Oh, really? That's sad to hear. I think that people were probably more hesitant about my age than my being a woman, but I had also been involved with some things prior to taking over so they had some warning there.
I do! My brainstorming involves a lot of sketches and then sketching again, then doing it one more time for good measure. I refine a little bit each time and always come up with new ideas that way. Sometimes too many and they have to be used for other projects, but there's where I start. I also do a lot of tinkering. If we have parts or machinery that are out of commission for one reason or another, I will play around with them and that often sparks ideas, too.