Hello. My name is Sandia Martin, and I am the Founder and CEO of Amata Green. In lieu of Women’s History Month, I thought I would share some thoughts about what it's like to be a woman CEO who is leading a small, but burgeoning company. These thoughts have always been swirling around in my mind, but maybe now is the right time to express them out loud.

I am a woman in a man’s industry. Most weeks I have dozens of video calls with prospective partners, people in the biochar industry, or with colleagues talking through new ideas. Ninety-nine percent of these calls are with men. Sometimes I wonder what they are thinking when we connect the first time and they see that I’m not the typical gender of one you would see in this business. Sometimes I fear that they aren’t taking me seriously. Nearly everyone I speak to is very kind and engaging, so I have no reason to think that they aren’t taking me seriously, but I still ponder this sometimes. Out of curiosity, I also wonder if men ever ponder these things, wondering—or even caring—whether or not women are taking them seriously.

I work in the sustainability field related to agriculture and climate change. Currently, I am transitioning my company to becoming a biochar producer. Once that transition fully takes place, the company will no longer be catering to large business consulting matters, but will shift the focus to small farm owners in southern Spain. Farmers. Traditionally men. It might also happen that I will have biochar customers in the construction business (biochar in asphalt & concrete is a growing industry), which will be another industry where my gender possibly gets a double-take. I guess we’ll see soon enough!

Sandia Martin in one of the castles in southern Spain, near to where her company will relocate

One humorous thing that happened to me recently was when I received some of my business materials back from a colleague who was putting them together for me. It was a beautiful powerpoint with lovely colors, graphs and pictures. I showed the cover page to my business partner and asked for his first impressions of everything on that one first page. He talked about how he liked the colors, the banner was bold, some particulars about the fonts, icons, logo etc, and that was what he saw. I said, “Do you know what the first thing that jumped out at me was? The background picture of the whole page--is of three men.” His jaw dropped--he hadn’t even thought about it. My point was: this is a woman-owned, woman-led, woman-founded company, so why are there three men on the cover page!? I wondered if I sent these materials to a prospective partnering company or investment company would they be expecting to be working with three men? Would it even matter? Needless to say, I asked for the picture to be changed.

Other times, before I get on a call with someone new, I usually look at their website, their bio, and read up on the company. Most of the time if it’s a small company, it’s all men. If it’s a larger company, sometimes I’ll see a small smattering of women on the team. Sometimes.

When I hire interns, I make a concerted effort to hire women first, but typically end up with about a 50-50 mix of genders. If I weren’t making this effort, I could see having a very lopsided male to female ratio with most being male--just by the sheer volume of resumes I receive from men. Moreover, I would guess that around 75% of my LinkedIn contacts are male--that’s my industry.

Sandia Martin receiving her Juris Doctorate degree

Some days I look over the big-picture plan I have for my company and see how big the plan really is. My oldest son, an aspiring engineer currently in college, was recently pouring over my proposed pyrolysis machinery discussing costs and revenues and he asked, “Do you realize that you will be dealing with many millions of dollars with this plan?” I replied back, “Yes, I did run the numbers already.” And then I thought to myself, “Can I really pull this off? Can I make this happen? Me?” I don’t have doubts about my abilities, I know I’m a smart woman. I know that I am good at bringing people and plans together. I know that I am thorough, and conservative with my numbers, and always have a backup plan. I know I can do it, so why do I doubt myself at times?!

So for now, I just keep moving forward, I make plans, I carry them out, and with each success I try to tell myself that it’s not going to matter whether I’m female or not--I am just as capable to do this as any man. I know that I don’t know everything, but I surround myself with smart people who know about the things I don’t, so it’s ok. I keep telling myself, the plan is good. The plan is solid. And it is. I can do this.

My next step with my company’s transition will be engaging with investors. I am excited (and a little bit nervous) to see how well that goes. I know the project is fantastic and that some super-lucky investor will see that too. It will happen. Interestingly enough all of the investors I have lined up to talk to--are men. And so the story goes...I am a woman, in a man’s industry.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sandia Martin grew up in a small, remote town in the Southwestern United States. She has several degrees in Psychology, and a Law degree paired with an Environmental Law Certification. In 2019, Ms. Martin won a place as a semifinalist in Indigo Ag’s Terraton Challenge with her unique biochar proposal. She currently consults on projects of sustainability and climate change and will soon join the ranks of biochar producers. To learn more about Amata Green’s biochar projects, visit: www.AmataGreen.com/investors

Being A Woman CEO In A Man’s Industry

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