Deanna Burgart’s decision to change careers came about suddenly and unexpectedly. She was attending a luncheon for women in the oil and gas industry when one of the speakers quoted author Steve Farber. “She said, ‘Do what you love in the service of people who love what you do,’” remembers Burgart. “I burst into tears. I realized I wasn’t doing either.”
It’s not that Burgart didn’t enjoy the work she was doing in the energy industry. She had achieved plenty of success over the course of two decades, working and teaching in her native Canada as well as Kazakhstan. But Burgart, this year’s winner of the AISES Blazing Flame Award, knew she could do even more. She had a unique vantage point that would allow her to motivate Native students and serve as a conduit between Indigenous communities and the energy industry. “I’m a bridge between First Nations, industry, and government,” she says. “If I had a life doing what I love, I knew it would be stepping into the space I’m in now.”
A self-proclaimed “Indigineer,” Burgart accomplishes this as a fellow at the Energy Futures Lab, as a frequent speaker, and through her role at her company, Indigenous Engineering Inclusion. These various ventures ensure that for Burgart there is no typical workday. On one day she may be leading a workshop or delivering a keynote address at an industry or diversity conference, while another day may find her helping educators indigenize their STEM curricula or providing oil, gas, and pipeline training to communities, government, and industry. “My day is either learning or teaching what I have learned,” she says.
I’m a bridge between First Nations, industry, and government. If I had a life doing what I love, I knew it would be stepping into the space I’m in now.
Though the audiences and subjects she addresses are always changing, Burgart has a particular passion for encouraging Native students to consider careers in STEM. One of her most powerful tools is her own story. Burgart is an adoptee from the Fond du Lac First Nation in Northern Saskatchewan who grew up in Canada and Singapore, where her father worked in the oil industry. She didn’t meet her birth family until she was 22 years old, when she was completing her high school upgrading. Straddling two worlds meant that she could connect to both. “That’s where my passion for what I’m doing now was born,” Burgart says. “I realized that I could have difficult conversations because they were rooted in love and trust.”
She also realized that her own struggles could help Native students persevere when things were tough. Indeed, at a conference for Indigenous youth, Burgart understood just how powerful a tool her story really is. She told the audience how she had been a single mother who dropped out of high school for a time before getting her diploma and going on to college. “I told them about being a teen mom and picking up cans and bottles so I could feed my son because I was too embarrassed to ask my parents for money,” she says, “and how I couldn’t start studying until my son went to bed.”
After her presentation a young woman approached Burgart and asked if she could talk to her privately. She thanked Burgart for her talk and confided that she had recently learned she was pregnant. “Your talk told me it’s not over for me,” Burgart remembers the woman saying. “If that wasn’t a defining moment that the change of career was worth it, I don’t know what would be.”
