The proverbial light bulb that sparked Tasha McCarter's interest in energy was an actual light bulb.

A third grade experiment using a hand crank to produce electricity led to an accomplished career developing power plants for SunPower, Silicon Ranch, and most recently RWE as their vice president of solar engineering.

For McCarter, who is Black, the rise to become one of the energy industry's foremost engineering leaders was anything but easy. While the industry's well-known diversity problem is slowly improving, there's still a long way to go.

McCarter joined Episode 37 of the Factor This! podcast to talk about her career, Black History Month, and the energy industry's pursuit of a more diverse workforce.   

That's all next on Factor This!