From a young girl hopping around the United States to a well-respected figure in the engineering field, Josepha Taylor has a mountain of accomplishments in her career to show for her prowess and abilities throughout her more than 20 years in the field.

Despite numerous obstacles, Taylor has climbed her way to being a reputable geotechnical engineer and has proven to inspire those around her.

“There’s not a lot of Pacific Islanders who are engineers, and there are certainly even less female Pacific Islanders, and so there was a part of me that I felt like was doing something that could give back to my community, to my people, to my island,” Taylor says.

She graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s and Purdue University with a master’s degree in civil engineering. She has worked at public and private firms in Washington State, California, and Hawaii. Taylor currently works as a Senior Project Manager at Hart Cowser, the highest position she’s held to date.

Sheri Salvador is a coworker and close friend of Taylor’s, and they have known each other for over a decade. Salvador notes how Taylor works very closely with everyone in her office and “makes everyone feel included.”

Salvador also comments how Taylor is a dedicated worker and devotes much of her time to improving her community.

“She still makes time to give back to the community, and no matter what, she always gives financially, emotionally, all of that,” Salvador states. “And I think that she’s a great mentor above all to the staff.”

Taylor’s husband, Joshua Taylor, is also an engineer in the structural field and graduated from Purdue and Georgia Tech alongside Taylor. He has worked at Bentley Systems for 20 years and is currently a Senior Director of Product Management. He shares that they often collaborate on projects in their respective fields.

“She’s seen kind a lot of dynamics of organizations that she’s had to get used to, and that’s the one thing I’ve watched and taken away from her career,” Joshua Taylor says.

Although Taylor is a respected female and Pacific Islander engineer, she is one of few in the industry. Because of this, she has had to “struggle with the perception of being female” throughout her career.

“I hope that now that there is a lot more openness and connectivity, and there’s a lot more fluidity with newer generations that maybe, that won’t be the case, and so that females in technical careers won’t have to feel like they’re going up against a stereotype,” Taylor says.

Despite this persistent obstacle, Taylor still holds out hope for her fellow engineers and will continue to advocate for equity and equality in the industry.

“There were no role models for me to see as that, as engineers, female engineers particularly,” Taylor says. “The things I’ve had to go through, I’m very proud of where I am. I’m very proud of how I feel like I can represent my own people.”

This story was originally published on Ka Leo O Kalani on February 9, 2022.