Date
Tuesday, November 10th, 2026
Time
11 AM ET
Description
In manufacturing and in life, we’re taught to avoid mistakes at all costs. But what if failure isn’t the end of credibility, respect, or opportunity? What if it’s actually the ticket in? This session invites women in manufacturing to flip the script on failure. Instead of shrinking from missteps, participants will learn how to harness them as catalysts for growth, innovation, and leadership. Through personal stories, practical tools, and a dash of disruption, this talk explores how subconscious patterns shape the way we stumble and how we rise. This is more than a motivational talk; it’s a practical framework for resilience and leadership in manufacturing. Whether you’re a supervisor guiding a team, an engineer solving complex problems, or a project manager driving innovation, you’ll leave with tools to edit your story and own your next chapter. If failure is the ticket in, what door are you finally ready to walk through?
Speaker
Dr. Melisa Buie
Dr. Melisa Buie has spent her career making lasers, fixing impossible problems, and teaching others how to do the same, sometimes with puns, always with precision. Armed with a PhD in Nuclear Engineering/Plasma Physics, she turned “things that go pew” into billion-dollar manufacturing successes at Coherent, Lam Research, Applied Materials, and Advanced Energy. Along the way, she taught engineering at San Jose State, published 40+ journal articles, earned 6 patents, and became a Six Sigma Black Belt. Today, she channels decades of hard-won lessons into books like Problem Solving for New Engineers and the newly released Faceplant: FREE Yourself from Failure’s Funk because failure isn’t the end, it’s the plot twist. Whether she’s on the factory floor or the stage, she’s all about turning big challenges into bigger breakthroughs.