She’s Been Through It

She’s Been Through It

di Christine Campana

Stagione 1

The Power Imbalance I Couldn’t Ignore - As an Engineer and a Woman

I ended my engagement - and the truth behind that decision is more complicated, more emotional, and more empowering than I ever expected. This episode is the story of how I realized I couldn’t marry someone I felt obligated to stay with, and how the same clarity I use every day as a woman in engineering helped me finally advocate for myself in love. For years, I convinced myself that stability meant compatibility. I told myself that being “the strong one,” “the logical one,” “the dependable one” meant I had to stay. I tried to fix the power imbalance, the emotional mismatch, the financial tension, the family dynamics, and the constant feeling that I owed him my future. I tried to engineer my way into a relationship that wasn’t built to last. But engineering teaches you something powerful: when a system is failing, you don’t ignore the data. You don’t silence the alarms. You don’t pretend the imbalance isn’t real. You analyze, you evaluate, and you advocate for the solution that protects long‑term integrity - even when it’s uncomfortable. That’s exactly what I had to do in my engagement. In this episode, I’m sharing the moment everything became clear, the red flags I finally stopped rationalizing, and the self‑advocacy it took to walk away from a future I once thought was guaranteed. As a woman in STEM, I’ve had to speak up in rooms where my voice wasn’t always welcomed - and it turns out I needed that same confidence in my relationship. And yes… I recorded this episode in full chaotic mode. I hadn’t showered in 24 hours thanks to flight cancellations and airport connections. I didn’t do my skincare on vacation and my skin was dry as hell. I had no makeup on. My hair part was annoying me. My widow’s peak and cowlicks were doing whatever they wanted. I’m not a vlogger. I have no media training. I’m literally an engineer with an MBA trying to figure out how to run a podcast. And I still posted this - because everyone starts somewhere, and I don’t care. If you’re waiting to look perfect before you start, you’ll never start. If you’re waiting to feel ready before you speak up, you’ll stay stuck. If you’re waiting for permission to choose yourself, you’ll wait forever. This episode is for anyone who has ever: • stayed in a relationship out of guilt • confused stability with compatibility • felt obligated to be “the strong one” • struggled to advocate for themselves at work or in love • ignored red flags because they didn’t want to disappoint someone • wanted to hear a real story from a real woman in STEM navigating life, career, and relationships • needed a reminder that choosing yourself is not selfish - it’s necessary If you’re a woman in engineering, a woman in STEM, or someone learning how to trust your voice, this episode will hit home. It’s messy, honest, emotional, and full of the clarity I wish I had years ago. Hit follow to join me on this journey - more episodes are coming, and they’re only getting better from here. #womeninengineering #womeninSTEM #engineeringlife #relationshiplessons #compatibilitymatters #selfadvocacy #choosingyourself #engagementstory #storytimepodcast #empoweredwomen #healingjourney #engineerwithanMBA #startsomewhere

Not a Tinkerer, Still an Engineer: Overcoming Early‑Career STEM Panic

Welcome back to She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit, the podcast where a woman in engineering breaks down the honest, chaotic, deeply relatable parts of STEM life that never make it into textbooks or career brochures. Today’s episode dives into one of the most common - but least talked‑about - insecurities women in engineering face: not growing up as a “tinkerer.” If you didn’t rebuild engines in high school, fix cars in your driveway, or spend your childhood taking apart electronics, this episode is for you. This is the story of how career insecurity followed me from high school into college and well into my early engineering career. While my classmates talked about rebuilding dirt bikes and modifying engines, I was the student quietly panicking because I didn’t know which wrench was which. I didn’t grow up in a garage. I didn’t have a tinkering dad. I didn’t have a shelf of tools. And in a field where hands‑on experience is treated like a personality trait, I felt like I was already behind before I even started. I share the moment I froze during a lab visit - the moment that convinced me I wasn’t technical enough, smart enough, or “engineer‑y” enough to belong. Surrounded by tools I didn’t recognize and equipment I’d never touched, I spiraled into engineering anxiety so intense it made me question my entire career path. It was the kind of panic that hits you in the chest, the kind that makes you feel like everyone else had a head start you somehow missed. But this episode isn’t just about the insecurity. It’s about what came after: the slow, steady, unglamorous process of building confidence without a tinkering background. I talk about how repetition, leadership, mentorship, and showing up even when I was spiraling helped me develop what I call functional confidence - the kind that doesn’t come from childhood tinkering, but from adult perseverance. I share how I learned to ask better questions, how I built technical intuition through experience rather than upbringing, and how I stopped comparing myself to people who grew up with a wrench in their hand. This episode explores the intersection of engineering anxiety, imposter syndrome, women in STEM, early‑career engineering, technical skill development, and the pressure to perform in male‑dominated spaces. It’s about the quiet panic of feeling behind, the fear of being exposed as “not technical enough,” and the reality that many women in engineering didn’t grow up with hands‑on experience - and still became exceptional engineers. If you’ve ever felt intimidated by classmates who seemed more experienced, or colleagues who talk about tinkering like it’s a prerequisite for engineering success, you’re not alone. If you’ve ever felt embarrassed not knowing which tool to grab, or worried that your background wasn’t “engineering enough,” this episode will make you feel seen. And if you’ve ever convinced yourself you didn’t belong in STEM, this story will remind you that belonging isn’t built in childhood - it’s built through persistence, curiosity, and showing up even when your brain is loudly spiraling. This episode is for women in engineering, STEM students, early‑career engineers, and anyone navigating the messy, emotional side of technical growth. It’s for the people who didn’t grow up fixing things - and still became engineers anyway. Catch the full story, the panic, the growth, and the confidence arc in today’s episode. And remember: you don’t need a tinkering childhood to build an engineering future.

I Ignored the Red Flags: The Relationship Debug I Didn’t See Coming

Have you ever met someone at exactly the right moment in your life… only to realize later they were meant to teach you something? Today’s episode is about the fastest relationship I ever fell into, red flags ignored, and the difference between chemistry & compatibility. Welcome back to She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit with your host, Christine, where we keep unlearning all the outdated career and life advice we never asked for but absorbed anyway. This podcast is about debugging the systems we were handed - whether that’s workplace culture, career expectations, relationships, or the beliefs we carry about success. Today, we’re doing dating root cause analysis. It was 2020 - world shut down, everyone isolated, and time felt completely made up. Then I met this guy. He was funny and brought lightness into an incredibly heavy year. We connected fast. A few weeks later, I found out I had a six-week work trip to San Diego. He said, “I don’t know if I can go that long without seeing you.” Instead of thinking, “That’s sweet,” I apparently thought, “Perfect. Let’s fast-track this relationship.” So I invited him to come with me. Looking back, I was making a decision based on how safe and exciting it felt—not on how well I actually knew him. But at the time, I didn’t want to be alone in a strange city during one of the strangest moments in history. He said yes. For six weeks, we skipped straight to relationship mode. Morning coffee, beach days, hiking, disc golf, shared dinners, swimming—we built a tiny life together, and for a little while, 2020 almost felt normal. But vacations aren’t real life. When you travel with someone, you're seeing them in a bubble with fewer responsibilities, less stress, and more adventure. It's easy to mistake a great experience for long-term compatibility. Once we got home, things changed. He started smoking more, drinking more, and slowly became someone I barely recognized. One night after dinner in South Philly, he stumbled into traffic after drinking. A car was coming, and I pulled him back. That was the moment I realized I shouldn’t have to save the person I’m dating from their own choices. The relationship didn’t end that night, but it changed how I saw it. As engineers, we’re trained to look for patterns. One issue might be a fluke. Repeated issues point to a system problem. Relationships work the same way. Soon after, he told me he couldn’t spend as much time with me—right when I needed support the most. Then, when my birthday came around, he could only commit to maybe an hour or two. That’s when I realized it wasn’t about my birthday. It wasn’t about one dinner. It wasn’t even about the drinking. It was about effort. When someone wants to build a life with you, you shouldn’t feel like you’re competing for leftover time. A few days later, I ended the relationship. No dramatic fight—just the realization that what we had in San Diego couldn’t survive real life. The biggest lesson? Chemistry is not compatibility. Someone can make you laugh, make you feel seen, and create incredible memories—and still not be the right person to build a future with. Sometimes we have to stop asking, “How good does this feel right now?” and start asking, “Will this actually work long term?” That lesson applies to all forms of relationships. If you’ve ever ignored red flags, confused potential with reality, or learned a lesson about boundaries, you’re not alone. If you have a STEM story, workplace lesson, career mistake, or a moment where you finally said, “Nope. Not today,” I’d love to hear it. Call or leave a voicemail at (267) 281-3633. Catch you in the next episode, where we keep unlearning all the outdated career and life advice we never asked for but absorbed anyway.

Trailer: Women in Engineering & The Conversations We Never Had

Welcome to the officialtrailer for She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit, apodcast about engineering, career growth, leadership, resilience, personaldevelopment, and the stories we don't usually tellout loud. If you've ever wondered whatit's really like to build a career in engineering, navigatecorporate America, lead through uncertainty, advocatefor yourself, recover from failure, or simply figure outlife as you go, you're in the right place. This isn't another podcast filledwith perfectly polished success stories or generic careeradvice. I'm an engineer by background,but this podcast is about so much more than engineering. It'sabout the people behind the job titles, the moments thatshape us, the difficult conversations, the winsno one sees, the setbacks that change everything, and much more. This podcast exists because Iknow I'm not the only one. Whether you're an engineer, aSTEM professional, a college student, an aspiring leader, someone navigatingcorporate life, a woman in technology, or someone whoenjoys authentic conversations about careers, you'll find something here that resonates. Every episode is designed tofeel like you're sitting down for coffee with someonewho's willing to skip the buzzwords and havethe conversation we all wish happened more often. We'll talk abouttopics like: •Women in engineering and womenin STEM •Leadership lessons that actually matter• Corporate life• Navigating toxic workplaces • Building confidence and overcoming imposter syndrome• Professional development and lifelong learning• Mentorship • Burnout and resilience• Career pivots and taking risks• Job interviews, exit interviews, and career transitions• Communication and executive presence• Difficult conversations at work• Entrepreneurship and building something of your own• Failure, rejection, and bouncing back• Personal growth outside of work• Relationships between career and identity• Lessons learned from real experiences - not just theory You'll also hear from guestswith diverse backgrounds who have incredible stories to tell.Engineers. Leaders. Entrepreneurs. Executives. Creators.Professionals from different industries. People who've overcome obstacles, reinventedthemselves, challenged expectations, and discovered what success actually means to them. Expect honest storytelling. Expect practical advice. Expect uncomfortable truths. Expect laughter. Expect conversations that aren'tedited to make life seem perfect. Most importantly,expect authenticity. This podcast isn't about pretending to have all the answers. It'sabout asking better questions, sharing real experiences,and helping each other navigate careers and life witha little more confidence, curiosity, and courage. If you've ever felt like you didn't belong in the room... If you've ever questioned yourabilities... If you've ever left ameeting thinking, "Did that really just happen?" If you've ever celebrated awin that nobody else understood... If you've ever struggled tofind people talking honestly about engineering, leadership, corporatelife, or personal growth... You're exactly who I createdthis podcast for. If this sounds like yourkind of conversation, subscribe, follow, and join the community.New episodes feature candid 

The Career Memo That Taught Me Visibility > Perfection

Welcome back to She’s Been Through Some Engineering Shit, the podcast where we unpack the career lessons that somehow never made it to our inboxes - probably because the memo went straight to spam. Today’s episode dives into the workplace truth I missed for most of my professional life: doing great work is not the strategy we were promised. Real career development - especially for women in engineering and women in STEM - comes from visibility, intentional growth, and unlearning the outdated habits we absorbed long before we ever stepped into a lab, plant, or conference room. For years, I believed the myth: keep your head down, work hard, be reliable, and eventually someone will notice. Spoiler: no one noticed. And that’s the entire reason this podcast exists. Women in engineering do not need another “just be confident!” pep talk. If confidence alone worked, we’d have women running every boardroom in America. What we actually need is the truth - the messy, unglamorous, deeply human truth about how careers grow in environments where you’re often the only woman in the room, navigating engineering culture, unspoken rules, and expectations that were never designed with us in mind. This episode is the honest version of career development. Not the polished LinkedIn post. Not the corporate‑approved leadership seminar. I’m talking about the awkward lessons, the accidental breakthroughs, the quiet realizations, and the strategies that actually move your career forward when you’re navigating male‑dominated engineering spaces. If you’ve ever felt like you were doing everything “right” and still not getting traction, this episode is your permission slip to rethink the entire playbook and redefine what growth looks like in STEM. I break down how my early years in defense shaped my assumptions about what engineering careers were supposed to look like - structure, silence, staying in my lane, keeping my head down, and hoping someone noticed. Defense taught me discipline, rigor, and how to operate in environments where hierarchy was treated like gospel. But when I transitioned into corporate life, I realized I needed to completely reboot my operating system. Corporate taught me that discipline alone wasn’t going to get me promoted. I had to learn visibility - literal, physical visibility. Being seen. Being present. Being in the rooms where decisions were made, even when I didn’t feel ready. You’ll hear how moving my desk closer to senior leaders changed my trajectory more than any certification ever did. You’ll hear how showing up, speaking up, and letting people actually see me created opportunities I didn’t even know existed. And you’ll hear the moment I led a leadership meeting and realized something that permanently lowered my anxiety: people with fancy titles are just people with laptops, mild confusion, and the same “wait, what are we doing again” energy as everyone else. This episode is for every woman in engineering, STEM, or any male‑dominated field trying to build a career with intention - not perfection. It’s for the women who’ve been told to “just be confident,” as if confidence alone could bulldoze structural barriers. It’s for the women who’ve been doing excellent work for years and still feel invisible. It’s for the women who are ready to grow but aren’t sure what growth actually looks like in environments where they’re often the only one like them. It’s for anyone trying to navigate STEM career development, build leadership skills, and create sustainable, authentic visibility without burning out. This is the real playbook - built from lived experience, trial and error, and the kind of honesty that actually helps people grow. No fluff. No corporate jargon. Just the truth about what it really takes to build a career as a woman in engineering and STEM. Enjoy!

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