Best Of

I have seen a few things already here in the thread that I could second.

Parenthood. I won't go into how scared I was and how much I was second guessing everything about myself when I found out that I was going to be a dad. It still has its moments, but overall I realize now that I was definitely more prepared than I had initially thought.

Leading a team. I was young and very early on in my working life. I felt so much pressure and almost turned it down. Then I realized that I needed my team even more than they needed me. Haha. They knew their jobs and expectations. All I had to do was manage and coordinate.

Public speaking. I am EXTREMELY introverted. I do NOT like being the center of attention. I prefer to be in a corner somewhere people watching. Recently though I was asked to say a few words in front of a relatively small group, and it really wasn't all that bad. I wouldn't call it "fun", but it was doable.

The next day I found myself preparing for a potentially much larger audience. We knew the topics and the general vibe, but we were just winging it as far as what would be said. I am pretty sure I just blacked out and went on auto-pilot for most of it, but after it was over I got a lot of very positive feedback.

I won't say that I am going to actively pursue public speaking opportunities, but I realize now that it isn't quite as terrible as I thought. Of course I had a great audience for both engagements which also helped tremendously.

Collaborating with "higher ups". I was on the "bottom rung" of the ladder in my position at the time. My supervisor's manager's Vice President asked for my input on what to tell the President of the company. I actually asked if they were sure they wanted my input and made sure to throw in plenty of disclaimers about not experience in the corporate side since not only was I in a more production type role, but I was new to that role as well.

After some conversation, I realized it was the same as interviewing for a job somewhere. The other person isn't better than you, and you aren't better than them. Regardless of their title, they are people too.

This is such an awesome thread! It is often wonderful to read about trailblazing women in STEM. Not only do they have remarkable stories, the contributions to their field / humanity are always so inspiring to learn about.

Highlighting Valerie Thomas, born 1943 in Baltimore, who graduated college top of her class in Physics (only one of two women in the program) and in 1964 right-out-of-school started at NASA. She worked on the first team of the Landsat program, where she developed methods to decode large amounts of data from satellites, specifically imagery and image file formats. In 1980, she developed and patented an Illusion Transmitter, which was capable of sending three-dimensional images using a concave mirror. Afterwards, still at NASA, she oversaw a managerial position on the Space Physics Analytics Network, which is like a proto-internet that connected scientists across the globe. I believe she is still mentoring emerging scientists to this day and has been awarded multiple commendations at NASA. Awesome human.