Mar 24, 2021 3 min read

When Tiffany Kline-Costa studied dance at Oberlin College in Ohio, she harbored an ambition to be one of Britney Spears’ backup dancers.

Little could Kline-Costa have ever imagined that one day she would end up taking the police exam, do very well, and end up a sergeant with the community engagement office of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

“When I started working on the streets, I understood this is what I was supposed to do,” she explained.

Kline-Costa was one of four participants in a panel discussion, “Women Paving the Way,” at California University of Pennsylvania Tuesday morning. A Women’s History Month event looking at how women’s careers can follow circuitous paths and sometimes arrive at unexpected destinations, it also included Traci McDonald, a Washington County judge; Melissa Stein, co-founder of Stein Wealth Advisors in North Strabane; and Michel Conklin, executive director of BotsIQ, a manufacturing workforce development program on Pittsburgh’s South Side.

McDonald, who was elected to the Court of Common Pleas in 2019, said that when she was growing up, “I had no clue what I was going to do, to be truthful.” She was initially drawn to corporate law when she decided to pursue work in the field, but ended up working for 15 years as an assistant district attorney in Washington County, handling cases involving sex crimes, child abuse and domestic abuse.

“We never know where our lives are going to take us,” McDonald said.

Along with the careers of the participants following convoluted paths, they also noted that they have occasionally been in situations where they encountered casual sexism. Stein said that she once attended a conference of financial advisers, and some assumed she was a secretary.

Stein’s advice? Among other things, “Treat people the way you would want to be treated.”

She also said, “We’re the only ones that hold ourselves back.”

Kline-Costa noted that she was recently asked how it might be different if Pittsburgh’s police force consisted entirely of women, and she believes situations might not escalate if a female officer is present.

“I’m not going to walk in and intimidate the man of the house,” she said.

The Pittsburgh police force once had one of the highest rates of female participation in the country, Kline-Costa said, but now the force’s female membership stands at 14% and is dropping.

“We need more women to come into the force,” she said.

Other Women’s History Month events that are coming up at California University of Pennsylvania include an online “Celebration of Women” gathering next Tuesday at 11 a.m.