Women in the workplace: Christy de Abreu
In South Africa, August is National Women’s Month. In honour of the women who work at PG Bison, we’re taking this opportunity to profile some of them. In this post we chat to Christy de Abreu, Information Services Manager at PG Bison.
Tell us a little bit about you, as well as your role at PG Bison.
I’ve worked at PG Bison for almost 14 years. I received a bursary from them while I was studying industrial engineering at WITS University and I took on a vacation work project they offered. The people and culture at PG Bison helped me decide that working at PG Bison trumped the mining industry, so I declined my mining bursary and chose PG Bison. And I haven’t looked back since.
I am currently fulfilling a senior management position in IT within the company. I spend my days envisaging the future of IT in PG Bison and how we can take ourselves and our customers on a journey into the digital world. We look at how we can take PG Bison to the next level. How do we take it further? How do we digitise the company? How do we use technology to add more value to make things better?
Over my time here, I’ve seen many manufacturing plants and impressive technologies being commissioned, adding massive value for PG Bison. I am so proud to be associated with a world-class manufacturing organisation and look forward to the many new innovations we are all working on. I think the manufacturing sector is going to be a huge contributor to the South African economy in the near future and look forward to making history with PG Bison.
Outside of work, I’m a wife and a mom of an 11-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. I spend my nights and weekends (when I’m not with my family) split between completing my MBA and playing hockey.
How do you feel about being a woman working in the manufacturing industry?
I value the opportunity to be given a seat at the table, to be given a voice and to have my opinions and insight valued by the men and woman within PG Bison. This is not always the case in many manufacturing companies and I value what PG Bison has done and what it is undertaking to build women in the manufacturing industry.
Similarly to men, we as woman have many different roles we need to manage and positions we need to fulfil, we are ‘woman at work’, moms, wives, caretakers, leaders… Often balancing all these roles can seem overwhelming. That’s when we need to lean on each other, prioritise and focus on the end goal.
It is also up to us as woman to carve out our own future and ensure the next generation of woman have it a little easier than we did. Melinda Gates said “Women speaking up for themselves and for those around them is the strongest force we have to change the world.” We, as women, have a responsibility to make the next change.
It is also up to us to show that we don’t need to be treated differently or with more sensitivity, we are in fact incredibly strong individuals, built for extremes (take childbirth, for example).
What are your words of encouragement to all women in the workplace?
Focus on the end goal, and put in all the effort and work to get there, it will get better.
I have an acrostic (where the first letter in each line spells out a word or phrase) for PG Bison that helps me and keeps me going, and hopefully they can help all aspiring women in the workplace too.
Passionate Be passionate in all you do and all you stand for.
Great We as women are all great; believe in yourself and know your worth.
Brainpower To succeed and add value, learn! You need knowledge to take part in conversations.
Innovative We are different, so use that. Always think differently and use this to create new and improved things.
Step by Step At times, things will seem they are not working out, but keep pushing through each step to be the best you, you can be.
Outspoken Melinda Gates said “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” Keep at it!
Never give up Focus on the end goal and keep going until you reach it.
