DECATUR, Ill - Caterpillar hosted a luncheon to recognize several female leaders in the company. Several leaders shared how they have grown in the industry.

"I'm a central Illinois girl born and raised third generation CAT, which is kind of cool,' said Debbie Furness, HR director for resource industries, operations, and products at CAT. She has been in numerous positions within the company in the years she's worked.

"I'm a chemist, and I hired into one of our metallurgical labs, and then I had various careers and manufacturing, engineering and operations," Furness said. She has gotten the chance to travel all over the world with the company. She and others said success is all about mentorship. 

"I've been very fortunate to have several mentors in my career. And that's all the way from the production team that I work alongside with all the way up to vice presidents of caterpillar that helped me along my journey, both men and women," said Tina Czerwinski, facility manager at Caterpillar Decatur.

She said it has been a joy to help encourage other women getting into related fields. One of them is a welder named Renee Soloka Wallvaum. 

"We need to have women in every kind of trade. And women are really good at welding, I'll tell you that right now, because they have a lot of that eye for detail and that patience for it," Wallvaum said. 

She hopes to see more women working at places like CAT.

Every year just gets better and better and more women are coming through, and we're seeing barriers break," Wallvaum said.

They encourage anyone interested to apply online through their website.