Uncomfortable on purpose

On any given day at Imperial’s Kearl site, Nathalie Carson is juggling the kind of decisions that keep a 24/7 operation running smoothly — and its people safe.

As Operations Leader for Tailings, she oversees a complex production environment with more than 100 team members. Of those, five are women. She is the only woman at her leadership level in mine operations, and the youngest, regardless of gender.

This year, that impact earned her a Young Women in Energy (YWE) Award. Since 2014, the YWE Awards Program has recognized more than 100 women for their invaluable contributions and remarkable accomplishments within Alberta’s energy industry.

It’s a recognition Nathalie describes as both exciting and grounding.

“Sometimes you forget there’s a whole ecosystem of women in this industry,” she says. Attending the YWE Summit recently reminded her of that wider community — a network of leaders, builders and innovators who share similar experiences in spaces where women remain underrepresented.

A mining engineer by training, Nathalie built her entire professional career at Imperial. While many of her university peers pursued traditional hard rock mining, she chose oil sands — an industry that’s only been around since the 1960s. For her, that relative newness is the appeal.

“We’re still learning. We’re still optimizing. That means there’s so much opportunity to innovate and leave your mark.”

Her days are rarely predictable. “It feels like our asset says, ‘hold my beer,’” she laughs. “It’s constant problem-solving. Never the same issue twice.”

As a leader, Nathalie leans on two core principles: curiosity and clarity. She recognizes that her career path has been different from many of the operators and supervisors who report through her organization, and she sees that perspective as a strength. Instead of assuming, she asks. Instead of directing blindly, she listens.

“When everyone understands the problem we’re trying to solve and how their role connects to it, that’s when teams really succeed.”