Pink Petro Network to Grow, Empower Women in Energy

Advancing Women with a Centralized Social Platform

The idea for Pink Petro was born on a napkin during a 20-plus hour business flight. During the trip, Mehnert spent a lot of time thinking about gender, women in energy and trade associations.

“I thought about how we could accelerate closing the gender gap and what it would look like. Twenty hours later a good chunk of my idea was scribbled on napkins. They stayed in my travel bag until last summer, when I shared the idea with a friend at Halliburton. Everything took off from there.”

Mehnert’s initial research found that women in energy wanted a single place where they could access a wealth of information on networking and professional development. While the oil and gas business is already known for its great organizations, learning avenues and partnerships with universities, women wanted a centralized access point.

“Pink Petro is going to have that focus. It will be a place where women can have meaningful conversations about their careers. They will be able to engage with peers, coaches, mentors and others in our industry. Also, success stories will be clearly visible on our channel, which doesn’t exclude men. It’s important to me to appeal to women first and foremost, but I also want to appeal to their advocates.”

Mehnert hopes to see a quarter million-plus people interacting on Pink Petro in the next three to five years, eager to engage. For a soft target, she is aiming to use the channel to encourage women in energy to keep going and close the gender gap, so that their daughters see the advantages of entering the industry.

“Pink Petro’s goal is to unite, connect, develop and grow women working across the energy value chain: from transportation – to power and utilities – to integrated oil and gas multinationals and service companies. When you combine all of the companies in all of these segments, women currently hold only 18 percent of all jobs in the U.S. energy sector. We want to help close the gender gap through helping women navigate their careers throughout the entire energy industry and be a resource for developing talent. ”  

The buzz around Pink Petro is well under way across traditional social channels. Here’s what the industry is saying:  

“We take a long-term view of talent at Halliburton – and we are deeply committed to pursuing all forms of diversity within our company- at every level. When we were introduced to Pink Petro, we immediately recognized it as a valuable resource that could help focus the power of social business technology and become a key asset to our critical diversity initiatives, especially for women. By supporting Pink Petro, we hope to provide women with the tools, information and additional resources they need to enjoy successful careers within Halliburton and throughout the energy industry. We see this very clearly as a ‘win-win.’ Pink Petro provides a variety of services and resources for women, and the end result will be a value to Halliburton and the industry as a whole.” -Cindy Bigner, Sr. Director, Corporate Affairs & Diversity Initiatives, Halliburton Company

“Shell is a global leader in diversity in the energy industry, and we are proud of the advances that we have made in increasing opportunities for women to contribute and lead in our business. In our operations throughout the world, and at every level of responsibility, Shell is proving that the strongest workforce is one that is diverse in every way. Shell sees Pink Petro as a very valuable resource that can help women succeed in the challenging and demanding jobs offered throughout the energy industry. It’s important to Shell that our suppliers and third-party vendors share our mindset on the power of diversity, and the easy-to-access resources of Pink Petro promise to elevate the roles and responsibilities of women throughout the supply chain. We’re excited about what Pink Petro means to the women of energy – for women who currently work for Shell, those who will join our company in the future, and for the women entrepreneurs who own and operate businesses that supply goods and services in the energy industry.”  -Fred Whipple, VP of Diversity and Inclusion, Shell