In this episode you’ll hear Najwa Jawahar, Associate Director in Design Management at WSP. Najwa's journey began in school where maths and physics weren't just subjects — they felt like different languages that made perfect logical sense to her. She loved disassembling machines but admits she didn’t always know how to put them back together! When her physics teacher presented career options, structural engineering emerged as her path through a process of elimination: "I decide things based on what I don't like" she explains!   Cultural barriers created significant hurdles. Her father's family questioned why a woman would enter a male-dominated field where she'd be "surrounded by men". Thankfully, Najwa's mother became her fiercest advocate, handling "family politics" while encouraging her daughter's ambitions. Najwa then inspired her sisters to also become engineers. The contrast between educational expectations in Pakistan versus the UK surprised her. "In Pakistan, you would get educated to find the best husband," whereas she wanted education "to make a career and inspire other people". Finding herself one of just 16 women among 160 engineering students sparked her mission to increase representation.To learn more about STEMazing, and this week’s guest, head to https://www.stemazing.co.uk/podcast

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