Behind the Design: Stephanie Hayna, a Lifelong Maker

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Though Stephanie Hayna didn’t use the term once during her interview, I realize she’s been a maker her entire life. It began during Stephanie’s childhood in Mexico when her mother found herself raising twin girls as a 25-year-old single parent.

“She did a very good job of getting us into crafts to keep us entertained,” Stephanie explains. “Just making things was a big inspiration in my childhood, and I think it led the way for my love of design, and then product development and design, later on.”

It took her a while to find her way to product design, however. She attended high school in Mexico City and considered several different careers.

“I thought I wanted to be many things,” Stephanie laughs. “I tried architecture for a while, but after an internship, I decided I wasn’t interested. Then I thought I wanted to go into graphic design, but ultimately felt that that wasn’t the right direction either.”

She realized she enjoyed the “limiting” aspects of product design. In other words, unlike graphic design, product design is limited by what the material actually allows. Stephanie also found that she immensely enjoyed working with 3D models and thinking in 3D spaces.

Thus, she earned her bachelor’s degree in design engineering at Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca in Oaxaca, Mexico, and it was with the multidisciplinary approach urged by her university that she was first exposed to SOLIDWORKS in an advanced manufacturing class. When I ask her what she thought of the software, her face lights up.

Stephanie and fellow SOLIDWORKS users at Bowhead Corp.

 

“Oh, I was super excited about it. I loved the program. I got into it right away and it was something that I could just spend hours and hours doing.”

The first thing she ever designed was, in her words, “a very bad clamp,” but it got the job done, and inspired her to continue learning more about the software and getting more involved in her models. After her bachelor’s, she moved to the U.S. to pursue an MSE in Integrated Product Design at the University of Pennsylvania, which was something she’d always wanted to do.

“It opened my world and gave me a lot more exposure to cultures and technologies that I wouldn’t have had back at home,” she explains. When she entered the job market after graduating, she worked everywhere, from startups to large corporations, on everything from designing consumer products to improving medical devices.

“I find both types of work very different but very rewarding in different ways.”

At one startup company, Stephanie was asked to build a prototype for an HVAC system from scratch in about a month and a half. She was able to deliver on the short turnaround time thanks to her intense schooling and, by then, practical work experience. At another company, she designed a range of luxury fittings and fixtures, which she found particularly satisfying because of the work’s seamless combination of engineering and design.

“Being able to change and learn gave me a lot of growth and satisfaction,” she explained. Though startups offer more flexible and diversified work, as well as a special closeness within the team, Stephanie has prioritized stability for this stage of her life.

SOLIDWORKS has followed Stephanie’s growth for over a decade, and it’s the single tool she has used most throughout her entire career. Three years ago, she signed up for the SOLIDWORKS User Group of New York City. When the group leader announced he was stepping down, he asked her, “Well, why don’t you take up the position?”

Stephanie realized she had no reason to say no, and has since led the user group.

Stephanie Hayna with Trimech representatives at the Robotics for competition: Rich Rosenel Sales Manager – GNY Team, & Graig Oznick, VP of Application Sales. Trimech is a SOLIDWORKS Reseller Partner.

 

“It’s been an unexpected source of reward and satisfaction,” she admits. Stephanie found a community of people passionate about the same “geeky stuff” that she loved – things that, for example, even her husband, who is also an engineer but doesn’t use SOLIDWORKS, finds boring.

“SOLIDWORKS does a fantastic job creating community around the software,” she adds.

So, I’m not surprised when Stephanie says that her advice to students is to engage with the SOLIDWORKS community as early as possible for both technical support and professional connections. But she also adds that it’s important to explore your interests and have fun with it.

“There are many different types of engineering out there, and they’re worth exploring,” she explains. After all she, too, explored several options before finding her path. “Exploring gives you the possibility of getting to know yourself – your personality, but also professionally – and have a better understanding of the career you’re looking for.”

In her current job, Stephanie doesn’t use SOLIDWORKS. However, the fact that she has maintained her position as a SOLIDWORKS user leader says a lot about the community she has found and her lifelong calling as a maker.

Margherita Bassi

Margherita Bassi

Margherita is a freelance writer and international storyteller. In addition to the SOLIDWORKS Blog, her work has been featured in publications including Smithsonian Magazine, Discovery Magazine, BBC Travel, Live Science, Italy Magazine, The Brussels Times, and more.