Daily Inspiration: Meet Stephanie Hajducek

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Hajducek.

Hi Stephanie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
In October 2021, I had an idea to help get girls from my local area to a Women in Industry Conference held in Galveston, Tx, every year. This conference is a day full of career exploration for women in the energy, construction, and manufacturing industries. It is open to adult women and high school girls ages 16 and up. I attended this conference in 2017 and what I remembered most was that there were school buses parked outside and that high school girls were bussed in to attend the conference. I remember thinking that was the most amazing idea, to expose girls to careers in the industry starting in high school. Our family moved in 2020, and when we were looking for a place to call home, schools were the most important as we had twin boys who were sophomores and a daughter that was in elementary. We visited a larger school district and a smaller school district. Ultimately, we decided on the smaller school district. I wanted to be where we could make a difference and not just fit in. I also felt that we had raised our kids to be leaders and that maybe someone at that smaller school district needed a friend like our son Adam, our son Aidan or our daughter Alyvia. It was the best decision we could have ever made. Our kids not only made great friendships, but they also saw how blessed they are to have the lifestyle they have. The school district is a small rural town where most kids come from low-income households. I saw the need to help create awareness about all the career opportunities available to these kids, high-paying careers right in their backyard. I approached my manager at Steel Dynamics and asked if we could sponsor students from our local high school. He said yes, and the rest is history. I approached Sinton High School and told them about the conference, and they were immediately on board. Our kids go to a different school district than where my employer was. I wanted that same opportunity for our students, so I nudged my husband, who works for ExxonMobil/Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, and asked who I might contact at his company about a potential sponsorship for Taft High School. He gave me a contact, and I reached out and said this is what Steel Dynamics is doing for the students at Sinton High School. Would you be interested in sponsoring Taft High School? They said absolutely. So I kept getting more schools involved and more sponsors on board. I started thinking I could get 10-12 girls to this conference, and I got over 200 girls. It was amazing! Most schools went the night before and stayed in the Moody Gardens Hotel. They took their girls to a nice dinner and got them all dressed up. The night before the conference, one of the counselors from one of the schools came up to me and thanked me for helping get the initiative started. She then told me that I might not realize it, but most of their girls had probably never stayed in a hotel room or even been out of their hometown. I did not realize that, and at that moment, I knew that I didn’t just get girls to a conference. I got them an experience that, for most, was once in a lifetime. That is where I decided to form This One’s for the Gals. I want to create opportunities for girls to experience things they may not get to because they come from low-income households. I want to end generational poverty and help girls stop being okay with just being okay and just getting by. Through my nonprofit, I am helping organize a Women in Industry Conference locally, and I hope to be able to bring a similar conference to other areas of Texas and, after that, other areas of the US. We need more opportunities like this for girls to be exposed to careers in demand where they can make a very successful career. Not only that, we must show them how to get the training and education they need to get those careers. I am so passionate about this because I was that girl. I came out of high school, graduating from a small town, with no clue what I wanted to do. My parents talked about college, but I thought I knew everything and would figure things out alone. I ended up married young, having kids young, and divorced young. A single mom with no post-secondary education and a very feeble resume with two little boys to support. A friend suggested I get into drafting and design. I took a 6-week AutoCAD training course, walked into a job fair at Bechtel in Houston, TX, and asked for an entry-level job. They hired me, and my life was forever changed. I went back to college and, at the age of 38, walked across the stage at the University of Southern Mississippi to accept my bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering Technology. While that was an amazing accomplishment, I keep thinking how much it cost me all those years raising a family, working full time, and going to school full time. It wasn’t easy. If I had had a little more direction coming out of high school, I would have spent less time spinning my wheels trying to find my place in the workforce. So that is my goal, to help girls have a little bit better direction so they can get into a career and have a successful and amazing life! I now work for The Chemours Company, and they are a huge advocate for diversity and inclusion and fully support my efforts to Fuel the Future of Women in Industry!

You wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
My journey could have been smoother. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way, and I am determined to use my lessons learned to educate the workforce of tomorrow. As for the initiative to help get girls into the force and create opportunities for them to experience different things in different places, the support has been excellent. It has truly been taking care of itself, and there is so much support behind it that it will only continue to grow. Industry wants to help develop its future workforce. We have to show them how!

Please tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others.
Outside of being a wife to a fantastic husband named Chris, and mom to three wonderful children named Adam, Aidan, and Alyvia, and being a Glammy to my first grandbaby girl Adaleena and a bonus mom to her mommy Yesenia, I work full-time as a Project Engineer for The Chemours Company. Every minute of my spare time is devoted to getting my nonprofit started and doing as much community outreach as possible. My husband and I also raise Registered Texas Longhorn Cattle on Two Weeks Farm and Ranch in Taft. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thisonesforthegals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisonesforthegalstx/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisonesforthegalstx
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slhajduc/