This International Women's Day, JAM celebrates the achievements of women in engineering whilst examining the crucial need for greater female representation in the sector. Marisa Kurimbokus, the reigning IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year, tells us about her journey and insights into this vital topic.
Listen to the full podcast here.
Meet Marisa: From "Sellotape Queen" to Award-Winning Engineer
Marisa Kurimbokus's impressive engineering journey spans over a decade, with roles at major companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Triumph Motorcycles, and Lyra Electronics. Currently serving as Head of Engineering at Rayon, a custom battery startup, Marisa's path to engineering excellence began in an unlikely place – as a five-year-old with a passion for making things.
"I loved making things, whatever I could get my hands on. My mum called me the 'sellotape queen' because I just would stick everything in the house together to try to make something new," Marisa recalls.
Despite her early inventive tendencies, engineering wasn't immediately on her radar. Like many young women, her perception of engineering was limited to stereotypical images: "It was men. Greasy pipes. High-vis jackets. Hard hats. People in building sites. People who fixed your car."
It wasn't until her final years of school, when a friend invited her to an engineering lecture, that Marisa discovered engineering was precisely the creative, problem-solving career she'd been looking for all along.
Breaking the Family Tradition
Unlike many engineers who cite family connections as their pathway into the profession, Marisa had no engineering role models in her family. "That's quite unusual," she notes. "A lot of the engineers I meet have said 'my dad was an engineer' or 'I had an uncle' or 'I really liked Formula One and I watched it with my family. I didn't have any of that."
This is precisely why outreach programmes are so crucial. For Marisa, a lecture series by the University of Cambridge opened the door to a world she hadn't previously considered. "That is where people like me, who have absolutely no other contact with the industry, can first experience that," she explains.
As the only girl from her all-girls school year to pursue engineering, Marisa represents a stark reminder of the talent pipeline we're missing. "It's such a shame because I went to school with some incredibly bright, creative, exceptional girls and to think the contributions they could have made to the industry if they'd known how great it was."
What Does Engineering Really Look Like?
Far from the greasy pipes and hard hats stereotype, Marisa describes a diverse career that combines hands-on creativity with strategic thinking:
"I'm not saying I don't have days where I roll up my sleeves and I get covered in something. And to be honest, I love that because that harks back to my five-year-old self covering my house in sticky tape."
But engineering is much more than that: "Some days I'm behind a desk with my thinking cap on, designing something new and trying to figure out a way of solving problems. Other days I'm talking to my team and trying to work out the best way of doing something, whether it's an engineering problem or coming up with a strategy for the whole company."
Why Do We Need More Women in Engineering?
When asked why female representation in engineering matters, Marisa offers a compelling perspective:
"Everything around us has been touched by an engineer. So why is only half the population designing and creating those things for us?"
She illustrates this with a striking example from her time at a car company, where a new sports car was designed without a space for handbags – an oversight that significantly impacted sales in China.
"If we had more women on the team, we would have spotted that sooner and been able to solve that problem sooner," she points out.
Beyond such practical considerations, Marisa highlights how women approach problems differently: "Women tend to be very kind, compassionate... Don't we want more compassion, more kindness, more elegance, more beauty in our future? They're the ones creating the future. Let's bring all those wonderfully girly traits to engineering."
The Barriers to Women in Engineering
Despite the opportunities, women remain significantly underrepresented in engineering. In Marisa's university cohort at Cambridge, women made up just 25% of students – and this was considered good compared to other institutions aiming for just 20%.
Marisa identifies two key barriers:
Lack of understanding about what engineers do: "When students were surveyed and asked to picture what an engineer looks like, a staggeringly high number said 'white man, overalls, high-vis jacket'. Very few could picture a woman doing that job."
Societal attitudes toward maths and science: "In the UK in particular, we don't value maths and science as much as we should. When I say I really enjoy maths, people look at you a bit like, 'oh, that's a bit weird, isn't it?'"
These barriers are compounded for girls, who "don't expect you to be good at [maths], they don't celebrate it when you are."
Creating Pathways for Future Female Engineers
Throughout her career, Marisa has championed initiatives to introduce young people, especially girls, to engineering. At her previous three companies, she established programmes for engineers to visit schools, talk about their work, and run activities that demonstrate the creative, collaborative nature of engineering.
"It's trying to think of problem-solving with your teammates and making it a little game," she explains. "It does use your maths, it does use your science, but it's actually really fun."
As the IET's Young Woman Engineer of the Year, Marisa plans to use her platform to "really shout about how amazing engineering is as an industry and as a profession, and genuinely, if I can do it, girls, you can do it too... you'll enjoy it and you'll be good at it."
The Way Forward
At JAM, we're committed to supporting greater diversity in engineering and technology. Marisa's story illustrates precisely why this matters – not just for equality's sake, but for better products, solutions, and ultimately a better world.
This International Women's Day, we celebrate the Marisas of the engineering world while redoubling our commitment to help build a more diverse talent pipeline for the future.
For employers looking to diversify their engineering teams or women considering engineering careers, contact JAM today. Together, we can break boundaries and shape a more innovative future.