M.Sc. Chemical Engineering for Energy and Environment, Chemical Engineering.
Royal Institute of Technology

Hi!

My name is An Na Lay and I was born in 1997 in a small town in the south of Sweden called Hässleholm. In Hässleholm I grew up in a family consisting of my mom, my dad and four siblings (me included) so you could say that it was rarely a quiet time at home. Entering my upper teenage years, I started getting interested training, mostly basic weight lifting at the gym but also other forms of training such as yoga and pilates even though the level of interest varied depending on life situation and so on.

I was first introduced to technology during the last years of compulsory school I would say. The local high school in my town started a initiative called Technology for girls where girls from ages 13-16 was invited to different workshops during a week of the summer break to show what you can do in the high school techology program. Despite this, I still chose the natural science program, still at the same high school though.

In high school I had a chemistry teacher who inspired me to study something involving chemistry in university and that’s what I did! After my  high school graduation in June 2016, I packed my bags and moved from the tiny town Hässleholm to the big city Stockholm and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). At KTH I did a master in chemical engineering for energy and environment. The years in university went by at various speeds and suddenly it was once again time to graduate and for the first time ever, apply for a real job.

Unlike my collegues, I had never heard of GKN Aerospace until I came across a job application for the graduate program on LinkedIn. This is not something I’d say is negative since you get to learn a lot about the company here anyways. What appealed most to me about the graduate program is the fact that you get to try different functions within the company which is a good thing if you’re still unsure of what to do in the future.