An Engineering Odyssey • Kristin Toth Smith

(COO at Dolly || WA USA)

“There were a lot of things I liked about science when I was young. One of them was that I could really see how it ended up in a specific job — an astronaut or a paleontologist — and that was very cool. But in engineering, mathematics, or physics, it wasn’t as clear to me. You go to school, and then, what? You do something like school afterwards?

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The reality is a sound math, physics, or engineering foundation can lead to nearly anything. You may become a mathematician or a physicist, but the possibilities are endless… I’ve had a lot of different roles in my career. Straight out of college I got into the tech side of engineering, setting up a $40 million data center for the manufacturing company I worked for and running 32 different software projects! I worked as a manufacturing engineer, eliminating waste by implementing lean manufacturing. At Amazon, I implemented same-day delivery, then joined the retail team and worked on Amazon’s music app. After many years of working in big companies, I decided to join a startup, Zulily, where as VP of Operations I set up their complete supply chain. Seeing the scarcity of software developers, I then decided to move into education and ran a company that helps people change careers into or within software development. Now I lead the operations and business development teams at Dolly, a new tech company that helps customers find delivery and moving services.

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There really isn’t just one way to have a science career. Having a strong foundation in math, physics, or engineering allows you to do almost anything!”