Women in Hardware

past

Jul 22

Celebrating Creativity, Leadership and the Many Paths into Engineering

Every year, Hardware Meetup NZ hosts a special event that celebrates the incredible women shaping New Zealand's hardware and deep-tech community. Unlike our regular meetups, which focus on a particular industry or technology, Women in Hardware is about something equally important: the people behind the innovation.

Hosted by Mikayla Stokes, this year's event welcomed a full house of engineers, students, founders, researchers and industry professionals to hear three inspiring women share their very different journeys through engineering. While their careers have taken them in completely different directions—from creative technology and space systems to industrial robotics—they all shared a common message: there is no single path to success.

Sophia Schulz: Creating Your Own Career

The first presentation came from Sophia Schulz, whose journey challenged the traditional idea of an engineering career.

After studying Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Auckland, Sophia discovered that while she loved engineering, she was equally passionate about photography, design, textiles and interactive art. Rather than treating those interests as separate worlds, she embraced them all.

Her career has included internships at Halter, robotics research in Singapore, research projects at the University of Auckland, freelance photography, engineering theatre productions, wearable technology development and creative programming in Montréal, where she worked on interactive projection systems for public spaces.

Now completing a Master's of Design at AUT, Sophia is exploring how people interact with technology through physical materials such as textiles and interactive installations.

Her advice to students was refreshingly honest:

Say yes to opportunities.
Pursue creative side projects.
Don't feel pressured to follow a conventional career path.
It's okay not to have everything figured out.

Rather than seeing career changes as failures, Sophia encouraged the audience to view them as exploration, with every experience contributing something valuable to the next opportunity.

Janelle Keeble: Manufacturing Hardware for Space

Next, Janelle Keeble, Manufacturing Manager for Rocket Lab's Space Systems division, shared a career that has literally reached beyond Earth.

Beginning with internships in aluminium manufacturing and Fisher & Paykel Appliances, Janelle built her expertise in manufacturing engineering before spending more than a decade in the United Kingdom developing production systems for medical devices and scientific instrumentation.

Returning to New Zealand, she joined Rocket Lab, where she now leads manufacturing engineering teams responsible for spacecraft systems, including reaction wheels that control satellite orientation in orbit.

Her presentation demonstrated how experience across multiple industries—from medical devices to fuel testing and aerospace—can combine to create unique expertise.

Janelle also spoke candidly about the realities of being a woman in manufacturing and engineering. She discussed the confidence gap many women experience, the importance of building practical skills early, finding supportive mentors, and helping create the role models she herself didn't have when starting her career.

Her message was simple: stay authentic, back yourself, and support the women coming through behind you.

Raani Kelderman: Engineering That Improves Lives

The evening concluded with Raani Kelderman, Robotics and Automation Engineer and Project Manager at Motion Design.

Raani's work centres on designing custom robotic systems that solve practical industrial problems—from automating dairy laboratories to reducing repetitive strain injuries and improving manufacturing efficiency.

Her projects illustrated how automation isn't about replacing people—it can improve workplace safety, eliminate repetitive tasks and allow people to focus on more meaningful work.

Outside engineering, Raani also serves as National Commissioner for Scouts Aotearoa, where she helps shape experiences for thousands of young people across New Zealand.

One of the strongest themes in her presentation was the declining opportunity for young people to develop practical skills. As more schools reduce hands-on technology education and families rely less on DIY projects, she believes engineering has an important role to play in rebuilding confidence through making, experimenting and solving real-world problems.

Her advice encouraged attendees to embrace opportunities, keep learning, and remember that engineering is ultimately about improving people's lives.

A Conversation Worth Having

The evening finished with an engaging panel discussion covering confidence, imposter syndrome, networking, leadership and the unique challenges women continue to face in engineering workplaces.

The speakers discussed balancing confidence with perceptions of assertiveness, navigating male-dominated industries, finding mentors, and why increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles remains so important.

While each speaker had experienced these challenges differently, they agreed that progress comes from supporting one another, creating visible role models and continuing to build inclusive engineering communities.

Key Takeaways

Three themes emerged throughout the evening:

There is no single engineering career path. The most rewarding careers often come from following curiosity rather than a predefined ladder.
Practical experience matters. Whether through internships, side projects, volunteering or creative hobbies, hands-on learning builds confidence and opens unexpected opportunities.
Community makes a difference. Events like Women in Hardware demonstrate the value of sharing experiences, supporting others and building networks that help the next generation succeed.

As another Women in Hardware event came to a close, attendees left with far more than technical knowledge. They left with stories of resilience, creativity, leadership and the reminder that engineering isn't simply about building products—it's about building careers, communities and opportunities for others.

From creative technologists and space engineers to robotics specialists and future founders, the future of New Zealand hardware continues to grow stronger because of the diverse people shaping it.

Speakers

Speaker 1: Sophia Schulz, Master of Design

Sophia is a mechatronics engineer and artist passionate about working at the intersection of art and STEM. Having worked for startups, research groups and multidisciplinary teams across Aotearoa, Singapore and Canada such as Halter and Ottomata, Sophia enjoys combining their engineering education with skills from photography, videography, creative programming and other artistic endeavours. They are currently pursuing a Master of Design involving research of interactive installations in urban space, developing a STEAM exhibition titled “Resonance” funded by the Blackbird Foundation, and filling any remaining spare time with far too many side hobbies.

Speaker 2: Janelle Keeble, Rocket Lab

As Space Systems Manufacturing Manager at Rocket Lab, Janelle is responsible for building out the manufacturing team and capability for Rocket Lab's most rapidly growing division, which encompasses spacecraft and spacecraft component manufacture. Janelle has 20 years of experience in manufacturing engineering across medical, petrochemical, quality instrumentation and space fields, in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Janelle is also the Chairperson for Women in Space Aotearoa New Zealand (WISANZ), a professional network encouraging more women to join the Space sector.

Speaker 3: Raani Kelderman, Motion Design

Raani Kelderman is a Project Manager and Robotics / Automation Engineer at Motion Design, where she has great fun working alongside clients to design, build and service custom made robotics and machines. Part consultant, part engineer, she loves the opportunity to go behind the scenes and learn what makes different businesses tick. Whether it be a large-scale dairy testing facility, or a delicious mānuka honey plant, Raani enjoys developing the automation so that companies can upscale their work. She particularly enjoys the weekend trips to Bunnings and Mitre 10, knowing that many of those perfect tiny seedlings were processed on a machine that she spent weeks developing.

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.

Lowndes Jordan

Lowndes Jordan is a top niche law firm with corporate, commercial, property, employment, IP and litigation service offerings. The firm acts for a wide range of organisations across the spectrum of maturity from startups through to listed companies/multinationals. Lowndes Jordan has deep expertise in the startup space, having acted for startups, founders, investors and employees of startup companies on a wide range of matters including capital raising (including crowdfunding), ESOPs, shareholders’ agreements and disputes, IP protection and licensing, commercial contracts, US flips, acquisitions and IPOs.

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