Alsie Renn Dunbar, 36
Process chemist/ Engineer, Shell/Motiva Enterprises
A dual-degreed scientist and chemical engineer with a passion for motivating and inspiring youth through mentoring, Alsie Renn Dunbar puts her 17 years of experience in the chemical industry to work both professionally and personally in her community. In March of 2015, Dunbar received the Shell Performance Unit Plant award—one of the highest honors that a Shell employee can receive. The City of Gonzales issued a proclamation in her honor of the lifelong resident of Ascension Parish on Sept. 28, recognizing her professional and volunteering efforts for the STEM GEMS female youth mentoring program she founded in 2013.
THREE MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
I am a lifelong resident of Ascension Parish with a passion for motivating and inspiring youth through mentoring. With over 17 years of experience in the chemical industry, I am a dual-degreed scientist and chemical engineer. I have served in various roles throughout those years, which have included process and plant design, research and development, product quality management, and environmental regulation. I am currently employed with Shell/Motiva Enterprises LLC where I work in Process and Technology.
In March of this year, I received the Shell Performance Unit Plan award, which is bestowed to employees who have demonstrated benchmark excellence in their current job role and who show accelerated professional promise in the future. A promotional incentive is given to ensure that the employee remains there for at least the next three years. This is one of the highest honors that a Shell employee can receive being that it has to be voted on by the majority stakeholders in the company.
I am also a 2014 graduate of Leadership Ascension, which is sponsored by the Ascension Chamber of Commerce that recognizes emerging leaders in the Ascension Parish professional community.
On September 28, 2015, the City of Gonzales issued a proclamation in my honor declaring this day as STEM GEMS Day recognizing my professional and volunteering efforts through the STEM GEMS Mentoring Program that I founded in 2013.
VOLUNTEER AND COMMUNITY AFFILIATIONS AND INVOLVEMENT
Current Community and professional involvement includes the following:
STEMS GEMS Mentoring Project, Founder and Mentor
City of Gonzales Proclamation on September 28, 2015 for STEM GEMS Day
The Ascension Fund Board of Directors
Louisiana Healthy Communities Coalition Advisory Board (Board of Directors)
Leadership Ascension Class of 2014 (Ascension Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program)
COEA-the Arc of Ascension (Board of Directors)
Ascension Minority Business Association (Board Member)
East Ascension Rotary Club (member)
Ascension Career Leaders Mentoring Initiative (Founding member)
Louisiana Academy of Sciences (graduate chapter member)
Iota Sigma Pi National Honor Society (graduate chapter)
LaWAVE Chairperson for the Motiva Convent Refinery, Shell Oil
Diversity and Inclusion Council, Shell Oil
American Institute of Chemical Engineers (professional member)
ASTM-Subcommittee Member and Producer, Shell Oil
American Chemical Society (professional member)
Society of Women Engineers (professional member)
National Society of Black Engineers (professional member)
My passion for the community and math and science led to me founding the STEM GEMS Mentoring Project in the Spring of 2014. Through this pilot project I promote the interest of Girls Excelling in Math and Science through mentoring and encouraging them to pursue careers and advanced degrees in STEM majors where women and minorities are underrepresented. STEM GEMS’ objective is promoting the interest of Girls Excelling in Math and Science through mentoring and encouraging them to pursue careers and advanced degrees in STEM majors where women and minorities are underrepresented.
The STEM GEMS Mentoring Pilot Project has been working with Dr. Patrice Pujol and the Ascension Parish School Board mentoring young girls that are identified as high achievers in Math in Science. To date, I have mentored over 50 girls with a high level of success at Gonzales Primary, Gonzales Middle, Donaldsonville High School and Bright Futures Community Learning Center. Due to the overwhelming success of this program, I will continue my work this fall at Gonzales Primary School working with Jaimee Williams and Pecan Grove Primary with Amy Champagne throughout the academic school year where I will be working with local physician Dr.Lisa Le in the the second year of this mentoring effort. I also host STEM GEMS Saturdays at various schools in the Gonzales area due to the overwhelming response from the community so that I can expose as many as I can to the wonderful world of STEM.
I have a passion for mentoring and educating the public about the importance of excelling in math and science as I believe that as this understanding will lead to increased awareness in other areas including health and the environment. It has been my mission to ensure that this awareness is increased over the last few years every chance that I get which led to the formation of STEM GEMS.
WHAT ACTOR/ACTRESS WOULD PLAY YOU IN A MOVIE ABOUT YOUR LIFE?
Angela Bassett
WHAT IS YOUR THEME SONG?
Golden by Jill Scott
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB, AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM IT?
I started my first job while I was still a senior at East Ascension High School was as chemical engineering intern at Borden Chemical in Geismar. I worked there for four years while in college and a year after. At this time I was awarded a full scholarship and a guaranteed internship for four years. An internship provided me with invaluable experience that laid the foundation for the career that I have today that I am proud of. Hard work and sacrifice pays off and you are never too young to learn that.
NAME ONE BOOK THAT HAS INSPIRED YOU PROFESSIONALLY.
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP?
I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Being an engineer was my plan B. God works in mysterious ways.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE FOR A BUSINESS LUNCH IN BATON ROUGE?
French Market Bistro
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT?
My passion for the community and math and science led to me founding the STEM GEMS Mentoring Project in the Spring of 2014. Through this pilot project I promote the interest of Girls Excelling in Math and Science through mentoring and encouraging them to pursue careers and advanced degrees in STEM majors where women and minorities are underrepresented. STEM GEMS’ objective is promoting the interest of Girls Excelling in Math and Science through mentoring and encouraging them to pursue careers and advanced degrees in STEM majors where women and minorities are underrepresented.
The STEM GEMS Mentoring Pilot Project has been working with Dr. Patrice Pujol and the Ascension Parish School Board mentoring young girls that are identified as high achievers in Math in Science. To date, I have mentored over 50 girls with a high level of success at Gonzales Primary, Gonzales Middle, Donaldsonville High School and Bright Futures Community Learning Center. Due to the overwhelming success of this program, I will continue my work this Fall at Gonzales Primary School working with Jaimee Williams and Pecan Grove Primary with Amy Champagne throughout the academic school year where I will be working with several corporate entities in the second year of this mentoring effort. I also host STEM GEMS Saturdays at various schools in the Gonzales area due to the overwhelming response from the community so that I can expose as many as I can to the wonderful world of STEM.
I have a passion for mentoring and educating young girls and minorities about the importance of excelling in math and science as I believe that this understanding will lead to increased awareness in other areas including health and the environment. It has been my mission to ensure that this awareness is increased over the last few years every chance that I get which led to the formation of STEM GEMS. I want to let them know that they can do anything they set their minds to. It’s because of young black women who were engineers like my aunt Wanda Williams who works for Lockheed Martin as a Sr. Principle Design Engineering Manager designing the black boxes for the F-16 bomber jets and Darlene Parker, a chemical engineer for Uniroyal who worked diligently in the community with my mother before she passed away with cancer. It’s because of them I can do what I do now.
WHAT RITUAL DO YOU DO TO GET PUMPED UP BEFORE A BIG MEETING, PRESENTATION OR PITCH?
I say a prayer and then listen to something uplifting. Calm my spirit so that I can think clearly. Once I execute, I turn up!!
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST FULFILLING MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER SO FAR?
Knowing that I am making a difference in my community through mentoring other young females and minorities encouraging them to follow their dreams and giving them the inspiration to do what they never thought that they could at one point in their academic or professional careers. My parents instilled that in me and it’s my turn to pay it forward.
WHAT WAS YOUR PROFESSIONAL “AHA MOMENT?”
In 2002, I was hired to work for The Shaw Group as an engineer/scientist in their Environmental and Infrastructure Department. At that time, The Shaw Group was the only Fortune 500 company that was started in Louisiana. The hiring process was competitive and hard, but I made the cut. I had what it took to make it. That was my “aha moment” and also a huge confidence booster for me. I was homegrown and I worked for a Fortune 500 company that was homegrown as well. My thought: This girl has got it!
WHAT IS YOUR BEST PRODUCTIVITY HACK?’
I am a night owl (12 a.m. to 3 a.m.). I produce my best work at night during the wee hours of the night when I am under pressure. So with that being said, for my best productivity hack I place my inner perfectionist trait aside and I go to work during these hours when I know I won’t be interrupted because most are asleep.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THE HARD WAY?
The hidden lesson and blessing that lies in failure at times. No one is perfect.
WHAT ABOUT YOUR JOB WOULD SHOCK CUSTOMERS OR CLIENTS IF THEY KNEW ABOUT IT?
That my day can go from me wearing a suit to a nomex outfit with safety googles and steel toe boots. Whatever it takes to get the job done. There is no such thing as a routine, normal day.
WHAT’S A WEIRD RULE AT YOUR JOB THAT YOU KNOW IS ONLY THERE BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Well there is not one rule in particular, but when someone tells you that they do things a certain way or a rule exists because “that’s the way that the way that it has always been done, ” that drives me. That’s a general sentiment that is applicable in a few instances that we are working to change. Things change with time and the willingness to accept and adapt to change is key.
MAC OR PC?
PC for work and Mac for my personal use.
WHEN DO YOU TEXT AND WHEN DO YOU CALL?
I text for basic communication. I call when when I have to talk to my parents or god parents and if the matter is urgent enough.
HOW LOW WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR REMAINING BATTERY LIFE GET (IN %) BEFORE YOU HAVE AN ANXIETY ATTACK?
15%
HOW MANY UNREAD MESSAGES ARE IN YOUR INBOX RIGHT NOW?
Maybe 200
WHAT APP GETS YOU THROUGH THE DAY?
Pandora
HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON?
Three times on a Monday and twice on a Tuesday and at least four every other day.
BREAKFAST AT HOME? BREAKFAST ON THE GO? BREAKFAST AT YOUR DESK? NO BREAKFAST AT ALL?
Breakfast at my desk most mornings.
IS THE GLASS HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL? WHAT’S IN THE GLASS?
Half full and it’s filled with hope and optimism.
THE SAYING IS, ‘BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.’ SPECIFICALLY, WHAT ARE YOU ‘BEING’ TO MAKE BATON ROUGE BETTER?
I am making a difference with my STEM GEMS Mentoring Project. I am actively being a mentor and a role model to young girls and minority students who show academic promise in addition to having an interest in a STEM field of study. I am showing them that you can be anything that you set your mind to. Being specific, my life’s mission is to change the perception of what a “STEM” professional looks like. One child at a time. My STEM GEMS Mentoring Project is doing just that. It’s all about investing in our youth as my elders did with me as a child. I was truly blessed to have both parents in my life who set the bar pretty high for me growing up. My mother was an educator and my father was a phenomenal professional athlete. Together they provided me the strong foundation needed to be a pillar in my community. STEM GEMS is more than a mentoring program. It is a personal extension of myself that I share with each child that I encounter. I want to instill them the same principles that my community, the wonderful city of Gonzales, instilled in me. As the African proverb says, it takes a village to raise a child, that is very much true in these days and times.
Our young girls need to know that they can be anything that they want to be if they are willing to put their minds to it.
WHAT’S YOUR MOTTO?
The race is not given to the swift nor the strong, but to the one who endures.
WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF PERFECT HAPPINESS?
That one moment in time where I am all that I thought I would be and all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answers are all up to me—and I have the answer and all dreams have been fulfilled.
WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD GROWN UP?
Well this is an interesting story—I had three wrecks my senior year in high school and two in my junior year in college. When my dad came to me handed me the keys to my second vehicle, he also handed me the bill for the auto insurance with a smile. So when I realized that my mess ups were on my dime and not his.
WHICH HISTORICAL FIGURE DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?
Michelle Obama
WHICH LIVING PERSON DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
My parents, Allen “Jubilee” and Rhonda Dunbar. My mother is the most giving and selfless person that I know. She was an educator for 37 years with the Ascension Parish School Board. My father was a professional football player who was an All-American standout at Southern University in the late 60’s. After retirement, he sought out a second career and made sacrifices for the sake of his family. Legacy was the driver of their lives.
WHAT TRAIT DO YOU MOST DEPLORE IN OTHERS?
Lack of communication and just being mean for no reason to another person.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST EXTRAVAGANCE?
Imported tea, self care (i.e. spa days), and travel. I do what is necessary to maintain my peace of mind and happiness.
WHAT TREND DO YOU REALLY WISH WOULD MAKE A COMEBACK?
Neo soul—great neo soul!!
IF YOU COULD CHOOSE YOUR AGE FOREVER, WHAT AGE WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
30 because at that age in my life I was the happiest. I was an established professional, entrepreneur, well-travelled and I had purchased my first home a few years prior. I had accomplished everything that I set out to do in life.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE JOURNEY?
The journey of getting to know myself and my true purpose in life.
ON WHAT OCCASION DO YOU LIE?
When asked my weight.
WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST REGRET?
Delayed reaction. Wasting time waiting to live life on my own terms instead of living by the definition of others.
WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU HAPPIEST?
In 2006, I took a missionary trip to Port au Prince Haiti with my pastor. It was a spiritual awakening for me that allowed me to see how fortunate I am in life. The simple things that I took for granted like clean water are a dire necessity for others in this world. I became more thankful.
WHICH TALENT OR SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO HAVE AND WHY?
I wish I had the magical voice that Whitney Houston had. Her voice was a God given talent and had the ability to transform your listening experience into a personal experience! Music can transform your soul when you truly feel it! I wish I could inspire people through song the way she did. Again, she is THE VOICE.
IF YOU WORKED FOR THE CIA AND NEEDED A TOP-SECRET ALIAS, WHAT WOULD YOURS BE?
It would be Olivia Pope. No explanation needed.
IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT YOURSELF, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
The way that I allow what others think to affect me.
WHAT’S YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION?
The blessing to have been raised and influenced by three generations of maternal existence on this Earth. The words of wisdom that they have imparted to me, the prayers that they have prayed, watching them sacrifice for their families, and show compassion have molded me into the person that I am today. All of these memories are the making of the strong individual I see in myself today. It is a treasured possession that I can give to my daughter one day.
IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANET AND TAKE EVERYTHING THAT YOU LOVE WITH YOU, WHERE WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE AND WHY?
Berkeley, California. Why because it is the perfect balance of comfort. The people there as well as the environment is the create the happy medium for comfort. My father, Jubilee Dunbar, was drafted to the San Francisco 49ers in the early 70’s and made roots there. In addition, my great uncle Royal Pinell lived there after he retired from the military. That is one of the other places that I have family and I feel totally at home and at peace. I was offered a full scholarship to UC Berkeley for chemical engineering but I turned it down because I wanted to remain in state.
WHAT DO YOU MOST VALUE IN YOUR FRIENDS?
The fact that we are genuine in our actions and words. We genuinely want each to prosper applauding one another’s accomplishments and milestones in life. We support one another in time of need. Above all else, we challenge each other each day to be greater. True friends are hard to come by, when you find one it is indeed a blessing.
WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT THE ’90s?
Good music (neo soul and hip hop) and the being carefree.
IF YOU HAD TO BE A TEACHER OF SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD YOU TEACH?
Chemistry
WHAT IS YOUR THEME SONG? OR WHAT SONG GETS YOU READY FOR A BIG MEETING OR MOMENT? OR WHAT’S THE SONG YOU ALWAYS TURN UP THE VOLUME ON? OR WHAT IS YOUR GO-TO KARAOKE SONG?
Theme song: Closer by Goapele
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME 20 YEARS, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF?
Be fearless. Follow your first mind and never second guess yourself. Forget what people think.
WHAT USELESS PIECE OF INFORMATION WILL YOU NEVER FORGET?
That 5,280 feet equals 1 mile.
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH EVERY TIME YOU THINK ABOUT IT?
Hearing the infectious laugh of my grandmother Sammie Washington. Anytime I would need a good laugh during a hard day, she would always see the intense humor in something I did or said.
WHO’S THE MOST FAMOUS CELEBRITY YOU’VE EVER MET?
Colin Powell
WHAT’S THE NEXT CHALLENGE YOU HAVE PLANNED?
I want to be more impactful in the community and make history. I want be voice for the community and be a catalyst for change which means I will seek public office to do so.
IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN, WHAT CONCERNS YOU MOST ABOUT THE FUTURE THEY WILL INHERIT?
As time progresses, it seems that people in the world are less compassionate and cruel. I don’t think any child should be subjected to that.
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ADVICE FOR FUTURE FORTY UNDER 40 HONOREES?
Follow your dreams, pick your battles wisely, and don’t sweat the small stuff. Never back down from a challenge. This is only the beginning. The sky is the limt!!!
DO YOU PLAN TO BE IN THE CAPITAL REGION FIVE YEARS FROM NOW? WHY OR WHY NOT?
Yes I definitely plan to stay (in the Ascension area). This is home for me. I would not trade it for the world. I have learned and experienced so many things here. The people in my community that have helped to raise me are getting older and the torch has been passed on to my generation of leaders. It’s time for us to rise to the occasion and inspire change but more importantly be that change that we want to see.
NAME THREE THINGS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST.
To use my science acumen to find cures for cancer and AIDS.
To complete my visit the Seven Wonders of the World. To date I have traveled to two of them.
To spend a day with Barack Obama and pick his brain.
