Kathy Schuessler fell in love with chemistry in high school and originally wanted to become a neonatologist. But after an internship at a Celanese vinyl acetate plant, she was "on a mission" to find her place at a chemical plant.
She graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and business minor. Her first plastics industry role was a technical service engineer at Ineos Olefins and Polymers USA LLC.
"Texas A&M University has an amazing engineering career fair every fall. I did my research on companies I wanted to talk with, snuck in and started handing out my resumes. I knew that these companies were in attendance specifically looking for chemical engineers, but I knew they also employed chemists somewhere in their plant. I met with the lead recruiter at Ineos at their booth; he was a Ph.D. chemist from A&M and ended up being one of my biggest champions," Schuessler said.
Schuessler has held other industry roles such as polypropylene and polyethylene channel sales manager, customer service and infrastructure manager, Texas A&M lead recruiter, and now prime business development manager for resin distributor Trademark Plastics Corp. in Houston.
"My focus right now is prime business development for polypropylene. Producers, brokers, distributors, customers are all looking for the value-add and that competitive edge, and with my technical background and experience at a producer and working in polypropylene product development, technical service and sales, I can walk through different scenarios and product offerings to provide options to help solve pain points that customers experience and who are motivated to find solutions," she said.
Schuessler's favorite professional accomplishment has been working with a customer to "upgrade and develop a transition product from a highly specialized and strategic product that has brought in over $1 million in increased EBITDA to the business since its creation."
"From start to finish, I communicated customer needs to the business and product manager, manufacturing and technical service and led the team through product design and implementation," she added.
The best advice Schuessler has received is that no question is a bad question, and to "embrace curiosity, be open to new experiences and never stop seeking knowledge and truth."
"I have always been one to challenge the status quo, ask the 'why' questions and go against the grain," she said. "As a woman, sometimes that is viewed as being aggressive, which is a word that needs to be eliminated completely. I was never one to fly under the radar."
