AutoCAD Celebrates International Women’s Day – AutoCAD Blog

Today is International Women’s Day so it’s only fitting that we celebrate some of the incredible women using AutoCAD. Here are just a few we’ve met over the past year. We hope you’ll be as inspired as we have been by their stories. (And, if you’d like your story told, please share in the comments or inthisform so we can get in contact with you!)

Mina Dezz (aka IronRingGirls) – Civil Engineer

Growing up, Mina was always more obsessed with Barbie’s house than with Barbie herself. After graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering and earning her Iron Ring, she started a business (IronRingGirls) building custom homes in the Toronto, Canada area. She uses AutoCAD for designing and editing both before and during the construction process, documenting each step on Instagram. That account (also called IronRingGirls), is the name and face of a community of more than 18,000 people advocating for girls and women in STEM fields—and engineering in particular.

Wendy Stevens – Handbag Designer

Wendy made all of her high-end metal handbags and templates by hand until a devastating fire destroyed her entire workshop. For the first time, she had to turn to technology to recreate (and create new) designs. She started using AutoCAD LT—and hasn’t looked back. Read more of her story in “AutoCADLTBringsHandbagBusinessBackFromtheAshes.”

Briana Brubaker – Structural Engineer

It only took one popsicle-bridge-building contest with the Girl Scouts to inspire Briana to pursue an entire career in engineering. Now as a structural engineer with Martino and Luth in the Denver, Colorado area, she works on a wide-range of projects from eight-story concrete apartment buildings to smaller three-story walk-ups, schools, and more. Discover more of her story and how she uses AutoCAD in her career in “EngineerBrianaBrubakerTalksAboutComingofAgeWithAutoCAD.”

Sarah Wilson – Interior Designer

Sarah Wilson first found her passion for interior design as a child. As a preschooler, she could often be found behind the counter at her mom and uncle’s upholstery store in St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands). After an incredibly successful career in technology, Sarah decided to go back to school and pursue her passion for interior design. That’s when she learned AutoCAD, and it’s instrumental to her firm’s design work each and every day. Read more about her journey in “FromITtoInteriorDesignWithAutoCAD.”

Lauren Lever – Lighting Designer

Heading up the London team for Australia-based NDYLIGHT, Lauren is a highly regarded lighting designer who’s led and worked on major hotel projects including Paradise City in Seoul, South Korea, the ACE Hotel in Shoreditch (London), and Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland. Throughout her career, she’s relied on AutoCAD to bring designs to life; she currently uses it to explain low- and high-level lighting concepts and schemes and even to coordinate other services. Looking to create innovative solutions that complement both the form and function of a building, she uses light as an artistic medium to create emotional responses and distill an innate appreciation of the design, art, and architecture of a space.

Paige Kassalen – Electrical Engineer

Paige brings her electrical engineering and AutoCAD design experience to her role as an analyst at Covestro, where she’s part of a cross-business unit team exploring new business opportunities for materials in innovative mobility concepts, like autonomous cars and ride sharing. In 2015, Paige was part of the Solar Impulse ground crew. Not content to keep her AutoCAD work to precision engineering, in 2015, she also used the software to create a huge, life-size Lego man for a company Halloween party.

Lillian Lin – Chefitect

Lillian first started cooking and baking as a stress reliever while studying architecture at the University of Southern California. After graduation and moving to Japan, her two passions melded into becoming a “chefitect” and the creation of her site The Chef Charette. For it, she uses AutoCAD to create easy-to-understand diagrams of complex recipes. See the videointerview and read her entire story here.

Alex Anderson – Sunglass Designer

Alex moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands and found a problem in paradise. After working as an interior designer, she simply couldn’t find a job in the field. Then two pairs of lost sunglasses provided a serendipitous moment. Unhappy with the high cost of replacing them, Alex and her husband created a business plan for their company Maho Shades as well as designs of the high-end, affordable shades in AutoCAD. Read more about Alex’s venture in “DesigningforaDayintheSun.”