Women and the Plastics Industry

Women and the Plastics Industry

From Redefining Plastics by Justin Riney

June 9, 2026 · 1h 6m · Season 1 · Episode 54

About this episode

The episode discusses the experiences of women in the plastics industry and the importance of mentorship and diversity in hiring.

Justin Riney welcomes his INEOS Styrolution coworkers Alex Compton and Danielle Maziur to discuss women in the plastics industry, their commercial careers, and how they found plastics after initially pursuing pre-med paths. They address working in a male-dominated “old boys” environment, trade show dynamics, and whether women feel held to higher standards, emphasizing the importance of supportive colleagues and mentors. The conversation explores how to attract and retain more women through better awareness of non-engineering roles, diverse candidate pools without quota-driven hiring, and stronger mentorship structures despite lean organizations. They also discuss plastics’ perception problem, the need to differentiate plastics from oil and gas, and the value of human-centered storytelling and education—especially for kids and business students—highlighting plastics’ role across industries, including healthcare during COVID. Alexandra Compton https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-compton-6a32aa60/ Danielle Maziur https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-maziur-92719842/ Redefining Plastics https://www.redefiningplastics.com/ https://www.brvind.com/redefining-plastics…

People in this episode

Host: Justin Riney

Guests: Alex Compton, Danielle Maziur

Topics covered

  • women in plastics
  • career paths
  • mentorship
  • male-dominated industries
  • diversity in hiring
  • plastics perception
  • education

Keywords

  • plastics industry
  • women in STEM
  • mentorship
  • diversity
  • career development
  • trade shows
  • education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: INEOS Styrolution, Redefining Plastics, COVID

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