Pier Pressure - Women Improving the Built Environment - Kari Sebern, P.E. of Vector Collaborative

Our Pier Pressure blog series continues (and our blog title is especially apropos for this guest!). This time we are featuring Kari Sebern of Vector Collaborative, a full-service structural engineering company based in Colorado and Iowa.

Kari is the founder and principal of the firm and hosts the podcast, Unstruct. She is an entrepreneur, mom, Christian, artist, certified yoga instructor, meditator, and equal rights voice. She is also a past President of the Iowa Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers and currently sits on the Iowa State Building Code Advisory Council. We first met Kari in 2018, and always relish opportunities to partner with her and Vector. Read on to learn more about Kari and the wisdom she has gained in her 20+ year of design experience!

Describe your job without using any industry terminology:

While architects design the skin of a building, as the structural engineer, I am designing the bones of the building. These include the vertical and horizontal elements that are put together to keep a building in place when exposed to Code dictated loading such as snow, the weight of people, furniture and structure, wind and earthquake loads.

What one piece of advice would you give women just starting out in the industry? 

Believe that you are valuable but also exemplify humility. Your boss and your clients will follow your lead regarding your worth. Find other peers in the industry to collaborate with. Competition does not have to be a negative thing.

What is your very favorite part of your job? 

I get to collaborate with some really great people that are creative and uber smart.  Many of my clients have become friends that I spend time with outside of work. I also love the flexibility and autonomy of owning my own business. I love having that little bit of time to send my kids off to school in the morning and to be home to hear about their day when they get home in the middle of the afternoon. 

What is one career decision you wish you didn’t make? 

I wish I wouldn’t have taken so long to see competitors as colleagues instead of foes. I wish I would have learned to say no to projects that aren’t great fits sooner. I wish it wouldn’t have taken me so long to get good at setting and keeping boundaries and setting my professional worth at a high standard.

What is the funniest thing that happened to you recently? 

I was recently recording an interview over Zoom and my dog decided that he would like to play tug of war just as we started recording. I tried to keep him entertained outside of the camera frame but my arm was definitely getting thrown about in the camera frame. Then he decided to get a large plastic container to start crinkling and chewing on. Distracting to say the least!

We are so appreciative of Kari sharing her insight and acumen with us! You can learn more about Vector Collaborative by visiting https://www.vector-collab.com/.