Influential Women Features Claribel Solis: Engineering Leadership Driving Precision And Innovation In Lighting
Claribel Solis is an accomplished electrical engineer specializing in power, lighting & controls systems, currently serving as the Architectural Technical Sales Lead at Acuity Brands. With a career grounded in electrical infrastructure and systems thinking, she has built a unique professional path that bridges traditional engineering disciplines with the highly specialized world of architectural lighting. Although she originally envisioned a career focused on power plants, transmission systems, or SCADA operations, her trajectory shifted unexpectedly into lighting—a transition that ultimately became a defining opportunity.
Today, Solis applies her technical expertise to support complex, high-performance lighting projects across a broad portfolio of architectural solutions. Within Acuity Brands’ extensive ecosystem of nearly 18 to 19 brands, she provides critical sales and technical support to a traveling field team, ensuring customers receive accurate engineering guidance throughout design and implementation. Her responsibilities include resolving technical inquiries, reviewing shop drawings, and advising on proper product application to ensure that each system is deployed with precision and reliability.
Her work spans a wide range of advanced lighting technologies, including outdoor architectural lighting systems, underwater-rated fixtures, DMX-controlled RGBW color-changing solutions, and architectural linear luminaires with decades of engineering refinement. By helping clients select and integrate the correct equipment, Solis ensures that complex systems operate seamlessly from concept through installation. Her ability to translate intricate engineering requirements into practical, user-friendly solutions has made her a trusted partner among architects, engineers, distributors, and internal sales teams.
In addition to her role at Acuity Brands, Solis holds a Real Estate Construction Project Management Certificate from NYU School of Professional Studies and a Lighting Design Certificate from the University of Colorado Boulder Rocky Mountain Lighting Academy. These credentials complement her engineering background by strengthening her capabilities in project coordination, design integration, and cross-functional communication. Throughout her career, she has consistently applied structured project management principles to technical environments, enabling her to lead with both analytical precision and operational clarity.
Colleagues describe Solis as approachable, highly competent, and deeply collaborative. She is known not only for delivering consistent technical results but also for building confidence among stakeholders navigating complex design challenges. Her ability to remain solution-oriented under pressure has positioned her as a stabilizing force within multi-disciplinary project teams, particularly in high-specification architectural applications where accuracy is critical.
Solis attributes much of her professional success to discipline, persistence, and an uncompromising commitment to excellence. She identifies as a Type A perfectionist, a trait she credits with helping her maintain control over complex technical variables and consistently deliver high-quality outcomes. Early in her career, she recognized that achieving her goals would require sustained effort and resilience, particularly in environments where she often needed to outperform expectations to gain recognition.
A significant influence in her development has been her father, also an engineer, who has served as a long-term mentor. A pivotal conversation between them centered on the challenges she faced in the engineering field, including whether being Latina or being a woman posed the greater barrier. Solis reflected that gender presented the more immediate and persistent challenge, particularly in technical environments where women are often required to repeatedly validate their expertise. Despite these realities, she has remained focused on advancing through performance, preparation, and professionalism.
Her experience highlights broader dynamics within engineering and technical industries, where representation remains uneven, and advancement often requires navigating additional layers of scrutiny. Solis has consistently acknowledged both gratitude for her opportunities and awareness of the structural challenges that persist. She views these two perspectives not as contradictions, but as parallel truths that inform her approach to leadership and mentorship.
One of the most defining moments in her career occurred in 2012 while she was working in New Jersey, with her son residing in Texas. As her professional responsibilities increasingly centered on Texas-based projects, she developed a detailed business case to justify relocation. Although her immediate supervisor rejected the proposal, she persisted by presenting it to a higher-level manager. That leader, a woman, carefully evaluated her case and ultimately approved the move. The decision resulted in a promotion, a salary increase, and the opportunity for Solis to reunite geographically with her son.
The experience reinforced her belief in preparation, persistence, and self-advocacy as essential tools for professional advancement. However, it also exposed a deeper organizational reality when her supervisor later suggested that the outcome occurred because he had “allowed it.” The moment underscored how achievements by women in technical fields can sometimes be reframed in ways that diminish agency. Rather than discouraging her, the experience strengthened her resolve to advocate for herself and others with clarity and evidence-based reasoning.
Today, Solis channels these lessons into her leadership and mentorship approach. She actively encourages emerging professionals—particularly young women in engineering and technical sales—to communicate in business terms, prepare thoroughly, and advocate for themselves with data and confidence rather than hesitation. Her guidance emphasizes that success is not passive or granted, but actively constructed through knowledge, strategy, and consistent execution.
Beyond her technical contributions, Claribel Solis continues to define her career by a broader purpose: enabling clarity, reliability, and opportunity for others. Whether supporting complex lighting systems or mentoring future engineers, she remains committed to bridging technical precision with human impact, ensuring that innovation is both functional and accessible across every project she supports.
Learn More about Claribel Solis:
Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/claribel-solis
Influential Women
Influential Women provides a platform where women from all backgrounds can connect, share their perspectives, and create content that empowers themselves and others. Through storytelling, thought leadership, and creative expression, Influential Women amplifies voices that inspire change.
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Influential Women
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