{"id":26602,"date":"2025-08-19T08:56:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T08:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/?p=26602"},"modified":"2025-08-19T08:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T08:56:07","slug":"powering-change-in-engineering-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/powering-change-in-engineering-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Powering change in engineering and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;VUT alumna Juliet Kgalake, Senior Technologist at Eskom, drives energy innovation while championing gender equality and inspiring young women in STEM.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>19 August 2025 | Story By: <strong>Tshepiso Kaibe<\/strong> | Picture:\u00a0Supplied<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2 minutes read time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template-1024x1024.webp\" alt=\"VUT alumna Juliet Kgalake, Senior Technologist at Eskom, drives energy innovation while championing gender equality and inspiring young women in STEM.\" class=\"wp-image-26603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template-1024x1024.webp 1024w, https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template-768x768.webp 768w, https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template-12x12.webp 12w, https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/juliet-template.webp 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the fields of engineering and energy innovation, where women remain underrepresented, Ms Juliet Kgalake has forged a path defined by determination, excellence, and a commitment to lifting others as she rises. A proud alumna of the Vaal University of Technology (VUT), she now serves as a Senior Technologist in Eskom&#8217;s Research, Testing &amp; Development (RT&amp;D) business unit, within the Technology Strategy and Research Management Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her academic journey began at VUT, where she completed a National Diploma and a BTech in Electrical Engineering (High Voltage), laying the foundation for her career. She went on to broaden her expertise with studies in Project Management, followed by a BSc (Hons) in Management of Technology from the University of Pretoria. Most recently, in 2024, she earned an MBA from Henley Business School, a milestone that further strengthened her leadership credentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Kgalake\u2019s career at Eskom started as an electrical technician. Through her drive, leadership and vision, she steadily rose to her current position. Today, she leads the development of RT&amp;D strategy, spearheads continuous improvement initiatives, and serves as Eskom&#8217;s coordinator for G20 Priority 1: Energy Security, Affordable and Reliable Access. In this global role, she represents South Africa\u2019s Ministry of Electricity and Energy on the G20 Energy Transition Working Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, for Ms Kgalake, success extends beyond personal achievement. She is deeply committed to creating opportunities for women, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. As champion of the RT&amp;D Eskom Women Empowerment Programme, she leads initiatives that foster a supportive environment for female employees. Beyond the workplace, she partners with under-resourced schools to provide career guidance, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on Women\u2019s Month, she defines gender equality in her own words: \u201cGender equality means having the same opportunities as everyone else, not special treatment, just fairness. It&#8217;s about speaking out, challenging the status quo and matching my male counterparts in influence and impact. Once I attain that equality, I see it as my responsibility to uplift other women who haven&#8217;t had the same opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her passion for empowering young girls is rooted in personal experience and an acute awareness of the systemic barriers that limit women\u2019s growth in both entrepreneurship and corporate spaces. As a wife, mother of two daughters, and sister, Ms Kgalake is determined to inspire young black girls from townships and villages to dream boldly, challenge boundaries, and defy societal limitations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;VUT alumna Juliet Kgalake, Senior Technologist at Eskom, drives energy innovation while championing gender equality and inspiring young women in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-vaal-university-of-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26604,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26602\/revisions\/26604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vut.ac.za\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}