Hello people! Hope you all are doing well. In honor of Black History Month, we decided to talk about what it means to us being a Black, Woman, ______. Read on to find out what being a Black Women Engineer means to me.
In summary, I would describe my experience as motivating, challenging, and empowering.
I feel empowered being a black, woman, engineer. Knowing how hard it was for me to get to where I am today empowers me to feel that I can do whatever I want and not be afraid to fail. Being unafraid to fail allows me to discover, explore, and learn about myself and my passions.
I feel motivated because when I see that there are so few people that look like me, I want to keep going to show other people that they can do what I'm doing and more. Facing different challenges and obstacles in my life has shaped my experiences and allowed me to share what I've learned to other people. Being able to share my story and have other people learning from my mistakes as well as my successes is a real motivating factor.
However, it's challenging because sometime's I have no idea what I'm doing or how to navigate and there's very few people that I feel that I can trust to really help me. I constantly feel like I have to give 110% while everyone around me is maybe giving half of that and it's exhausting. Additionally, sometimes I feel like an imposter. I find myself sometimes doubting my abilities and my strengths and often question whether I'm in over my head. When I feel as though I am getting too overwhelmed, I take a deep breath and give myself pep-talks reminding myself that I am capable of achieving all that I want and more. I'm also very thankful for my support system who are always there when I need a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen to me vent, or arms to just give me a hug.
The journey as a Black Women in STEM is not an easy one. The reason why we started MacScientist is to provide more insight as to what is like to work towards changing the face of STEM. For the past two years we've been sharing our stories and trying to expand our brand to provide more resources for you or a loved one to use and flourish. As we celebrate our second anniversary, we have launched our kickstarter campaign of selling merchandise and we would love for you all to get some! Check out our kickstarter campaign to find ways that you can back this project.
Talk to you guys next week! -The Engineer
Comments