Justin Riney welcomes his INEOS Styrolution coworkers Alex Compton and Danielle Maziur to discuss women in the plastics industry, their commercial careers, and how they found plastics after initially pursuing pre-med paths.

They address working in a male-dominated “old boys” environment, trade show dynamics, and whether women feel held to higher standards, emphasizing the importance of supportive colleagues and mentors. The conversation explores how to attract and retain more women through better awareness of non-engineering roles, diverse candidate pools without quota-driven hiring, and stronger mentorship structures despite lean organizations.

They also discuss plastics’ perception problem, the need to differentiate plastics from oil and gas, and the value of human-centered storytelling and education—especially for kids and business ...