Describe the proudest moment in your career.

I don’t think I could pick just one — I’ve been proud of every time I or my team has achieved a challenging goal. I was proud of our industry reforming EPCA in legislative text and Energy Star, even if the bills failed. I was proud to see the tax incentive structure I had negotiated years ago finally be passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. I led a team that accomplished completing two National Ambient Air Quality Standards at once, with one being the first time a NAAQS was ever achieved on time in the 40 years of the Clean Air Act. I led the building of the first Daikin Sustainability and Innovation Center here in D.C., which helps us collaborate with our industry and explain to policymakers how decisions they make impact the products we install into homes and businesses.

What challenges do women face in this profession? Can you give a personal example?

A female mentor in my early career told me that as a woman, to be taken seriously, I would have to work differently than my male counterparts — I’d have to work harder, read more, and be less social because I would be judged differently for it. While I think the government relations and HVACR industries continue to evolve, what I’ve found in work has been that some of my greatest supporters have been many of the men I have worked with and for. If you work hard, put your mind to your goal, and show your determination, then you can accomplish what you want.

How can we increase the number of women in HVACR?

Like anything you really want to achieve, I think bringing more women into this field needs to be an active and purposeful exercise. While I think this industry appeals greatly, I know from experience it can be a difficult one to understand from the outside. But actively engaging and recruiting women into this field is incredibly valuable, as we’re all better off having a diverse pool of voices and experience at the table. Implementing strategies to keep women in your company once they’ve been recruited can be equally important — at Daikin, we have an opportunity called Connect which brings women together for leadership training and to ensure we have a community of support.

What does your day-to-day job entail?

One of the best things about my work at Daikin is that no two days are the same, and we have an amazing team that all works together, allowing me to work on a broad array of issues. I can be working on a regulation in New York, and then working to prioritize policy issues with one of our industry coalitions or trade associations, advocating for our priorities to a federal agency, helping convey important information to our internal counterparts and leadership, and then giving remarks for an event. Day to day and week to week, we’re always finding new ways to be impactful and ensure our different businesses and our policy objectives are aligned.

What remains on your HVACR bucket list — what do you aspire to do that you haven’t accomplished yet?

I think obtaining policy outcomes as a goal can be elusive — I’ve tried to reform Energy Star and EPCA and create tax incentives that were forward-looking and everyone thought could work, only to see bills fail and incentive implementation continue to create too much complexity. I’ve written regulations with work groups and seen them upheld in courts, just to watch as the next round of regulation inevitably replaces them. But I hope through continuing to do this work, we can inspire the next generation of policy- and HVACR-passionate people — the future of our industry who will continue to help us always make continual progress towards improving the environment for our customers and the ability to create jobs for our industry.

What advice do you have for women who are considering a career in HVACR?

I would say that for this industry to be successful, we need you — we need a diversity of experiences and opinions to achieve all we want. And you can find great success in this industry. Some of my greatest mentors and supporters have been the many men I worked with and for, so know that even though we continue to work to engage more women in this industry, you can be a great success here. You can make so much of every opportunity you get if you consider the job description the floor, and go for it.