Celebrating Women’s History Month: Meet Amanda Chmielowski
At Avangrid, equal opportunity in the workplace matters to us. During Women’s History Month, we honor women’s contributions to our company and our history, culture, and society. Meet, Amanda Chmielowski, Sr. Technical Analyst with Central Maine Power.
Can you tell us about your career journey and what inspired you to pursue your current field?
Throughout my life, I have had a passion for data quality, improving performance, analyzing data, analyzing systems, technology, and helping others. I enjoy solving problems, looking for the missing link or the needle in the haystack, and have a natural inclination of spotting anomalies in large datasets and systems.
I started my career in Alaska, and have worked in many different industries, in different states. One common theme I learned in all the industries was they shared a common issue – data quality. I learned how data quality issues affected people across the company and potentially even affected the public. Data quality became my passion as I strove to resolve issues, clean data, improve systems which would overall drive impactful business making decisions, enable a more productive workplace, and a better morale for all affected by data quality issues.
A few of my accomplishments consist of: spotting incorrect/duplicate billings by vendors for projects and incorporating processes to ensure duplicate charges/invoices were identified and corrected. At another organization I spotted anomalies in advertisements and receipts. At another organization, I identified where data quality was affecting the company. This resulted in me performing a deep dive on the data, documents, and systems to propose improvements, and work with stakeholders to create more robust applications. At another organization, I identified where there was workflow issues due to incorrect data being selected. Instead of accepting the answers that were given for this issue, I performed a deep dive on processes and systems. Through this deep dive, I identified areas that would aid users by improving the the software which resulted in the company reducing 80% of the isssues in the application, cleaner data, which improved the overall performance of employees, and the morale.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry today?
Don’t give up your passions no matter how momentual the task may seem. Always strive for 100% and never be discouraged when you hit roadblocks – keep trying. Hold the thought, every day is a new day to achieve my goals. Stick to your values and never do anything that makes you uncomfortable or against your values. When faced with obstacles, keep a positive attitude and don’t let it sway you. Never accept ‘No’ or ‘It can’t be done.’ Believe there is a way, perform research, and ask experts. Have a vision of what you want to achieve and it can be done. Follow your passion and do whatever it takes to make your career happen.
While you may experience struggles in life, don’t give up hope. Look for positive in the adversity, see it as a challenge or a learning lesson, and not a roadblock. Seek out mentors to help guide and grow in your career. Read books from others who have succeeded and take classes to keep learning. To take a stand for what you believe in when it comes to improving the quality of work and the information provided. Most of all, when you identify an issue, don’t say ‘not my issue’ but take action. To learn if one person doesn’t believe in your vision, someone else will. Write down your goals every year (make small goals and large goals). At the end of the year check all the goals you have accomplished and celebrate them. Treat others as you wish to be treated, no matter who they are, or the position they hold. Respect is a two-way street.
While work plays a major role in our life, work/life balance is a key to ensure health and happiness. Learn to have equal balance in both as it will keep you healthy and happy. Most of all, having a positive mental attitude at work makes a difference. This enables for better stress management, increased resilience, greater success in achieving goals, and empowers not only you, but others.
Which women in your life have served as important mentors or role models, and what did you learn from them?
There are many people who have served as important role models/mentors. The three that stand out the most to me are:
1) My Mother: Throughout her life, she has always created and owned businesses and was very successful in all her ventures through her initiative, drive, and business sense. She taught me to be strong, determined, never give up, and speak up for what I believe in. She taught me the importance of how not to treat people and respect is a two-way street. I learned from her to follow my passion.
2) Angela K. was a previous manager for a large worldwide organization. While we worked together, I was amazed by her knowledge, skills, and expertise. She mentored me for several years where I learned the importance of motivating teams, engaging stakeholders, how important a vision is, how to facilitate communication, and how to be successful in maneuvering around in the corporate world while managing large projects. By observing her extensive leadership skills in action, I was able to learn new behaviors, attitudes, and skills without direct experience and still apply today what I learned from her.
3) Mary W. was a previous manager for a small organization I worked with. While being mentored by her, I learned the importance of flexibility, how one person can make a difference no matter what the role is, what is means to work with a team, the importances of having a diverse skill set to fill many roles, and was encouraged and supported to improve and learn new skills to grow in my career.
What strategies do you use to maintain a healthy work-life balance, especially with the demands of a professional career?
To maintain a healthy work-life balance, I learned first and foremost, to manage my time effectively. I use a daytimer, Outlook Tasks, and my Outlook Calendar to balance my load of work. I have learned to prioritize tasks, ask when specific goals are due, and set boundaries by defining my work hours. I schedule breaks on my calendar to allow time to stretch, take lunch, or even breaks between meetings to reset my brain. I make time for myself, when I feel I’m getting burnt out, I schedule days off to recharge my batteries and pamper myself. I use games, exercise, and hobbies to recharge my mind.
What does Women’s History Month mean to you personally?
Women’s History Month to me recognizes and celebrates the achievements of women throughout history. It highlights the often overlooked contributions women perform throughout the year that may go unnoticed. It raises awareness to struggles other women have been through and provides hope and inspiration to others who are on the same path. Most of all it empowers women by celebrating our accomplishments together which may lead to improvements for women in the future.
