Our Woman of the Week is Dina Halvorsen, who was nominated for the way she manages to balance her roles as clergy wife and company executive in an especially male-dominated industry. You see her here at church, in the middle of the US Army Combat Fitness Test, and in a chador during a work trip to Saudi Arabia:
“I'm a mother of three children--my youngest is going to college this fall--I'm the daughter of an Orthodox priest, and the wife of an Orthodox priest. I am also an executive at Sikorsky Aircraft; one of the only female executives responsible for profit and loss for a significant part of the business. Sikorsky develops, manufactures, and sustains helicopters for both military and commercial customers around the world.
“I have an engineering degree and started my career working for a consulting firm. After a few years, my husband was finishing up his PhD and, with two young children, we decided to move to Connecticut to be closer to family. One of the parishioners at our church was an engineer at Sikorsky and recommended it to me. I was hired as an engineer but moved on to business development, program management, and business leadership. In my twenty years at Sikorsky, I've sold aircraft and services across the world including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Brazil, Japan, and Thailand, and managed businesses in both the Middle East and Latin America. I am now leading a team providing solutions to our largest customer: the U.S. Army.
“Managing work, family, and my church life has always required some trade-offs. I’ve found the best way to manage them is determine ahead of time what are the critical things for each of them that you are not willing to compromise on. These could be recitals and birthdays as well as important feast days of the Church. Often times that meant really aggressive travel and recovery schedules: I’ve done trips to the UAE where I spent as many nights on the plane as I did the country. I’ve done the full Holy Week and Pascha cycle, had dinner with the family, packed up, and left for a 10-hour flight at 11 PM on Sunday night. It also meant that there were nights when I had dinner with the family and worked until after midnight to finish up.
“I certainly haven’t always gotten the balance right, but you can tell when that balance gets out of whack and then you adjust. I’ve also learned to take care of myself on the road, which includes a prayer life, regular exercise, decent food, and sleep whenever I can get it. I also usually spend as few nights as possible on every trip which means really early or late flights and very little downtime--but it does mean more nights at home.
“Whether you are working in the US or internationally you always have to understand and respect the culture you are doing business in. Every place and every customer is different. I’ve worn a chador in Saudi Arabia, watched live soccer at the Maracana in Brazil, and taken the Army Combat Fitness Test with my US Army customer. While this is sometimes challenging, it’s been one of the most rewarding parts of my job.”
Axia!
Dina Halvorsen is our Woman of the Week, nominated for the way she manages to juggle a demanding job, an equally demanding travel schedule, and her roles as clergy wife and mother. We asked her how she has found success as an aerospace executive:
“First you have to work hard, respect your customers and co-workers, and always keep learning, developing and expanding your experiences.
“When I started at Sikorsky, I knew I was going to be one of the rare women on any team there, and I wasn’t sure how I would manage that. Here’s what has worked for me. Having a relatively short memory has been really important. When something happens, when someone says something, or a decision is made, it is important to be able to process it, act if necessary, and then move on. This has allowed me to approach relationships and situations with relatively little baggage, and people appreciate when colleagues can enter into discussions with freshness and optimism.
“It's also critical to be the one who says ‘yes’ to opportunities, whether that means to take on additional work, take the extra meeting, jump on an airplane. or take the next role. Often these decisions need to be made very quickly, even the life-changing ones. This is where women often struggle, given that they are often the primary caregivers and don't have enough family support to do this. It has taken a village of people to manage the logistics of our family. I'm extremely lucky that my husband is a wonderful caregiver for the kids and that I had my children very early in my career, when my travel and responsibilities were fewer.
“Being willing to take on challenges, and risks, means quite a lot in my industry. You have to be ‘comfortable being uncomfortable,’ be good at handling constant change, and be confident in your ability to do something new. When an opportunity comes up, when someone asks if I'm interested in a new position, something that might be a real stretch for me, I have often said, ‘Yes, I'd like to be considered.’ Now, this doesn't mean that I have always gotten the promotion, or been given the position, but demonstrating the willingness to take risk and take on responsibilities has been key to my success.
“Finally, I'd say that many of men I've worked for (because they have always been men) have been great leaders who have mentored me, taught me the industry, and been great advocates for me and my career. It is almost impossible to succeed in a career like mine without mentoring and support. But it is important to note that having good mentors only happens when you risk making yourself vulnerable by seeking them out, even asking for them, and then, when you find them, learning as much from them as possible.”
We asked our Woman of the Week, Dina Halvorsen, about her morning routine:
“My morning routine is focused on getting as much sleep as possible. So, I get up and get out of the house quickly, usually in about 30 minutes. It's just the basics: shower and get dressed, and I'll have my morning tea at work. I work out at a gym in the early mornings twice a week but, again, it's usually just 15 minutes from my bed to the car and then a quick shower before I head to work. I really need at least seven hours of sleep a night to be at my best and my travel schedule can be extensive. (Pre-Covid I was on the road at least part of 2 weeks per month all over the US in my current role; in 2018, I visited every continent in the world.) This routine helps ensure I get the rest I need. Not surprisingly, I approach traveling the same way. I don't even think about packing until about an hour before I leave for the airport, and have been known to pack in minutes. I know that other people have morning routines that are quite different, but I'd say that the most important thing is for each woman to find the routine that works best for her, that really works for her personally and professionally, and then stick with what works.”
Thank you, Dina!
