Slate joined Nucor in 2000 as district sales manager at Nucor Steel–Arkansas. She later served as sales manager at Nucor Steel–Decatur LLC, and then as cold mill manager. In 2010, she was promoted to general manager of Nucor Steel Auburn Inc., and was elected vice president of Nucor in 2012. That same year she was the first woman to be featured as the “goggle person" for AIST's annual AISTech — The Iron & Steel Conference and Exposition.
 
Slate then served as vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel–Arkansas from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, she became Nucor's first female executive vice president.
 
“MaryEmily was a true trailblazer in our industry, and there is perhaps no greater example of a teammate who lived out our belief at Nucor that the sky is the limit for your life, family, and career,” Nucor’s chief executive Leon Topalian said in a message to Nucor teammates.
 
Slate was a panelist in AIST’s Town Hall Forum in 2021, and was featured in a “Progress & Perspectives: Women in Steel” interview for Iron & Steel Technology.
 
You can read her full obituary here.