Five women spoke about their career experiences at a guest panel to around 40 students on Thursday. 

The Women’s History Month Committee hosted the Shattering Ceilings event for construction management professor Brandi Shepard, FOX Sports Reporter Kelsey Nicole Nelson, Anne Arundel County Fire Department Fire Chief Trisha Wolford, and Shilisha and Shonda Witherspoon, twin sisters who are software engineers for IBM to talk about their roles in male-dominated fields.

“We wanted to hear insight from these women,” Brittany Laama, who organized the event, said. “We wanted to hear the experiences that they’ve had in their workplace. We wanted to hear what drives them … they even gave us some advice for if people are looking to get in their fields and how to like some strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome.

Shattering Ceilings is the fourth of 12 events for Women’s History Month, which was held in CADE 218. Lamma and students attending the event in-person or online asked questions for the panelists, with each one having the opportunity to respond. 

The event also had guests from Meade Middle School for students to ask for advice in careers they were interested in. 

Lamma said her favorite part was when Chief Wolford said being the first woman in a field can be a burden, adding, “I thought that that was such a powerful statement to make, to inspire, but also to give a realistic view.”

Lamma said the event went pretty well.

“People were smiling and laughing,” Lamma said. “We got some really great questions coming from the room and also online. I think the people that were here left feeling inspired, hopeful and just really excited to be a woman.”