Sladana Popadich (Project Engineer, Gastops)

Sladana’s fascination with aerospace started from a young age, as far as she can remember she always wanted to fly. Maybe it was the confidence her dad gave her when holding her up like she was flying or the determination she developed at 6 years of age when her teacher told her she couldn’t become a pilot because she was a girl. But the teacher was only the start of her challenges that would test her passion for aerospace.

She wasn’t able to join the Air Force because they only accepted women every second year and her graduation timing didn’t match up. Undeterred, she joined a technical high school with the goal of becoming an aviation technician. During her studies, war broke out (in former Yugoslavia) and she had to leave Sarajevo due to the dangerous conditions. She finished her last year of school in Montenegro and when she returned to Bosnia, the only option for her to further her education in safe territory was medical school so she took it. After three years of medical school, she realized it wasn’t for her. She dabbled in real estate and worked blackjack and roulette tables at casinos in Serbia and Cyprus before meeting her husband, George and joining him in Canada in 2005.

When Sladana moved to Canada, she saw it as an opportunity for a new start and that passion for aerospace was right at the top of the list. She enrolled in the aerospace engineering program at Carleton University and as excited as she was to finally learn about aircraft structures and dynamics, she spent the first year and a half laboring through ESL (English as a Second Language) courses.

One year after she started at Carleton, she had her first child, Filip. She only took two weeks off and went back to school, albeit with a reduced course load. Two years later when she had her daughter, Ana, her professor, and the class were surprised to see her come back to class one week after giving birth. She had her third, Damian, a year before she graduated, finally realizing her dream of a career in aerospace!

Sladana and I were classmates. We were in the same program at Carleton and had many classes together. I found the program challenging enough when I had only myself to take care of, so I was and am still in awe of what Sladana achieved, and even more so now after having become a mother myself. If you ask her how she did it, she will tell you how George and her family supported her and how the staff at Carleton offered her help even when she tried to not ask for it. Maybe the challenges she faced earlier in life cemented her determination, and her hope to set an example for her children strengthened her motivation. To me, she is an inspiration, she is the role model all our children need – proof that we can rise above the challenges we face of gender inequity and with support from allies, and with hard work, we can realize our dreams and create change.