SheCanEngineer

Sally Twisleton is an executive coach, facilitator, and former engineering leader who specialises in helping technically brilliant people become exceptional leaders. After an 18-year career at Rolls-Royce, including serving as Head of Engineering Quality, she founded Assemble Coaching to support engineering leaders, teams, and organisations in having the conversations that matter most.During her time at Rolls-Royce, Sally led engineering quality governance, continuous improvement, capability development, and cultural transformation across a global engineering organisation. She also championed mentoring, coaching, engineering diversity and inclusion, and behavioural change, giving her a rare combination of deep technical credibility and expertise in human leadership.Today, through Assemble Coaching, Sally works with organisations to develop leaders, facilitate high-performing teams, and build coaching cultures. As a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and an EMCC Senior Practitioner Coach, she brings together engineering discipline and human-centred leadership to help organisations unlock the potential that already exists within their people.Links:Connect with Sally on LinkedIn Assemble Coaching Audio series HBR article

Dr Nike Folayan MBE (PhD, CEng, FIET, HonFREng) is a Chartered Electronics Engineer, Technical Director and Technical Discipline Leader for Communications and Control at WSP, leading complex transport and infrastructure projects globally. She is Chair and Co-Founder of the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK), a pioneering organisation that has supported more than 20,000 people pursuing careers in engineering and technology. A respected advocate for equity, inclusion and engineering excellence, Nike serves on numerous advisory boards and has been recognised among the UK's most influential women in engineering. She was awarded an MBE for services to diversity in engineering and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.If you want to find out more about some of the things Nike talks about, here are some links:AfBE: Inspiring diversity in engineering | AFBE-UKAfBE Live: AFBELive 2026 - The Future of Engineering: From Access to EquityThe Face of Engineering: The Face of Engineering - The Common Room

Guest: Mohammad Shana’aHe/Him CEO – Morta Technology Ltd This episode of the SheCanEngineer Podcast is proudly sponsored by Morta.In this episode of the SheCanEngineer Podcast, we’re joined by Mohammed Shana’a, CEO and Co-Founder of Morta, for a conversation about the future of the built environment and the role people, data and technology can play in changing the way the industry works.Mo shares his journey from civil engineering and project controls to founding Morta, reflecting on the early stages of his career and the frustrations that ultimately inspired him to build a different way of working.We explore why so many engineers enter the industry only to find themselves spending more time managing spreadsheets and information than solving engineering problems, and how disconnected data and systems can make it difficult for project teams to understand how their projects are really performing.Mo also discusses what he sees as a wider trust problem within the built environment, why digital transformation often falls short when technology is imposed from the top down, and why meaningful change has to start with the people doing the work every day.We also discuss the opportunities for the next generation of engineers to challenge the way things have always been done, how AI could shape the industry, and what actually encourages people to embrace new technology in their day-to-day work.From spreadsheets and AI to trust, sustainability and industry-wide change, this episode explores what it will take to build a smarter, more connected built environment - and why technology may provide the tools, but people will ultimately drive the transformation.Connect with Mo - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mshanaa/⁠Learn more about Morta - ⁠https://www.morta.io/⁠

Guest: Fiona CousinsShe/HerArup Fellow | Chief Operating Officer – Total DesignFiona is Arup's Global Chief Operating Officer for Total Design, an Executive Director on the Arup Group Board, and served as CIBSE President from 2024 to 2025 with the presidential theme Building Performance Reimagined.She leads the development of Arup's Total Design approach, combining technical excellence, digital innovation, and multidisciplinary collaboration to deliver practical, sustainable solutions for clients. Prior to her current role, Fiona held several leadership positions across the Americas, including Chair of Arup Americas, Global Automation Leader, Chair of the Digital Council, and Digital and Resilience Business Leader.A professional mechanical engineer and Arup Fellow, Fiona has delivered landmark projects including the US Embassy in London, Bloomberg Center at Cornell Tech, and Perez Art Museum Miami. She is a recognised thought leader in sustainability, building performance, energy, carbon reduction, and climate action, and is a frequent speaker to industry and academic audiences.In this episode, Fiona had an open conversation with Sam and Ruth, New Podcast co-hosts, about her career, her Leadership Journey and her love for Kayak.If you want to find out more about some of the things Fiona talks about, here are some links:- Building Performance Reimagined: Building Performance Reimagined project- Kayaking: Post | LinkedIn

Robbie Graham is a graduate Human Factors Consultant working for Amentum. Having studied Product Design Engineering at the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Art, Robbie uses his creative experience to approach new engineering problems in a holistic way, citing his development of soft skills through university as one of the most important skills you can have in the Human Factors industry.In this episode, Lucy - one of SheCanEngineer's new podcast hosts chats to Robbie about his interesting path into engineering, his community work in bringing art and creative classes and exhibitions to refugees, and his (and Lucy's) experiences of university life during the COVID pandemic.Robbie also talks about his cool projects, combining art and science to understand materials. From creating ceramics from oyster shells (growing up in in the west coast of Scotland!) to kinetic sculptures using bioluminescent algae!If you want to find out more about some of the things Robbie talks about, here are some links:https://www.ascus.org.uk/ - the UK’s first publicly accessible Art & Science Lab."3607” exhibition by artist Kexin Liu: examines microorganisms living in the human body and their impact on our sense of “self”. Named after the number of bacteria species detected in her body, the series aims to challenge human individuality and celebrate the millions of tiny organisms that make up our identity. Her work includes a soundscape derived from bacterial sequences, textiles dyed with pigmented bacteria, and a visual representation of human-bacteria interactions.”Robbie's Instagram Art Account: https://www.instagram.com/greys__gallery/