The Art of Engineering: Recent Episodes
Custom Powder Systems
A podcast dedicated to some of the top engineers who share something in common: They’re all women. Hosted by Denise McIntosh, CEO of Custom Powder Systems, who knows the unique challenges women face in this industry. You’ll hear from women who have overcome the odds and grown to be some of the most respected in their fields.
Recorded live at the ISPE Midwest Chapter’s Women in Pharma Leadership Workshop, Denise McIntosh is joined by Camille Fittell, Global Process Engineer at Zoetis, Richalle Ritts, Director of Engineering Midwest at IPS, Shannon Goodson, Validation Engineering Manager at MilliporeSigma, and Krishna Bell, Regional Sales Manager at L.B. Bohle USA. They discuss the moments that defined their career, finding mentors and sponsors that helped them grow, and how to maintain boundaries and a comfortable work/life balance.
In this special episode, we remember the life of Wally Funk, who passed away July 8th, 2026, at 87.
When she was 21, Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk, was selected to be one of 13 women to train for space flight in 1959. By this time, she had been an experienced pilot for over 5 years. Wally’s love of aeronautics led her to a life-long career in flight training, giving thousands of young pilots their first taste of flight. She worked for the FAA and was the first woman to be a lead investigator at the NTSB. Her dream of space flight finally came true in 2021 when she accompanied Jeff Bezos on the first human flight of . In this wide-ranging interview, Denise talks with Wally about her fascinating life inspiring young women to follow their dreams.
Jules Brinn, segment manager for high purity OEM sales at American Air Filter, traces an unlikely path from sports medicine student at East Carolina University to a 20-year career in air filtration. Jules and Denise talk about navigating complex Department of Energy and pharmaceutical manufacturing projects, and what it's like to be the only woman on her outside sales team. She also reflects on the broader opportunity in manufacturing including the range of roles, the pay, and the message she'd send to young people still figuring out their path: slow down, keep exploring, and enjoy your time.
In this episode Denise McIntosh talks with Katie Hubbard, a rubber chemist and compounder at American Phoenix in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. We learn how her high-school chemistry class put her on an exciting path and how she discovered a manufacturing company right in her hometown. You’ll discover how two American companies are discovering opportunities hidden within the confusion over tariffs, and how Katie’s team at American Phoenix has grown from making rubber for tires to now working on soles for shoes and conveyor belts for mining.
Denise Mcintosh speaks with Andrea Sousa, Commercial Director at the PIAB Group, about growing up as the middle child, always being ready to change when life throws a curve ball, coming up in a male-dominated field, and how AI is transforming her role and company.
In this episode, Denise McIntosh speaks with Kirsta Scranton, Senior Construction Project Manager at the University of Iowa, about her three-decade career in construction and the path that led her into engineering. Kirsta reflects on her career journey from the West Coast to Iowa, the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry, and her role as both mentee and mentor to women entering the field.
Lauren Parker, senior project designer at Stantec Consulting joins Denise McIntosh to discuss her love of engineering, how she found her way to her position, how being the only woman in some of her classes informed her professional life, and how she keeps it all balanced.
Christa Myers is a Senior Fellow in Aseptic and Sterile Products at CRB Group, and visits with Denise to talk about how having broad experiences helped her hone into her specialty. She speaks about the importance of mentorship, accepting feedback, and approaching life with humility.
Cristina Mendonça is the Engineering Manager at Tekna in Ontario, Canada, and in this episode she tells Denise about her vast life experiences that brought her to where she is today. Including learning four languages, moving to Canada to take on a new challenge, and even being a seamstress for Cirque du Soleil. Learn who her influences have been and how she has risen to her current position in this fascinating episode of The Art of Engineering.
Beth Brock is the Technical Consulting Director at Environmental Resources Management. After spending 27 years at Eli Lilly, Beth has embarked on a new adventure while also looking forward to retirement in the near future. In this episode, she and Denise McIntosh discuss the value of networking and how to protect your personal time for a work-life balance.
Brittany Lutz is the Senior Research and Development Scientist in Nutraceuticals at Ortho Molecular Products. In this episode, she shares with Denise about how growing up tag-teaming with her dad working on cars lead to a lifelong curiosity about science. She talks about her day-to-day duties working in the nutraceutical industry and being involved in the creation of new products for Ortho and why it's important for young women to pursue a career in science and manufacturing.
Shannon returns to The Art of Engineering in her new position as the Life Science Leader at The Design Group in St. Louis. Shannon and Denise discuss the book Everybody Matters, and how treating people like a family in the workplace improves culture.
In this episode, Denise is joined by Custom Powder’s Senior Vice President of Products, Scott Heffern, and Sales Executive Austin Hill speaking with Tyler Courtney, Pharmaceutical Account Manager at ChargePoint Technology. They’ll discuss the advances that have been made in powder transfer, important safety issues that have been solved, and how companies are able to scale-up their processes for both efficiency and profit.
Denise visits with Zen Zen Yen, Head of Engineering at Bayer Supply Center in Germany. Denise caught up with Zen Zen at the ISPE Annual Meeting and had a chance to discuss what it was like growing up in Germany, switching from studying medicine to engineering, and the importance of finding a community of peers like ISPE.
At the age of 21, M. Wallace “Wally” Funk was selected to be one of 13 women to train for space flight in 1959. By this time, she had been an experienced pilot for over 5 years. Wally’s love of aeronautics led her to a life-long career in flight training, giving thousands of young pilots their first taste of flight. She worked for the FAA and was the first woman to be a lead investigator at the NTSB. Her dream of space flight finally came true in 2021 when she accompanied Jeff Bezos on the first human flight of Blue Origin. In this wide-ranging interview, Denise talks with Wally about her fascinating life inspiring young women to follow their dreams.
Ann Rhodes is the founder of People Ink and author of Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture that Outperforms the Competition. Ann and Denise discuss how a positive culture and employees who share the same values as a company is the missing piece for most organizations. Ann shares storeis from her time with Southwest Airlines and JetBlue, and explains the steps needed to form a solid culture to make your company proud and profitable.
Denise introduces us to several of the women who work at Custom Powder Systems. We learn what they do, how they started, and ideas from their point of view on how we can encourage and recruit more women into the industry.
This roundtable discussion was recorded at the Pack Expo International in Chicago as Denise and her guests discuss how to encourage a more diverse workforce, and why that is so vital to business growth. These four experts will share tips on how they are proactively bringing new talent to the table and setting their companies up for success in the future.
Guests: Jill Miller, CEO of Lunum, Derick Jiwan, Innovation and Business Development at WinField, Cimberly Weir, Instructor of Packaging Science at Michigan State University, and Angela Desmond with Aylward-Elmach
Returning to the workforce after an absence doesn’t have to be scary. Carson Riutta learned that through networking and discovering that she already has more than enough skills and knowledge to jump in provide great value to a company. In this episode, Denise and Carson discuss why it’s so important to network, ask questions, and stop telling yourself stories about what you can’t do…instead, discover what you CAN.
Guest: Carson Riutta, Project Engineer with Jacobs Engineering
Before she was 18, Jennie Tavares found herself in a new country, learning a new language and culture. By the time she was in college, she was excelling in engineering and had picked up a Brooklyn accent. In this episode, Denise talks with Jennie about her remarkable career path, her infectious optimism, and the importance of good networks and mentoring.
Guest: Jennie Tavares, Director of Global Growth and Sales for Jacobs.
Denise McIntosh talks about supply chain challenges facing Nicole Baird, the senior buyer at Aptar. Nicole shares how her ability to develop and maintain relationships has paid off when supplies are short, and encourages those getting into the industry to always be learning. By learning different aspects of the business, Nicole has been able to quickly adapt to whatever the economy throws her way.
Denise visits with Lindsey Daniel and Jen Clark at the most recent ISPE conference in Boston. In this episode, you’ll learn how each of these women came to be a part of the organization, and how ISPE and Women in Pharma have greatly improved the careers of women throughout the industry.
Guests:
Lindsey Daniel, Product Operations Program Manager at Takeda
Jen Clark, VP of Sales and Account Relation Management at CAI
019 - Jill Miller
Guest: Jill Miller, Founder and CEO of Below the Line
Jill Miller’s journey ranges from an unlikely start in sales working for a thermoplastics company, to following her passion of narrowing the wealth gap in the Food & Beverage Packaing/Processing Industry. In this episode, Jill talks about how she to to the point where she realized changes could be made and NEEDED to be made. Learn how she, and her organization, take “narrowing the wealth gap” from good idea to actionable steps every company can adopt.
Guest: Jen Clark, Vice President, Sales and Account Management at CAI
Jen Clark came out of school with a degree in industrial engineering when she got an invite to her first ISPE annual meeting. As an eager graduate, she began networking and telling people in the industry she was ready to work. In this episode, Jen and Denise advocate for making personal connections with people and building lasting relationships. This approach has led Jen to a great career where she is now a Vice President at CAI. Today she helps customers design, deliver, operate, and maintain quality at mission-critical facilities.
Guest: Amanda Wollnick, Development Engineer at American Breast Care
Amanda Wollnick once thought science “isn’t for girls.” But something kept calling her back to it. In this episode, you’ll hear how she took her chemical and engineering knowledge to American Breast Care in Marietta, Georgia. There, Amanda is helping transform the prosthetic breast industry, and even holds a patent on a formulation that helps keep the breast prosthetic in place and looking natural.
Guest: Bo Crouse-Feuerhelm VP of Client Solutions at JE Dunn
Bo Crouse-Feuerhelm has gone from being a college drop-out to a Vice President of Client Solutions in a major construction company. Her career has been full of unexpected turns, working with exceptionally generous mentors, and exceptionally difficult bosses. But her story really begins navigating a profoundly difficult childhood of abuse and abandonment. Bo shares stories of survival and offers lessons to young women entering the workforce. She has turned adversity into positive efforts with women who have been victims of abuse and sex trafficking.
Guest: Sandra Bachamp, Director of Engineering at DPS Group
In this episode, Sandra talks about the fascinating path that took her from just a fleeting interest in architecture to discovering her calling in engineering. She and Denise discuss the importance of mentors and mentorship, balancing work with family, plus advancements in modular isolation rooms that are changing many industries.
In this episode, Jean Ann Groves, a retired Business Continuity expert, talks about how the civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s sparked a major change for women in the workplace. Jean Ann was one of only three women in her business class in college and went on to a successful career in leadership with companies like Exxon before becoming an entrepreneur and going out on her own. You’ll hear how to counter people who undermine you, how we can close the gender and wage gaps, plus a candid discussion about abuse.
Lisa and Denise talk about the history of CRB and their work with Custom Powder. You’ll hear Lisa’s fascinating journey from her beginnings in administration to her current role as the Corporate Trade Show Manager. Lisa has had to take a completely different approach to trade shows in the last year, due to the global pandemic. She and Denise also talk about the importance of building business relationships along the way and how young women entering the field can help close the wage and gender gap.
custom-powder.com
Caroline and Denise talk about how a love of math and science drew her to an engineering expo while in high school. Shortly out of college, Caroline was interviewed by Evonik Industries where she is now a production engineer in the healthcare and nutrition division. She takes advantage of the many mentorship programs offered at Evonik, including Women’s Interest Network which continues to motivate and inspire her. You’ll also learn how Custom Powder Systems and Evonik came together to solve a production line challenge no other company was able to tackle.
In this episode, Denise speaks with Dr. Namrata Karki about her journey all the way from Nepal to Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Growing up in Nepal, her parents stressed the importance of education. Her passion and love of higher education pointed Dr. Karki in the direction of America. Today, she leads a team of scientists and engineers at Ortho Molecular, and mentors other up-and-coming experts in the field. She and Denise share inspirational stories of how to push through and go after your dreams.
Sarah’s career has gone from working nationally on the regulatory side of pharmaceuticals at the FDA, to working globally on the regulatory side of the creation of pharmaceuticals with AstraZeneca. Sarah received her post-doctoral degree at the National Institutes of Health, and spent many years at the Food and Drug Administration. Now at AstraZeneca, she works in research with the coordination of regulations through multiple countries around the world. Sarah and Denise talk about the value of mentors and why it’s important to seek one out.
Guest: Lynn Aurelius, Business Development Manager at Bollé Safety
A fascinating conversation about the personal safety equipment used in industrial plants around the world. Lynn talks about how she made the unique leap from being a calligrapher to her current position at Bollé Safety. In March, her company made the decision to begin creating safety protection for health care and first responders. Lynn and Denise also discuss what it was like breaking into an industry that traditionally didn’t have many women, as well as how to encourage more young women to get into the industry
Guest: Richalle Ritts, Manager of Process Engineering at Integrated Project Services
Richalle Ritts is not only the Manager of Process Engineering, but she’s also a Mom. When the lockdown happened in the spring, she quickly learned where the difficulties and the opportunities lay. In this episode, we’ll learn about some of the unintended benefits of how working from home has helped her family, and helped her team be more effective. Plus a discussion about helping people find the right information about pharmaceuticals in an age when facts and details are coming from multiple sources.
Guest: Helga Salling, Senior Director at IPS-Integrated Project Services
Helga and Denise talk about what it takes to be a female leader in the pharma industry. Topics include the myth of defining a woman by what she wears, leading from the heart, and embracing who you are in the workplace. Helga shares what inspired her to begin writing about leadership in the workplace and how she deliberately works to raise others to success.
Guest: Dr. Eleanor Small - Product Development founded in Design for Manufacturability with Johnson & Johnson
Dr. Small shares how chemists take a small formula and make it on a large scale and why team input and customer data are so important. She comes from a family of health professionals and shares how being around science was a big influence for her. Today, she sees how the pharma industry is collaborating in a way never seen before to fight COVID-19. She talks about the challenges (and benefits) of working from home, and what business owners are looking for from young engineers.
Guest: Michelle Bridges - Executive Trainer with The Great Game of Business
Denise speaks with Michele Bridges about her work in the medical sales market and how she is able to take difficult concepts and make them easy to understand. Michele also discusses “The Great Game”, and explains how involving every staff member in an organization in making decisions and having accountability on every level has transformed the companies she’s worked with and has helped them grow their profits.
Guest: Shannon Goodson - Engineering Manager with Meridian Medical Technologies
Host Denise McIntosh talks with Shannon Goodson about her early interest in chemistry and how that led to working for a pharma company at a young age. She played a role in the processing and packaging of liquids, powder processing, and blister lines, among other things, and quickly gained respect in the industry. In this episode, Shannon shares how her love for curiosity helped her navigate her son’s unique challenges with autism, and how she not only has a passion for the engineering industry, but genuinely loves getting to know other smart and innovative women.
Denise speaks with Stephanie Wilkins, co-owner of Pharmaconsult US.
Stephanie Wilkins was encouraged at a young age to look into subjects like drafting and auto repair. She quickly picked up knowledge and skills, and soon found herself working in companies while surrounded by men. Stephanie discovered working in the corporate world was quite different from the experiences she had learning from her early mentors, though she never once considered being a woman a limitation. She and host Denise McIntosh discuss the progress that’s been made for women in the engineering and manufacturing industries.
Denise speaks with Kim Duncan, Founder, President, and owner of Duncan Enterprises.
Kim’s engineering story began abroad while attending high school on a ship. She was the only woman engineer in her graduating class and earned her degree almost two years sooner than others. In this episode, Kim shares several stories with Denise about her career journey, starting with navigating chauvinism as an employee, all the way to becoming the founder and president of her own company.
Denise speaks with Beth Brock, Corporate Support for Environmental Management Systems, Compliance, and Sustainability for Smithfield Foods in Kansas City.
Beth Brock got into engineering at a time when the industry didn’t have many women. She and Denise McIntosh discuss obstacles women have faced working in manufacturing, how to handle those situations and advice for young women entering the field.