Women’s History Month Letter

Community has always been a driving force in my life purpose. In a community we find connection, we find understanding and we find a sense of home. When we are part of a community, we experience the permission to be ourselves and have a sense of relief in knowing we can come as we are and not as who someone expects us to be.

My name is Amy Baldwin, and I am the sourcing lean and compliance leader and the chair of the Women’s Network (WN) here at GE Hitachi. I am a part of many communities here at GEH, and I am so proud of the Women’s Network team and what our amazing community of exceptionally talented humans is able to accomplish.

The Women’s Network means so much to me because it gives me that sense of home. It is where I feel the most like myself and can be at peace. I have understood the importance of this type of space since my childhood. I was raised in a home with all girls. My sisters were and are my best friends still today. Without them as my backbone, I would truly feel lost in this crazy world. I was raised by a strong, working mother who was the only woman to leave her very small town and attend college in 1968. She encouraged me to go to college and I went on to attend Virginia Tech which was 700 miles away from home. My mom encouraged me to find my community while I was at school. I was so fortunate to join an all-woman engineer living and learning community on campus that gave me the sense of home and “sisterhood” that I was so familiar with growing up.

The first time I felt absent a community was when I started with GE. I was a manufacturing engineer and the only woman working on a team supporting mostly men welders and machinists. I remember being so insecure with myself and my work because I did not feel like I belonged in this distinctly men dominated environment. The macro and micro aggressions I experienced during that time were not for the faint of heart.

And then I found the Women’s Network and I started to open up and feel like I belonged at GE. With the Women’s Network I found a group of individuals (men AND women) that were there to support each other and encourage us to capitalize on our strengths and find ways to improve on our weaknesses. I can share that the Women’s Network has kept me here at GE and has allowed for me to thrive in this company.

As we celebrate Women’s History Month this March, it is important to remember why we are here and what this community offers. For me, it was a feeling of home in an unknown world, which has now led to many memories and a fulfilling career for hopefully many more years to come.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Hellen Keller