Fuelled By Ambition...Christeen Salloum

We caught up with one of our incredible members Christeen Salloum, Technical Manager at Keith Engineering, to get to know more about her career journey and ambitions for the food industry. As part of our campaign 'Fuelled by Ambition' we're sharing the stories of our community and asking them to define ambition in their own terms, as well as give us as insights into their career journeys so far.

Tell us about your current role and how you got there. 

I am currently the Technical Manager at Keith Engineering; a role I progressed into through hands-on engineering experience and steady responsibility growth within the meat processing sector.

I completed a bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering overseas and moved to Australia about eight years ago. Due to the difficulty that I faced in working with my Batchelor degree without going back to Uni for four years and to align with the local industry, I completed a Mechanical Drafting course at TAFE, which helped me enter the engineering workforce here.

I joined Keith Engineering as a Draftsperson in the animal rendering industry around five(ish) years ago. While I didn’t initially plan to work in the meat industry, I was quickly drawn to its complexity, scale, and the critical role it plays in sustainability and processing efficiency. By consistently taking on broader technical and operational responsibilities, I moved into Technical Services after three years, and about 18 months later into my current role as Technical Manager.

Today, I focus on technical leadership, problem-solving, and supporting both projects and customers, and I’m still very motivated to keep growing into broader leadership roles.

What would you say your top strength or superpower is and how has it helped you in your role?

Coming to Australia from a third world country and starting everything from scratch has taught me a lot about myself, showed me the strength within me and how I can use it to achieve my goals in life.

Having that mindset, working hard, and discipline was the key in my story.

Tell us about one of the biggest challenges to date in you career and one key learning you took from it?

As a young 25-year-old woman coming to a male dominated environment with zero previous experience in the industry was my biggest challenge for sure.

Five years later, I’ve overcome this quickly even though as young woman I still face some challenges on site, however, I use my confidence and so all what I get back is respect.

Who has influenced or inspired you along the way and what impact have they had on you?

Derek Henderson, who was the General Manager at Keith Engineering and Martin Pope who is the current General Manager, were/are my biggest support, I was very inspired by the work ethic, the knowledge they had, they believed in me since day one, and I was very lucky to have them in my journey for how supportive and appreciative they were/are.

Our ongoing campaign is called Fuelled by Ambition where we celebrate ambitions both big & small. When you think about ambition, what does it look like for you at this stage of your life and career?

At this stage of my career, ambition for me is less about titles, and more about impact.
Looking back at what I have achieved in life shows me that nothing is impossible, no matter who you are, where you came from, you can achieve anything in your life if you believe in yourself and others. 
My focus now is to continue in growing, taking more responsibilities, and building depth rather than rushing.
I wan to be someone who bridge engineering, rendering, operations to make a difference. 
I want to be an inspiration for others particularly, women in the industry.

Looking ahead, what would you love to see change, improve or grow in the meat/food industry?

Looking ahead, first, I would love to see more women in the meat industry, particularly, in the animal rendering industry, and I can see this is happening already. Secondly, I would love to see a difference in the rendering process, to be more efficient, and environment friendly, not just follow the rendering method that we know from hundred years just because we know it works.

Quickfire questions:

What’s your favourite cuisine?

Italian food 😊

Favourite pastime or hobby?

Meditation.

If you had to pick your soundtrack song to get you through the working day, what would it be?

'Nothing else matters' by Metallica.

Favourite holiday destination?

Italy (on bucket list).