Engineering Her Success: Rhiannon McComish’s Path To Spirit
Upon meeting Rhiannon McComish, it is clear she has an interesting story to tell. As a manufacturing engineer at Spirit Maine, her path to Spirit has been anything but conventional, and that’s what makes it so special.
After graduating from high school in Maine, her friends and peers were off to new adventures in academia, but pursuing higher education was a bit out of reach for Rhiannon.
“I have a little bit of a non-traditional career story. I didn’t go to college in earnest until I was 27. I started college out of high school, but I wasn’t able to keep up with it – it just financially wasn’t in the cards for me. So, I had to wait until I was older.”
She is the first to admit that her career path falls outside what’s viewed as “traditional” – but her passion proves there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for building a fulfilling life and career.
Finding Her Calling
When the opportunity to enroll in college became a reality, Rhiannon initially planned to enroll in the nursing program. But as she sat in the financial aid office, she happened to pick up a magazine and began reading an article about space. The feeling she describes in that moment was one of sadness and doubt.
“I don’t remember specifically what it [the article] was about, but it was something about outer space and I just got really sad because I love science and space. I said to myself, ‘I don’t even want to be a nurse.’”
She marched back to the registrar’s office and changed her major to science that day. She didn’t know what specific science program she wanted to pursue but knew that’s where she belonged.
After two years at community college, Rhiannon transferred to the University of North Carolina at Asheville, wanting to enroll in their physics program. As luck would have it, the program was full and she wouldn’t be able to enroll until the following semester. She ended up going the chemistry route with no real idea of what she was signing up for – but ended up loving it. Her love of inorganic chemistry, rocks, minerals and spectroscopy is what led her to a career in analytical chemistry.
Shifting Gears
When Rhiannon initially applied to Spirit, she put her hat in the ring for a quality position. But due to her previous experience in raw materials, she was asked if she wanted to join the engineering department.
While she was familiar with manufacturing, the idea of being an engineer was new territory for the career-trained chemist. But just as she had done in the past, she pivoted seamlessly and wholeheartedly embraced her work.
In her current role, the self-described process engineer and her team have been working to transform an initial stage R&D project into a mature full-capacity production process –no small feat! From the way Rhiannon speaks about her work, you can sense the excitement and passion she brings with her to the lab each day.
“You get to be really creative, and problem-solve, which is my favorite thing to do. I don’t wake up every day saying, ‘Ugh, I gotta go to work.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, cool, I get to work on that project today or solve that problem.’”
Rhiannon’s organizational and process prowess shines in her work and in just two years at Spirit she has completely transformed her current project from top to bottom. Collaborating cross-functionally across quality, operations and technician teams, she has brought a former background program that no one knew about into the spotlight, making it a vital component of daily operations.
And the program results speak for themselves. Manufacturing and production levels for the material she and her team work with are the highest they’ve ever been in the 14-year history of the program. And while she knows there are still growing pains and continuing issues to solve, she feels proud of all the work and progress they have made to date.
“We’ve managed to increase our production significantly while maintaining quality and it’s just been a complete paradigm shift for the program, what it was two years ago versus what it is now.”
Inspiring the Next Generation
As someone who has spent most of her career being the only woman in the room, Rhiannon pauses when asked to reflect on her journey and what she would say to other women and girls looking to pursue careers in STEM.
She recalls her time at UNC Asheville and speaks fondly of her mentor, Sally Wasileski, Ph.D. At the time, the chemistry department was very much a “boys club” – Dr. Wasileski was the only female faculty member. She recalls gravitating towards her as Dr. Wasileski was a working mother and had a successful career – everything that Rhiannon wanted for herself. She found comfort in having someone she could not only relate to but look up to in a male-dominated field.
“She instilled in me that I had to work really hard. But also to pick something you like. Don’t just do whatever is available, do something that you actually care about, because otherwise you’re not gonna want to do it for very long.”
In addition to “check your math,” it was that piece of advice that shaped Rhiannon’s educational pursuits and helped her realize her true passion for analytical chemistry.
Rhiannon goes on to share that she recently attended the Society for Women in Engineering’s annual conference and recalls the keynote from Kate Maxwell, CTO of Defense & Intelligence for Microsoft’s Public Sector. During her address, Maxwell stated, “No is a complete sentence,” a phrase that Rhiannon has adopted as her own mantra.
“It’s about getting out of the people-pleaser mindset that so often women in male-dominated roles get into because we sometimes feel like we have to prove that we’re as capable or as willing to do all the work as the men around us.”
As Rhiannon continues you can sense the hopefulness in her words. She is currently one of five female engineers in her department at the plant in Biddeford, ME which was not the case when she started there two years ago. And while it’s a step in the right direction, she wants to see female representation – especially in leadership – continue to grow.
While recognizing there’s still work to be done in narrowing the gender gap across the engineering industry, Rhiannon has observed a positive shift – fewer women having to navigate classrooms, hallways and laboratories alone, or be the only woman in the room as she once was. It’s an encouraging trend that she is hopeful will continue.
“Science and engineering, anyone can do this. It’s about asking how hard are you willing to work to get there? There is no reason any young girl can’t come into a field like this. And it’s so much fun!”
