Tina believes that bonding with teammates has made a huge difference. She considers herself blessed to have had the opportunity to work with extremely supportive people in every project she has been part of.  ‘This is what made me - and still makes me - stay.’

Ask her about who ‘Tina, the person’ is and she will tell you about her two beautiful children. And then, she will tell you about her Exyte family. ‘When I got married, the whole office was there. It was like a little office party!’ 

When she was pregnant with her first child, her team would not let her go to the project site and would instead, take and share photos with her for her guidance. A new engineer was also attached to her as a trainee - so that when she went on her break, the new engineer could hold fort. This gave her tremendous courage, because she had to manage her father’s ill-health at the same time. It gave her the confidence and comfort to take not just the four months of maternity leave, but an additional four months of unpaid leave as well.

Ask her about what advice she has for women engineers considering a career in construction, and she has only one thing to say: ‘Hang in there. At first, it will be tough. But each job is designed differently - do not be afraid to experiment, you will learn and build character. You will work with several many people. You will get those big opportunities. And you will grow up, as I did.’