In this episode of Womanufacturing, we sit down with John Webster, an old colleague, former intern, and now seasoned startup engineer, to talk about what it really means to grow up in a startup world.

John shares his journey from graduating during COVID, moving countries for an internship, and being thrown into high-pressure manufacturing environments where learning happened fast, documentation was optional, and teamwork was everything. Together, we talk candidly about internships that actually teach you something, sink-or-swim startup culture, mentorship done right (and wrong), and how asking the right questions can change the trajectory of your career.

We also dig into:

• Why internships are one of the most underrated career tools

• The realities of working at startups vs large companies

• How culture shifts as organizations scale

• What it’s like to go from mentee to mentor

• Staying mission-driven in clean tech and manufacturing

• And why “figuring it out together” matters more than having all the answers

This conversation is honest, funny, and deeply relatable for anyone early in their career, mentoring young engineers, or navigating the chaos of fast-growing companies.

If you’ve ever learned the hard way, grown through pressure, or bonded over keeping equipment alive, this one’s for you.

What if the thing you’ve been fighting your whole life… finally has a name?

In this deeply personal episode of Womanufacturing, Alicia opens up about receiving an ADHD diagnosis as an adult, and how it reframed decades of anxiety, burnout, overachievement, people-pleasing, and thriving in chaos.

Joined by Justine, this conversation isn’t about checklists or stereotypes. It’s about what ADHD can actually look like in high-performing women, engineers, founders, and leaders who were never “bouncing off the walls” — just constantly thinking, constantly caring, constantly pushing.

They talk about:
• Late-in-life diagnosis and why it’s more common than we think
• ADHD, anxiety, and depression — symptoms vs. root causes
• Why some brains need pressure, deadlines, and complexity to function
• Startup chaos, systems-level thinking, and the myth of “attention deficit”
• Rebuilding self-trust, confidence, and self-compassion after naming the pattern
• Learning when ADHD is a superpower — and when it needs support

This episode is for anyone who’s ever thought:
“Why can’t I just be normal?”
“Why do I work best when everything is on fire?”
“Why am I exhausted even when I’m successful?”

If you’ve ever felt misunderstood by your own brain, you’re not alone.
Naming it is the first step toward healing.

Internships get a lot of airtime, but what happens after you’re hired?

In this episode, Alicia and Justine talk candidly about mentorship, the kind that actually works. Not the clunky HR programs or forced pairings, but real, human mentorship built on trust, curiosity, and mutual respect.

They dig into what makes a good mentor, why one-size-fits-all management fails, how mentoring others sharpens your own skills, and why so many engineers end up figuring things out alone. From pairing junior engineers with senior staff, to seeking mentors outside your department, to simply asking “where do you want to go?”, this conversation is about paying it forward without sucking the soul out of it.

If you’ve ever wished you had better guidance, or wondered how to support the next generation without turning it into a checkbox exercise, this one’s for you.