually wanted to I wasn't sure that I wanted to sign up for the rotational program because in the sense of a student, when you think of a three year rotational program, you think that is half your life. And I was like, oh, I'm spending my best years doing this rotational program after I spent my best years doing a PhD in upstate New York and I just couldn't think of an entire three years again. Actually, someone in the PhD program with me at the time, she said, just apply. You never know what's going to happen. Because the deadline was like, by the time he got back to me, only had a week or two weeks to submit everything. So I felt a little bit flustered. Applied, they flew me out to San Diego, interviewed, got the job, decided to take it, and it was one of the best experiences through that rotational program. I lived in California, Sunnyvale, California. How ironic, for a year. And then I did software development, thermodynamics, really engineering focus back to my technical routes. My second year I moved to the East Coast, to Virginia, and that's where I focused more on portfolio management and really getting those leadership skills. And then my third rotation, it was a mix between strategy going back to the engineering technical routes, but then also looking more full scale on how we support engineers at the company within one of our sectors. And once I was done with the rotational program, I got an offer from our, at the time, our IT organization, and said, hey, we're looking for somebody to do this special project application, rationalization, whatever that means. I'm like, oh, well I love solving hard problems. So I'll try, I'll go from mechanical engineering or wind energy, software development, portfolio management to IT, because why not? I did that for a couple of years and one of the leaders within the organization said, hey, we have another project for you. I think you'll be really good at leading this team. And I got the opportunity to be a program manager of a portfolio, which I really enjoy now. And it gives me the opportunity to lead a team of people, one who don't directly report to me, just work on strategic investments that impact the company. 

[00:07:32,769] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: I think that your path is so interesting the way that you explain it, this ebb and flow of exploring and then coming back to your roots. And then exploring and coming back and how that really allowed you to open doors for yourself and explore knowing that you had these roots that were solid and you could always return if you needed to. I appreciate that. On so many levels. 

[00:08:01,870] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, I think it's really important to be open to exploring and be open to shifting. And I think I'm actually in a transition right now where I enjoy being a program manager. So I do want to shift a little bit to see what else the business has to offer. And that allows me to take this risk. And the more I take risk, the less scared I become when I take the risk, right? Because I think the first time you take that risk, it's scary because you're doing something outside of your comfort zone. But if you continuously push yourself to go out of that comfort zone, it feels a little bit more aligned to, you know what, this is okay to ebb and flow as you say. It's okay to try something new. And if you like it, great if you don't, you can go back to your roots and go back to what makes you comfortable and recalibrate a little bit. 

[00:08:58,089] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: And all of your experiences seem to be on paper, so different. But if we think about engineering...it is very different. 

[00:09:07,050] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, Very different. 

[00:09:09,650] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: Sometimes I say to my undergraduates, engineering is a systems way of thinking, right? Like that's the main pattern. And if you're good in one sector, you're probably going to be good at another one. If you pick up on the, on the smaller skills. Whatever those smaller technical skills might be. But the real skill is handling that larger systems way of thinking to solving problems. 

[00:09:35,510] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, it's funny you say that because when I first joined the company, we did a class on systems thinking. And with that, it's the approach, right? This is how we approach problems in the systems thinking mindset. And you could figure out anything else, the technical details, if you have the right mindset, if you have the right approach. Because at the end of the day, if you break down a problem the same way, no matter what the topic is, then eventually you could probably get to the answer. I find it to be an extremely fruitful framework. 

[00:10:11,730] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: Now, given all these wonderful things that you have done and the different sectors that you've been in, I want to ask you about what's the most significant challenge that you've faced and how do you overcome that hurdle? 

[00:10:25,350] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, that's a great question. I think like any challenge, I take them in stride and I wouldn't say, especially when I have started working, or since I've started working at the company, I've had any major challenges. It's funny, because going through a graduate school, you're really built for a lot more than you think. Because that's an entire challenge by itself. Yes. You're basically trying to graduate on time, you're trying to innovate, you're trying to add to a field. And that was really a challenging time for me. And while I may have a few challenges here and there as someone in the industry, I always take it back to, well, remember some years ago at this point and you didn't think you could even get past that period but you did. You know when I think back to graduate school, one of the major hurdles that I had to overcome was my Advisor passing away, Professor Garcia. And that I thought I would not get past. I didn't even think I would finish graduate school at Cornell, but I did. And I always think to myself, if you could really take a step back and breathe through it and find the support you need and figure out where I can go for the support, then I can get through whatever that challenge is because I was able to get through something like that. That to me, was definitely one of the challenges, one of the toughest challenges I've had through my career. It is very difficult sometimes to ask for help or even to know who to ask for help exactly. But you have to find people you could trust, right? Once you find people you can trust in any new place, that's where building that network of people, whether it be mentors, whether it be sponsors, people, you can really depend on pays. It does matter. And within my job, I can't say that, okay. I'm just going to go to work and then do what I have to do and leave, because then I'm going to be miserable. I need to build a community. I grew up in a village, a product of the Caribbean, and it takes a village. I have ten aunts and uncles on my dad's side and eight aunts and uncles on my mom's side. Lots of cousins. And I grew up in that type of community where you can depend on each other and when anybody needs anything, someone is there. So it's really important for me going through life and even whether it be grad school, where I was building a village, within the Diversity Programs in Engineering at Cornell, and among the student organizations, or within the Ithaca community itself, I really met people outside of school, which was great. Or as a professional and participating in an employee resource group, connecting with some of my peers. That's how I overcome and push through challenges. And it also helps me when I'm ready to do something new, I can pull on the people that I know so that they know my value, they know what I'm capable of. So they can really think about a role for me if I'm ready to explore. 

[00:14:00,690] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Excellent. Community and mentoring and giving back are a big part of what you do in your career. I know you serve on the board of Discover Engineering. I'm curious to hear more about this organization, its mission, and what's your role with this organization? 

[00:14:20,670] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, that's a great question. Discover Engineering is, it's funny because I used to volunteer for them. I didn't hear from them like many people. I didn't hear about them until I came to Northrop Grumman. I want to say I was in maybe my second year of working and I started volunteering to help promote Engineers Week, where we celebrate our engineers and we have week-long activities. And of course, coming from Cornell and having that, that participation streak in me. I feel where I really enjoy being involved in Cornell was like, well, I want to do the same thing working. And they would celebrate Engineers Week every week. And that was established like in 1951, I believe. So that was the first interaction I had. And then as I continue to volunteer with them, I really aligned with their mission because their goal is to provide every student with STEM experiences, shared STEM experiences. Whether it be knowing an engineer and improving their understanding of engineering, improving the global distribution of the wealth, knowledge of engineering. So they are really of the belief that experience with an engineer, educator, and a student, that integration, that alignment of those three people can transform, will transform how a student sees engineering. And it goes back to mentorship and role models. So that is essentially what attracted me to the organization now. And they put on not just Engineers Week, but they do Introduce a Girl to Engineering. They do Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, World Engineering Day, as well as something called Future City Competition. And with that program, the students actually build a city that's sustainable. And it's really amazing to see some of the cities that they create. And I got involved with that organization on the board because I was referred to by someone in my network from work, from where I work and because I was a volunteer. And they were looking for a board member and she said, hey, I know someone who may be a great board member and she's volunteered with us before. So that's a great example of that community really helping me find things that are aligned to my personal vision of advocacy, STEM advocacy, empowerment, advice, guidance, just creating the pipeline, pushing the pipeline through retention recruitment. I really, really love DiscoverE. I've been on the board I think a couple of years and I'll stay there as long as they'll have me. 

[00:17:29,070] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: That's really great. Well, I have two related questions. The first one builds off of your involvement with DiscoverE Engineering Board. You are also involved with Steminist Empowered. I want to start with that question. Explain to us what that is. 

[00:17:45,889] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, Steminist Empowered is actually a company I founded a couple of years ago and the main focus is to empower and encourage women of color to pursue the advanced degrees. This is guidance, providing mentorship, providing coaching if need be, and how we really build Steminist Empowered. And it's still in the very early stages. I really wanted a way to bring that pipe line right. So one of the first activities we did was we created this mentorship program and we put out a call, are you in an advanced program? Do you need mentorship? It's a four month long commitment that you have to sign up for. And of course, we meet regularly. And we had about 11 women sign up. And we ran this four month program. Every two weeks we would meet as a group. I would have people who I knew who were past that stage, come back and have a discussion. So I had one of my friends, she went to Cornell Dr. Korie Grayson. She did self-advocacy, Dr. Kilan Ashad-Bishop. She did a talk on basically taking your passion and turning it into a business. I had someone talk about coaching, I talked about impostor syndrome, and I had one of my past mentors who was a VP at the time in Northrop talk about branding. And so the idea is that they're able to take these lessons, build their confidence, and then apply it to not just the program that they're in, but beyond once they're done. Right. Because I think for me anyway, personally, when I went through the process as a graduate student, I was so focused on I just need to get to the end. I just needed to get to the end. I got to the end and I was like, oh shoot. I don't think I'm really prepared for what's after the end. And then for the 11 women, I met with them individually on, I think a monthly basis. So lots of calls over the four months, but it was really helpful for them and I still communicate with some of them and I'm always an open line. So that's the basis of Steminist Empowered. And now we're trying to again, expand the brand and really reimagine or we can have an impact. And this is what I mean by you really have to be able to pivot and ebbs and flows and I'm willing to do the reimagination so we can see where we can have the most impact. Now we're going to partner with STEMNoire, which is an organization focused on research and wellness when it comes to black women. And they have their conference in Puerto Rico coming up. We're going to Puerto Rico and we're going to do a light version, I call it mental light, where we have about a 90 minute to two hour session to have those same intimate conversations, those same thought pieces. When it comes to how should I prepare? And then, the hope is that these women can build a network. But they can also find potential mentors. And also I will welcome any of them to join the formal program. 

[00:21:08,900] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: I'm completely entranced by your vision. I appreciate it so much. My related question was, now you have three books with your name on the front covers of them. Two you're featured and one you wrote in its entirety. Can you relate that to what you're doing with Steminist Empowered? 

[00:21:29,579] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah. It's funny because I after I wrote my dissertation, I didn't think that I was going to write anything again. But after my experiences at Cornell, and just being the only black woman in my PhD cohort, and then being only the second black woman to graduate a PhD at Cornell from mechanical engineering, I really felt like I needed to figure out a way to not just encourage, not just have an impact, but share the knowledge and really make sure my experiences can help someone else. That's why I started writing the blog. At first it was a blog and then that blog eventually turned into Hooded the book, really special to me. Then the most recent book, and I have it on my shelf here. Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Leaders in STEM. That's really, again, more of the abc's. My section is called ABCs from a Steminist. That's exactly what it is. What it means to adapt, what it means to be bold, what it means to really challenge yourself to be successful. And all that relates to steminism power because that really embodies who I am. Everything I've written, it's my journey, it's my experiences. And I use my experiences to lift those up who come into Steminist Empowered and look for seeking that help. And seeking that encouragement, that guidance, that mentorship coaching. 

[00:23:16,209] CHRISTA DOWNEY: It seems very obvious to me that the work you're doing on many levels in alignment with the goals and the vision, values of the College of Engineering, which are to work toward a healthier, more equitable, more sustainable world. But I'm curious to hear if you want to expand more about that. 

[00:23:38,329] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, I think it's really important that no matter, I guess what we do we're mindful of, again, how it's going to impact, right? And what are we contributing to when we think about diversity in engineering, equity in engineering. And I'm not just focused on engineering, I want to make sure that impactful on all sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, now, art, what does that mean exactly? Are we holding people accountable? Are we holding ourselves accountable? How are we contributing to that main impact? When we say that, it's really important that it's not just, yes, I agree that we should have more diverse classes, we should have diversity in the people that teach us. And it should be equitable across the board with our professors, regardless of race and gender. But it's important that strides and initiatives are taken to get there. And with that, that's where I really try to get involved in the work that is being done within the company itself. And again, volunteer as much as possible and be impactful. I can't say we should have more "x" in this space. And then I am just doing my day to day and minding my business, right? I need to make sure, how am I contributing to make sure we have more "x" in this space? And that's really where I'm getting involved in the employee resource groups. If you are someone at a job or if you're in academia, getting involved in a diversity council and lending your voice and making sure that you're contributing is really important. 

[00:25:40,790] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: You've mentioned so many people who were the support for you and how you support others. We like to always ask the folks that we have in, what people and organizations are important collaborators towards your vision of whatever it is that you're going for in your engineering career? It could be individuals or it could be types of people and organizations. What are your thoughts there? 

[00:26:08,720] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, that's a great question for me. It's professors, educators, schools, universities. I do a lot of my speaking and workshops in collaboration with universities. Because I am coming in and I'm sharing my story. But we're also taking some tips, like imposter syndrome, for example. It's not just talking about imposter syndrome, it's how do we move ourselves? How do we overcome that challenge that we feel we have with imposter syndrome, With personal statements, it's not just, hey, this is how you should write a personal statement. It's let's get some practice. And I've done that actually at Cornell, collaborated with them when they had their undergraduate summer students applying for graduate school. And it really depends on the topic. But those are some of my biggest collaborators. I recently collaborated with the Sloan Organization in Acme, that was really helpful for that group because we worked on career goals. And it was something out of my comfort zone a little bit because I'm taking how I approach my career goals and career planning and just annual planning and sharing that with other people. And it's a really personal experience, but again, it's you're taking these experiences to help other people. So those are some of my collaborators or people I can continue to collaborate with. Companies, I collaborate with companies, especially companies that have employee resource groups focused on women, focused on people of color. Because it's really important for them to understand, how do I continue to support those groups within my organization? And I recently had a conversation with the National Labs, Sandia, Berkeley. They all had this collaboration for women's history month last year. And it was how can they show up for their women within the organizations, within these national labs. So it's a broad range of people and organizations. And I do it in such a way where I don't want to put bounds on where I can have an impact. 

[00:28:44,040] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: That's one of the most expansive and generous things I've heard somebody say recently, thank you for that.
 
[00:28:51,299] CHRISTA DOWNEY: You've already shared so much wisdom. You're available for speaking engagements. I know that you've got these books. I'm curious, what's the one signature message or piece of advice that you like to share with audiences? And maybe keeping in mind as well that our audience here is all students in engineering, sophomores, juniors, but also prospective students and recent graduates who are trying to figure out their way in the world of engineering. 

[00:29:26,280] MALIKA GRAYSON: I would say, don't put yourself in a box. It's very easy to think because I aligned with engineering or because I am aligned with STEM, I can't do anything else. And I have definitely had that thought process where, well, why even bother to go explore? I've already gone through this journey. I've got my engineering degree. I just need to get a job and work and then keep it moving and then retire and be happy. Then I told myself, okay, but is that enough? Is that fulfilling? And I thought about, what do I enjoy? And one of the things I really enjoy is giving back. In an ideal world, I would win the lottery and then I could just do philanthropy full time. But the idea is that I didn't put myself in a box. I didn't feel as if, because I'm an engineer, I can't be an author. Because I'm an engineer, I can't be an entrepreneur. Because I'm an engineer, I can't run a successful business, or I can't be on a board or I can't contribute. It's yes, the journey is hard on whatever journey the students are on. It's also had for the person coming behind you, so what are you doing to prepare them, to make it a little bit easier? 

[00:30:54,739] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: Like I just said, the word that keeps coming to mind is this expansive vision of what's possible. And it seems like for you, everything is possible. But, what is the next thing you see yourself doing or trying to accomplish? 

[00:31:12,379] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, that's a really tough question. 

[00:31:16,539] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: You don't have to answer. 

[] MALIKA GRAYSON: No, I like the question because I always tell the students that I talk to...look, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. And I do that because it's okay if you don't know. But for me, the next steps is I want to continue to grow and mature Steminist Empowered. I want to continue to really see that vision come to life. I want to continue to partner and help with the retention of women, help with the retention of people of color, help with the retention of black women in the STEM field. Because there is a way for us to really see diversity, see equity come into play. But we need people to help us get there and I want to be one of those people. That's what I see in terms of next steps, of course, continue from my day to day explore and really grow and hone into my technical leadership skills. Any opportunities I get, continue to expand my involvement in employee resource groups. And I don't get tired. People ask me that all the time as well. When do you sleep? I enjoy this. It gives me energy and I'll continue to do it until I can't do it anymore. 

[00:32:45,769] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: Let me do a quick follow up. What resources do you turn to, to stay current in the work that you're doing right now? 

[00:31:18,259] MALIKA GRAYSON: Because of my involvement in so many different organizations, I'm able to stay current. Again, being on the board of Discover Engineering. I am a planning council member for STEMNoir and their conference coming up. Their audience, everyone, individuals who are in school. And some people who are professionals. But the majority, it's all black women who are currently students. And that's a great way to stay current because you are trying to figure out what are the needs? Where are the gaps that we still have? And how can you fill that gap? How can you be of support? And also even within the company thinking about how we do recruitment. I've been to a couple of achievement conferences this year. So I helped with BEA last year. I helped at SWE to do interviews and NSBE and then, and there you get an understanding of who's coming into the workforce and what the pipeline looks like. And that really helps you figure out, okay, where are the gaps? And where do we feel as if even though all this work is being done, we're not quite hitting? 

[00:34:06,890] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: I think that that's such a powerful way to frame this pipeline issue that we're all trying to deal with along the way. I think your vision of seeing where the undergraduates and graduates are at and then filling in those gaps, I'm not quite sure I've ever heard anybody frame it in quite those ways. They try to solve it from the top down. 

[00:32:54,010] MALIKA GRAYSON: Yeah, it's hard to solve it from the top down because you have that perspective from everybody who's already gone through the system, right? Or gone through the pipeline. 

[00:34:39,409] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: Yes. 

[00:34:29,209] MALIKA GRAYSON: But you really have to look at it on a two sided approach of what may have worked for those on the top side isn't going to work for those on the bottom side. 

[00:34:51,589] CHRISTA DOWNEY: You are changing your industry. You're making an impact. You're doing brilliant, important work on so many levels. What do you do to relax, to have fun, to re-energize? 

[00:35:04,889] MALIKA GRAYSON: I like to cook. I did some cooking last night and I enjoy cooking, especially when I don't have to wash the dishes. So that's the best part of cooking. And I enjoy traveling because I was really a huge history person, really enjoyed history in high school and going to a different place and seeing the culture and understanding how they got there to that exact moment that I'm there, that is really something enjoyable for me. That's how I relax, take walks, I love watching TV because it's really about, again, storytelling and seeing other people's story. So those are some ways I relax and really try to find time for myself. Whether it be during the week I think about, this is my downtime and these are a few hours that I'm going to just take from myself and that's okay. And not feel guilty about it. Those are just some of the things I do to relax. Today, it's Friday, usually my off Friday, we're talking today. I would probably be relaxing on the couch right now or go to a farmer's market because it's so nice and warm outside. Come back, maybe make something for myself to eat. I'm like, oh, I feel to eat something nice. I'll tell myself and then translate that to some meal. Leave the dishes for my fiancee because he gets a meal out of it too. Then you just hang out for the rest of the day. 

[00:36:39,500] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: It's a perfect day. 

[00:36:42,239] MALIKA GRAYSON: Perfect day. 

[00:36:44,860] TRACI NATHANS-KELLY: Well, besides being an imaginary philanthropist via the lottery, giving away money to make the world better, if you weren't doing the work you're doing right now, what would you be doing instead? 

[00:36:58,460] MALIKA GRAYSON: That is a great question. I am not sure to be honest because, I mean, growing up when I was five years old, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I wanted to do engineering, and I ended up doing engineering. And then I ended up being a program manager, which I really enjoy. And so I think because life has continued to evolve, it's almost as if, well, who knows what I'll be in two years. It'll be something completely different and that's okay. So what I might say now, it's probably what I'll be in two years, right? So I really don't have a good answer for that in terms of what I would be doing instead. Maybe, who knows, maybe a cook. Maybe a cook because I really do enjoy that. Maybe a chef,  travel, you know, a travel guide, because I enjoy these things, so it would be something related to the things I enjoy. 

[00:38:04,729] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Excellent. Well, you have many years ahead I expect, and many opportunities to continue to affect people in beautiful ways and affect the world in beautiful and brilliant ways. Thank you. Thank you so much for speaking with us. I know you're very busy making an impact and we really appreciate your time today. 

[00:38:29,129] MALIKA GRAYSON: Thank you so much for having me. Had a blast and really appreciate just connecting to you. 

[00:38:35,089] CHRISTA DOWNEY: Thank you so much. Thank you for listening. If you are enjoying these conversations, please follow, rate, and review on your favorite platform. Join us for the next episode, where we will be celebrating excellence and innovation among engineers whose impact contributes to a healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable world. 

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