Women in Hardware

past

Oct 15

Stories, Support, and Strength from Across Aotearoa’s Hardware Ecosystem

There are strides to be made within the tech industry when it comes to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. This is especially so for Hardware, and to support this mission, we have launched a series of focused events.

Hardware Meetup New Zealand hosted its second Women in Hardware event, bringing together engineers, designers, founders, and technologists from across Aotearoa to spotlight the lived experiences of women building careers in hardware.

Hosted by Mikayla Stokes, the evening created space for honest conversations about career journeys, leadership, creativity, and the realities of navigating a still male-dominated industry — all grounded in practical experience and generosity of insight.

Opening the Conversation

Mikayla opened the evening by welcoming both long-time Hardware Meetup attendees and first-timers, setting the context for why Women in Hardware matters. While New Zealand has an incredible depth of hardware innovation, women working in this space are often less visible — not due to lack of impact, but lack of spotlight.

The format for the evening reflected that intent: three short, personal talks from women at different stages of their careers, followed by a wide-ranging panel discussion and an audience Q&A.

Mikayla also acknowledged the event sponsors — Braemac, Lune Digital, Blender, and the host venue, Outset Ventures — whose support made the evening possible and underscored the importance of community backing in hardware ecosystems.

Margaret Anderson: Engineering, Leadership, and Life in Motion

The first speaker, Margaret Anderson, Product Development Manager at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, shared a deeply human view of what a long-term engineering career can look like — one that evolves alongside family, leadership, and personal growth.

Margaret traced her journey from biomedical engineering studies at the University of Auckland through early rotations in software, electronics, testing, and clinical trials, before progressing into senior engineering and people leadership roles. Along the way, she highlighted key themes that resonated strongly with the audience:

The importance of peer support, particularly informal networks of women navigating similar challenges
Learning to recognise and manage imposter syndrome
Understanding feedback without letting it define self-worth
Saying yes to opportunities — but not at the expense of burnout

As her career progressed into engineering management, Margaret spoke about influencing at scale, balancing innovation within a large organisation, and learning how leadership differs from technical excellence alone. She also shared candid reflections on returning to work after maternity leave, emphasising grace, support networks, and mental health as essential, not optional, foundations for sustainable careers.

Suzanne La Trobe: From Graduate Engineer to Startup Leadership

Next, Suzanne La Trobe, Acting Head of Engineering at medical-device startup Alimetry, reflected on the long arc of a career — reminding the audience that even a decade into engineering is still early days.

Suzanne’s journey began with a tension familiar to many: choosing between creative and technical paths. Engineering ultimately became the vehicle that allowed her to do both. After starting her career in product development at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, she spoke openly about the “flat years” — periods where growth feels slower, problems are harder, and self-doubt can creep in.

Rather than framing these years as failures, Suzanne highlighted them as formative. They were the years where:

Confidence grew through repetition and responsibility
Real-world clinical impact became tangible
Mentorship, both given and received, shaped her leadership style

Her transition into management, and later into a startup environment, reinforced the value of transferable skills — many learned outside of work — and the importance of writing, reflection, and “collaborating out loud” as tools for trust and clarity. Suzanne’s reflections underscored that leadership is rarely linear and often learned by doing, getting it wrong, and trying again.

Taylor Wickman: Creativity, Neurodiversity, and Redefining Success

The final speaker, Taylor Wickman, a multidisciplinary designer and founder of Take Two Studio, brought a powerful creative lens to the evening. From building a remote-controlled boat in high school to award-winning industrial design projects, Taylor’s career demonstrated how curiosity and making can lead to unexpected opportunities .

Taylor shared standout work from her time in consultancy, particularly a long-running project focused on creating mindful classroom environments for children. The work combined deep research, hands-on prototyping, and real-world testing — often with surprising outcomes.

Equally impactful was Taylor’s openness about burnout, late ADHD diagnosis, and the process of re-evaluating success. Rather than framing this period as a setback, she described it as a recalibration — one that led to new tools, new creative practices, and a desire to support others navigating similar experiences.

Her message was clear: careers do not need to follow a single track to be meaningful. Pauses, pivots, and uncertainty can be sources of insight rather than failure.

Panel Discussion: Shared Wisdom and Honest Advice

The panel discussion drew together common threads from all three speakers, with questions ranging from mentorship and leadership to burnout, career breaks, and imposter syndrome.

Key takeaways included:

Mentors, coaches, and sponsors play different roles — and all matter. Sponsors, in particular, are critical advocates when you’re not in the room.
Mentorship doesn’t need to be formal. Some of the most impactful guidance comes from friendships, coffee catch-ups, and informal conversations over time.
Leadership is learned, not bestowed. Many managers are “dropped in the deep end” and must actively seek tools, peers, and feedback.
Career breaks are not failures. They often create space for clarity, creativity, and more sustainable paths forward.
Imposter syndrome is common — and not a sign you don’t belong. Often, it simply means you’re stretching into new territory.

Throughout the discussion, the speakers reinforced the importance of empathy, communication, and self-awareness — both for leading others and for sustaining long careers in demanding fields.

Closing the Evening

Mikayla closed the event by thanking the speakers for their openness, the audience for their thoughtful questions, and the sponsors and venue for their continued support of the hardware community. The evening ended not with definitive answers, but with a shared sense of connection, possibility, and momentum.

Final Reflection

The Women in Hardware event was a reminder that behind every product, prototype, and system are people — navigating ambition, identity, creativity, and change. By sharing their stories, Margaret, Suzanne, and Taylor made space for others to see themselves reflected in the hardware ecosystem and to imagine futures that are both impactful and human.

If this is what the next generation of hardware leadership looks like, the future is in very capable hands.

Speakers

Speaker 1: Suzanne La Trobe from Alimetry

Suzanne La Trobe is the acting Head of Engineering at medical device start-up, Alimetry, where she is leading the support and scaling of their first in world high resolution gastric mapping hardware, as well as research and development for future products that will help them on their mission to decode the gut and to transform gastric care. Over a decade in the industry has led her from Mechanical Product Development Engineer, driving projects from blue sky to market delivery, to product strategy and human factors enthusiast. She’s inspired by the power of a team who, working together towards the right problem, can deliver so much more than any individual.

Speaker 2: Margaret Anderson FROM Fisher & Paykel Healthcare

Margaret Anderson is a Product Development Manager at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, where she’s led the development of a novel medical device from concept through clinical trials to release. A biomedical engineer by trade, her experience spans product development, project management, and business strategy — including growing a team, securing board-level investment, filing patents, and working with the FDA. She’s passionate about supporting women in engineering, drives diversity initiatives, and heads up the F&P Makerspace. Outside of work, she’s mum to a toddler, a 3-month-old, and a cat — and wife to a Rocket Lab Director, so does a bit of juggling!

Speaker 3: Taylor Wickman from Take Two Studio

Taylor Wickman is a multi disciplinary designer & director of her own recent venture Take Two Studio. An industrial/product designer by trade, her works spans across product, dfma, strategy and ceramics!

She spent 5 years with Vivid Origin, which saw her work across a variety of projects, taking them from fledgling ideas to fully productionised items and systems. Her most recent, the award winning Mindfull Spaces, dived into bettering the unique learning experiences of neurodiverse children in schools.

Taylor’s passionate about human centred design, and vigorously interrogating and understanding user needs. Through her lived experiences with neurodiversity, she’s keen to advocate and raise awareness of this in woman and how it can be better understood

MC: Mikayla Stokes

Mikayla Stokes is a mechatronics engineer at Crown Equipment making autonomous forklifts. She loves using tech to make cool wearable things like a light-up dress or 3D printed earrings. She's passionate about creating an inclusive community where any kid can pursue a future in STEM, and is the two time overall female winner of the BrightSparks inventing competition.

Event Sponsors

Lune Digital

Lune Digital is an embedded systems expert specialising in high-tech, IoT and wearable solutions. For the past 10 years, Lune Digital has been assisting visionary companies with hardware design, electronics engineering, embedded software development, and technical advice. They excel in optimizing battery life, boosting power efficiency, enhancing wireless connectivity, and creating scalable, future-proof systems.

Outset Ventures

Outset Ventures are committed to empowering overlooked science and engineering innovators to transform their ideas into groundbreaking ventures, helping them succeed at the critical early stages. As New Zealand's center of gravity for science and engineering startups and scaleups, Outset is home to a community of 40+ founder-led companies, 5000 square meters of laboratory and workshop spaces, and the country's most active deep technology investment fund.

Braemac

Braemac is a global leader in the distribution of semiconductor components and electronic systems as well as value-added services. Empowering engineers and developers for over 40 years–Braemac features expert in-house engineers, extensive design-phase support, state-of-the-art distribution, value-add facilities, comprehensive supply chain solutions, and unparalleled customer service. Braemac offers solutions for diverse markets and applications, helping customers streamline development, reduce costs, accelerate time to market, and support long term interoperability.

Blender

Blender is a product design and development consultancy. Their collaborative approach, strategic design process and technical know-how deliver engineered, purpose-made products. Since 2006 Blender partnered with many incredible companies, helping them to realise their vision and shape the future, by supporting them with exceptional product design, prototyping, engineering, and manufacturing services.

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