When did your love of STEM begin?
For as long as I remember, I LOVED puzzles and riddles! I guess you could say the stars aligned for me at an early age. I got to witness many unique and once in a lifetime celestial events, like comet Hale-Bopp and a total solar eclipse. Those events took my breath away and fuelled my curiosity. I wanted to know more, I wanted to discover new things, and I wanted to go where no one had been before.
What is the best part about working in the field of STEM?
The best part is being able to continue asking "why" day after day and trying to find answers. The best ideas, theories and hypothesis we have today may be proven wrong tomorrow, and that excites me! The unknown and the infinite number of puzzles that are to be solved, and the fact that sometimes you need different groups of people to work together regardless of their background, race, or gender.
What advice would you give young women interested in a career in STEM?
Follow your passion but do your research about that career first and ask a lot of questions! Know that barriers and biases still exist, but you deserve to be in that field as much as anyone else and you deserve to take up space.