IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2014 - 37

When starting the company, Schnitta
tried to take on only as many customers
as she needed to make a living to maintain the work-life balance she'd opted to
design for herself. "I started a company
because I realized I could do something
that would benefit other people and
would also allow me time freedom," she
explains. "There's a bit of a contradiction
because, on the one hand, new entrepreneurs have no time whatsoever but you
also don't have to ask anyone's permission to change your schedule, which provides ultimate freedom." As her own boss,
Schnitta could pick and choose the work
she wanted to do and was able to define
and develop the company toward the
areas she loved the most.
What she loves most centers around
the "paradise effect" or "quietude,"
described as the elimination of noise
and the optimization of sounds that one
likes. But Schnitta recognized a need to
go beyond just consulting on engineering design to support this effect when
she would occasionally receive feedback
that her design was not working. Conducting tests out in the field, she noticed
that oftentimes clients were not using
the materials she had specified, opting
for cheaper products that looked similar
but had lesser acoustic properties, or that
there would be slight errors in product
installation that were enough to throw
off the efficacy of the design. "In one
example, I would design a great ceiling so
no sound could travel across floors, and
yet clients would talk about still hearing
noise," recalls Schnitta. "When I went in
to test, I observed recessed lights added
to the ceiling, even though there were
none in my drawings. Recessed lights are
essentially a hole in the ceiling and so the
design would fail."
To better control these situations,
SoundSense developed a line of patented,
patent-pending, proprietary, and personalized products and instructed clients to

"If there's
a joy that
comes with doing
something, then there
will be an ultimate
drive to do it
successfully."

only use those or
equivalent products
that needed to be
approved by SoundSense. One such item is
a high hat muffler, which
can be placed over a recessed
light to block sound flow but not air flow.
Another avenue Schnitta took was to only
work with contractors interested in doing
acoustic installations, enabling a better
partnership between design, installation,
and testing of the system to yield stronger results. With these additions, SoundSense expanded from acting as just a
consulting firm into a service that's more
turnkey including design and build.

Helping Hands
Along the way, Schnitta discovered that,
though she had great joy helping people
find quietude, she was working more
hours than she intended. Opening up the
company to other employees, she first
handed off nonengineering elements,
hiring an accountant, bookkeeper, and
assistant. Ultimately, she hired engineers
who were as passionate about acoustics
as she was and found comfort sharing the
work with those who could maintain her
same degree of accountability for results.
The extra hands, coupled with the fact
that Schnitta's kids had grown older and

DeCeMBeR 2014

more independent,
enabled SoundSense
to really grow quickly
after the year 2000.
"I think an important
piece of life is to always have
at least one or two people reminding you to take some time for yourself,"
says Schnitta. "Once you're lucky enough
to find the thing you're most passionate
about and to make a living doing it, it's
hard to stop. But my friends remind me
to have a healthy work-life balance." And,
she laughs, "my kids are very good at telling me to 'get a life' every once in a while."
To those interested in getting a life like
the one Schnitta has built, she advises selfawareness and perseverance. "When you
are just starting out, just be very aware
of the things that make you happy when
you do them," she says. "Remind yourself
of them. If there's a joy that comes with
doing something, then there will be an
ultimate drive to do it successfully."
Coupled with that, she advises strength
of conviction. "I get asked if I have had
moments of doubt or of being made to
feel 'different' than the men I'm often surrounded by," she reflects. "I can give several examples of times I was discriminated
against, but the bottom line is that it evens
out. As many men discriminated against
me, just as many applauded me. You learn
to tune out the people who are giving you
a hard time and focus on the ones who are
happy for you."
It's not shocking that this advice
calls to mind the "paradise effect" that
Schnitta helps her clients to create with
SoundSense. These philosophies, supported by dedication, technical skill, and
a bit of risk, have helped Schnitta pave
a career path that "sounds" gratifyingly
successful.
-Leslie Prives is a freelance writer
living in New York City

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2014