Pierre Canidate is a multimedia specialist at Southern Company Gas and a competitive bodybuilder though he wasn’t always into fitness.

During a visit to his home state of Florida in 2019, Pierre was confronted with the fact he needed to reconsider his lifestyle and eating habits.

“My cousin in his mid-40s is 10 years older than me but was in better shape and looked younger than I did,” Pierre said. “That was a defining moment because on the drive home from Florida back to Atlanta I made the decision to get in shape.”​​​​​​​

Pierre began a weight loss journey and over the course of a year lost 30 pounds. Once he saw what his body was capable of, he knew he wanted to kick it up a notch. He gave himself a goal of six months to be prepared for a bodybuilding competition.

The first thing Pierre did was hire a bodybuilding coach to help navigate the uncharted territory. His coach taught him the dos and don’ts of eating and exercising.

“I can’t emphasize this enough; it is a strict diet that does most of the work. You’ll find yourself eating the same things over and over,” Pierre said. His diet was mostly composed of grilled chicken, rice, veggies and water only.

When asked how he keeps Safety First while training, Pierre said he does not “ego lift” or over lift heavy weights.

“I really listen to my body. There are some days I’m not feeling it, and that’s not an excuse to be lazy or slack off, but you’ll know when your body may need an extra day or two to recover.”

Pierre encourages anyone who has fitness goals to put consistency in and out of the kitchen first before expecting perfection in the mirror.

“The discipline, the confidence and overall winner attitude has spilled over into all aspects of my life. I’d love to see that for everyone who chooses to get out of their comfort zone and try something different,” Pierre said.

Pierre has been with the company for five years. He’s a graduate of Florida A&M University and Georgetown University. His family is also active as his wife of 13 years pursues becoming a spin coach and his daughter, Taylor, 10 intends to run track this spring. Safe to say his youngest child Aubrey, 2, will be following in his family’s footsteps soon.

SOToday is launching a new regular series spotlighting Southern Company’s Board of Directors. Our first spotlight is on Dr. Janaki Akella, who joined the board in 2019.

Akella is a digital transformation leader for Google, LLC, and serves on the business security and resiliency and compensation and talent development committees for the Southern Company board. In this video, Akella speaks to disruption and how technology will impact the future of energy.

Check back for future spotlights on Board members, their personal backgrounds, their service on the board and their thoughts on a variety of timely energy-related topics.

For Southern Company, 2022 has been a year full of good energy.

Throughout the year, Southern Company has made a difference — helping customers and communities thrive, exploring new energy solutions to meet the demands of tomorrow and making progress toward a more equitable future.

“Southern Company experienced another exceptional year in 2022 and our accomplishments this year were nothing short of historic,” says Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO Tom Fanning. “Our success is driven by placing our customers at the center of everything we do as we provide clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy solutions that make lives better.”

Southern Company’s 2022 ‘Year in Review’ video rolls through the top “good energy” moments, including:

Completing nuclear fuel load at Plant Vogtle Unit 3, one of the final milestones before the new reactor unit goes online

Being named to Forbes ‘No. 2 Best Large Employer in America’ list

Helping deliver the first net-zero energy TOUR Championship with PGA TOUR

These positive actions and others detailed in the video align with Southern Company’s commitment to keeping employees, customers and communities at the center of everything the company does.

“2022 has been full of peaks and achievements,” explains Fanning. “That’s a testament to our amazing 27,000 employees and their hard work, our system’s resiliency and the bright future we have ahead of us. I’m so grateful for the year we’ve had and look forward to 2023.”

Southern Company system employees came out in full force this month for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many subsidiaries hosted Pink Out Day mostly on Oct. 21 to coincide with Pink Ribbon Day.

We also asked employees to post on SOToday and social media how they have been impacted by breast cancer and had an amazing response. See the gallery above to read some of these stories and see employees donning their pink and reminding women to get mammograms and that no one is in this fight alone.

from multiple Southern Company operating companies and business units are headed to Houston, Texas, Oct. 20-22, to attend the 2022 Society of Women Engineers (SWE) annual conference, also known as WE22.

SWE is the second largest recruiting event of the year for Southern Company. Fran Forehand, senior vice president of power delivery for Georgia Power, will serve as Southern Company’s executive sponsor. Fran initially came onboard in this capacity in 2021 during the pandemic. This will be the first return to an in-person conference since 2019 with Fran at the helm.

Southern Company and its subsidiaries are heavily involved in supporting and recruiting students at the campus level. Proactive recruiting at events hosted by organizations like the Society of Women Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Society of Asian Scientist and Engineers help the company identify talent from diverse engineering disciplines and cultural backgrounds.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are critical to the success of Southern Company,” explains Chris Collier, senior director of talent and diversity, equity and inclusion. “Over the years, our engagement with SWE has helped us identify top talent and create a more diverse workplace – one in which all employees can thrive, and where everyone feels welcomed, valued and respected.”

Rob Sunderland, director of talent acquisition, adds that “Engineers are consistency among the top five types of jobs that Southern Company hires each year. Talent Acquisition partners with the various business units to execute a local, regional and national recruiting strategy to attract top engineering talent. SWE Conference is a critical and productive source of engineering talent for our company.”

SWE is a not-for-profit educational and service organization focused on empowering women to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders. With more than 40,000 members around the globe, SWE is the world’s largest advocate and catalyst for change for women in engineering and technology.

In Houston, Southern Company hopes to connect with some of the brightest minds from engineering programs around the globe, and to share the company’s story with these up-and-coming young women. The Southern Company team will work to identify talented students and recent graduates, and make offers of full-time employment, as well as co-op and internship opportunities.

Since 2015, Southern Company has made 26 hires from contacts at SWE events, 35% of which are minority women.

To learn more about WE22 visit https://we22.swe.org/ and the Southern Company WE 22 page for additional details.