Grace Wilson-Fatilua’s colleagues at Chevron Richmond call her a “rockstar” both for her work in process safety management and in her leadership of the refinery’s Women’s Employee Network.
The Richmond resident also happens to be a mother of three children who developed a reputation as a staunch advocate for their education and school community.
When asked how she juggles it all, Wilson-Fatilua’s advice is rather simple: Just show up.
She learned this lessons from her father in their native Samoa, where he worked as a certified public accountant as well as in manufacturing.
“I think just him advocating in the various spaces where he operated, it stuck with me,” she said. “As an adult now, I understand the value at the center of it is showing up.”
Advocacy at work
Raised in Samoa, Wilson-Fatilua fondly recalls being “voluntold” by her CPA father to help with some of his bookkeeping and to organize many of his work processes. That prepared her for her move to the U.S. in 2006, where she worked in administrative support roles while going to school for a degree in Business Administration.
She also worked at an Amazon warehouse and trained to be a school bus driver before her career launched at Chevron Richmond. She knew someone at the company who informed her about an administrative opening. After applying and going through the interview process, she was told she’d be a good candidate for her current role in process safety management.
The role entails “a lot of risk assessment studies,” said Wilson-Fatilua, who also participates in regular audits of the refinery by Contra Costa County regulators. She says she gets to see first-hand that the refinery is doing its best to stay in compliance with the various regulatory requirements.
“As a Richmond resident, it helps me feel trust in the refinery,” she said.
Wilson-Fatilua has developed a reputation for more than her work in process safety management at Chevron Richmond. She is also highly active in the Women’s Employee Network, recently serving as its co-site lead.
The Women’s Employee Network is among a dozen company-sponsored networks at Chevron Richmond that exist to provide employees from minority or underserved groups with increased access to opportunities for career development, mentoring, company participation and community involvement.
Wilson-Fatilua said she began participating in the network because she “enjoyed the events they were holding,” including those benefiting her Richmond community, like Build-A-Bear sessions for the Bay Area Rescue Mission and other nonprofits.
“I just started showing up to the meetings and creating relationships,” she said.
Advocacy at school
Wilson-Fatilua chose to build a life for her family in Richmond because “it was easy for me to build community here.”
“I feel fortunate to work at the refinery,” she said, “and I was intentional about putting my children in a school near to where I lived, and building relationships with teachers and staff there.”
When her children became of school age and began attending Richmond College Prep, it wasn’t long before Wilson-Fatilua developed a reputation as an advocate for the school.
A family liaison at her school helped connect her to other parents and made her aware about parent coffee meetings and school cultural activities. The bonds she formed within the community developed her into an advocate for West County charter schools.
“A lot of my advocacy is in ensuring kids in our community have access to quality education,” she said.
Advocacy for women
By all accounts, Wilson-Fatilua makes showing up look easy. She admits that showing up can often be the hardest part. Sometimes, life gets in the way.
For Wilson-Fatilua, 2023 is among her toughest year yet. It is the year that her marriage ended and she became a single mom to her three children, including a newborn. While this shattered her world, by all appearances Wilson-Fatilua continues to excel at work and in her community. She attributes her ability to cope during this difficult time to the community that she built around her.
“I’d speak with women at work, teachers at the school over a quick coffee, and I would be pointed to other single moms who could tell me their story,” she said. “Especially for women and moms who just feel like they are having a really tough year, my advice is to keep going.”
Wilson-Fatilua instructs others to determine a destination and to begin working their way there, one step at a time.
“I promise, you will get there,” she said.
Career opportunities for Richmond women
Wilson-Fatilua said she enjoys working at Chevron Richmond because she “learns every day.”
“I learn things I never would have learned about before,” she said.
She said she wants to see more women in her community apply for roles at the company.
“It’s exciting work and a great means of income,” she said. “And from the Women’s Employee Network to the Women in Operations Maintenance Group, there are so many places to network and create community to build from and to advocate for, like childcare and other programs that make it possible for women to succeed.”
