We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hannah Burns Dunham. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hannah below.
Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. Let’s go back in time a bit – can you share a story of a time when you learned an important lesson during your education?
When I attended Auburn University, I decided that I would major in chemical engineering. This was a heavily male-dominated field, and I often felt out of place because of this. I struggled through my first couple years of classes and I honestly didn’t know if I’d make it through the program. In my Sophomore year, I started investing in building relationships with those around me, even when it felt awkward and even when I didn’t know if they’d accept me. I learned quickly that the key to my success in this program, and then later on in work and life, would be finding good people to rely on and go on journeys with. My investing in these relationships changed the course for my college degree and my work life. I learned that if you want to get anywhere in life, you have to focus on building authentic and genuine relationships at all cost. This is the ultimate key to success and fulfillment. I made this my key focus as a leader and was very successful because of it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a chemical engineer from Birmingham, AL and I worked in pulp and paper manufacturing for 8 years. My first role at the mill was leading a crew of 30 men, and I had very little experience in manufacturing OR leadership. Over the years, I worked my way up to a department manager position leading a team of 118 men and 2 women. I faced a lot of hardship over the course of my career due to being a young female leader – salary inequity, less promotion opportunities, discrimination, verbal assault, etc. When I got pregnant with my daughter, there were no options for me to continue the very demanding job I had and be the mother I wanted to be. I decided to quit my job and become a stay at home mom. I did that for 18 months while getting my masters degree in industrial and organizational psychology. I started my company, Climbing Trees Consulting, in June of 2023. My original goal was to work with companies on how to retain their female engineers. To get experience under my belt, I started doing individual coaching with women in STEM and female engineers struggling to navigate male dominated industries. Over time, I really honed my niche down to women in STEM who want to LEAD in male-dominated industries. I feel like for real systemic change to happen, there have to be more women in these industries to make it to the top. I’m committed to helping them get there. Currently, I offer a 6 month private leadership coaching program where we work on 3 core tenants of being a great STEM leader: gaining confidence, getting recognized, and leading boldly.
I’m really proud of my work on LinkedIn and social media in general normalizing the experience of both women in STEM and also moms. I can’t tell you how many women I’ve had message me telling me they thought they were alone in their experiences and my content made them feel otherwise. That’s the most important thing I do.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I first started my business, I was very inexperienced and pitching my idea of coaching women so they can succeed in male-dominated industries, often to rooms full of men. Needless to say – they all said no! So I pivoted to individual coaching. I now see the value in taking my time and building my portfolio of client success stories. I don’t think I would’ve been ready for that responsibility back then when I was first getting started, and I most likely wouldn’t have succeeded. But now as I am getting into corporate leadership consulting, I feel prepared and ready for that challenge.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Start with a foundation of trust. I say this to my leadership clients all the time: “people don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care.” Get to know your people before you ever ask a single thing of them. You should know their kids’ names, their hobbies, their favorite sports team, their favorite snack. And yes – it’s possible, I did this with a team of 120. The importance of this cannot be overstated. People will so much easily buy-in to your ideas and trust you even if they don’t agree with you if you start with this foundation of trust.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.climbingtreesconsulting.com
- Instagram: @stemcoachhannah
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahbdunham/
Image Credits
Kate Zills Photography