- Xometry Joins QLS 820 Manufacturing Partner Network - March 22, 2023
- Weerg Offers Quick-Turn Resin 3D Printing Service by Installing Four NXE 400Pro Printers - March 22, 2023
- Nexa3D Acquires XYZ Printing’s SLS Technology - March 19, 2023
By Sarah Goehrke
The official International Women’s Day website explains it succinctly:
“Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.
Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.”
Each year, the official IWD offers a theme. This year’s – #BreakTheBias – focuses on what we can all do (including with resources) to break the bias:
- “Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
We can break the bias in our communities. - We can break the bias in our workplaces.
- We can break the bias in our schools, colleges and universities.
- Together, we can all break the bias – on International Women’s Day (IWD) and beyond.”
IWD encourages individual awareness of our collective responsibility to move toward a more equitable world. One with less bias. The first step in breaking the bias: awareness.
Unconscious bias is so called because of a simple fact: it’s not a conscious choice. We all have these biases, and realizing them can be a very difficult and highly personal process. When I was (briefly) an undergraduate major in education, we did a simple exercise one day: “draw a teacher”. I was one of two in my class of 25 to draw a Black man teaching literature. Every other drawing showed a white teacher. Other men in the drawings were teaching science or math, while most drawings were women holding books or even hand puppets. The professor arranged all 25 drawings together and asked us to think about what this meant: “Why is this what you think a teacher looks like?”
Now, beyond the classroom, that question remains more relevant than ever:
- What do you think an additive manufacturing engineer looks like?
- What do you think an HR professional looks like?
- What do you think a VC or marketer or analyst looks like?
- Why is that what you think they look like?
Why do we have the expectation that any profession might have “a look”? What lies behind our preconceived notions of what our new colleagues will look like in the 3D printing industry? Do these preconceptions arise from personal experience, from who we see onstage at conferences, from who we see on our Zoom screens and in neighboring offices?
How often are we wrong?
This International Women’s Day, Nexa3D is proud to celebrate more women than ever before on our team. We’ve been growing incredibly – I’m one of dozens of new Nexers to have come onboard within the last six months alone – and the growth in a diverse team has added to the strengths of our capabilities and speed of innovation.
In gathering the women of our team together for photos celebrating our teams in the office, working remotely, and representing Nexa3D on-site at an industry event, we compiled this striking image of 21 Nexers:
At Nexa3D, our women are represented at every level of leadership and on every team. We are proud to stand together with incredible team members of every gender identity to do the best work of our professional lives – in an environment full of what we meaningfully call kindred spirits.
As a corporate member of Women in 3D Printing (Wi3DP) and pilot partner for Wi3DP’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programming, Nexa3D has been investing in our people. We are working to break our own biases and grow together in a team where every voice is heard, where every employee is a person whose entire self is welcome.
And this investment in Nexers is paying off in a stronger Nexa3D than ever before. We’re working with more resellers and customers the world over with ever-rising installation rates – and new systems set to come to market in 2022, widening the reach and touch of our portfolio.
Strong teams make strong technologies, which make a strong, real impact.
The people of Nexa3D, our Nexers, are the real key to our success. These are the faces behind our overarching mission to digitize the world’s supply chain sustainably.
