IAAWA Group

09/06/2025

Calling All Business Owners & Community Leaders! 🌟
Are you ready to make a tangible impact in our community? Join us for the Community in Action Meeting — a powerful gathering of changemakers dedicated to driving progress and fostering collaboration.
🤝 Why Attend?
🤔 Share your insights and challenges
💡 Collaborate on innovative solutions
🌱 Strengthen our local economy
📈 Expand your network with like-minded leaders

Together, we can turn ideas into action and create lasting change. Your voice matters — let's build a brighter future, together. 💬✨

07/27/2025

IAAWA Group will host quarterly seminars and events where members will compete for scholarships to fund their interior design programs. The top three winners will be selected and featured, showcasing their brands to prospective real estate and business professionals.

07/27/2025

We invite you to attend our quarterly events showcasing authors from manufacturing companies, designers, and artists. IAAWA Group aims to educate and inspire women in the design sector, equipping them with knowledge and guidance to establish and own their manufacturing companies.

07/27/2025

07/24/2025

Mark your calendars for IAAWA Group's upcoming events and services. Find more information at https://www.iaawagroup.com

11/20/2024

With women in manufacturing being disproportionately affected by sexual harassment, unequal pay, and limited opportunities, you can see why Black women in manufacturing are due some serious credit.

Without further ado, meet Sherrika Sanders, whose work will help turn those stats on their head.

As a young girl, she was introduced to STEM at a high school science camp that “sealed the deal” for her career choice. As a native of Louisiana, she began her educational journey at Xavier University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry from the University of Houston. While presenting a paper at an American Chemical Society meeting, she was introduced to a principal investigator at Sandia National Laboratories, which led to her postdoctoral research there.

Sherrika’s work speaks for itself. Her experience and explorations at Sandia landed her the Senior Chemist position at Dow. During her nine-year career with Dow, she helped create the Building Engineering and Science Talent Recruitment Program in an effort to attract women early on to careers in manufacturing. Sherrika continued her career as Research & Development Director at Authentix and now serves as Senior Technical Engineer at Manner Polymers.

Not only is her professional career noteworthy, but her personal accolades and efforts to pay it forward are worth mentioning as well:

Recipient of the “Hidden Figures of Dallas: Top Women of Color in STEM” awarded by the National Society of Black Engineers DFW chapter

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board Member for the Society of Plastics Engineers

Served as a 2020 Dallas County Fellow with Leadership ISD, advocating for academic excellence and racial equity at the local and state-level

“It's knowing your why, and knowing that, 'Hey, I chose this STEM career because of something that's larger than myself.' And it is to change the life of a child, which then changes the lives of their families, which then changes the lives of their communities. And that's bigger than me. And that's the reason that I will never walk away because I want to continue to make that impact.”

- Sherrika Sanders, Supply Chain Now Podcast