4 Lessons from Women in STEM

by Victoire Douy

I recently attended a panel organized by Lean In Canada hosted by five amazing women. I liked the lessons they shared so much that I wrote about them, even though my everyday life revolves more around designing and illustrating.

It goes without saying that these aren’t the only lessons for women in STEM, but these are some great tips that resonated with me. I hope you find them helpful.

Of course I made some illustrations too — let me know what you think of those as well 🥰

She had planned to become a doctor, but when she learned that the University of Waterloo’s Engineering program was notoriously hard to get into, she couldn’t resist the challenge. She got in.

She then introduced us to another challenging journey of hers, being a mom. Initially she struggled to accept the idea of her career slowing down. She would later accept that it wasn’t because she was less competent, but simply because her priorities had changed.

The biggest lesson for her was that balancing work and life is easier if you surround yourself with supportive and understanding people. She says she couldn’t have managed both her career and parenthood without support.

She also gave two pieces of advice that really resonated with me.

Ask for what you want!

Don’t be scared to say out loud what you want in your career (and in your life). If you make sure people know what you’re looking for, everything becomes easier on both sides. People are more willing to help than you might think, but they can’t help you if they don’t know what you want.

Be ready to leave

This doesn’t mean a lack of loyalty. To stay aligned with what you truly want, you need to keep asking yourself if your job is really helping you and be prepared to look for something better. Is your workplace supporting who you are, beyond your work role? Are they invested in your growth? Do they listen when you’re explicit about what you want?

For Anuja, true leadership comes from a place of understanding. In order to really understand others, you need to accept that there are things you don’t know and let yourself step out of your comfort zone.

In other words, you need to be comfortable being uncomfortable. By focusing on the bigger picture of what it is that you’re trying to accomplish, you’ll be okay with minor setbacks that might cause discomfort.

But finding comfort in discomfort doesn’t mean compromising. As important as it is to learn from others, you have to stay true to yourself. Being real about what you need to be happy isn’t always comfortable, but it’s more important than fitting in.
Who you are is enough, and you need to be ready to have uncomfortable conversations to defend that.

Anuja also talked about the importance of mentors. She herself has learned from several mentors throughout her career. She encouraged us to find as many mentors as possible, from diverse industries and backgrounds. Her rationale is that if you make sure you have diversity around you, you’ll learn more, and from places you didn’t expect.

Based on their own struggles with impostor’s syndrome, their message was that it’s important to believe in the direct result of your work, not what other people say. Find the people who trust you — they will always help you to become better.

A more personal layer to their message (that I didn’t expect) was to honour and value the person you are outside of your work. It’s important to remember that you have a life. You are not just the tasks you perform. They don’t define you as a person. If you’re successful in those tasks, it’s because of everything that makes you who you are. You bring all of that to your work, and no one else can.

Last but not least, we heard about failure and how to deal with it. The panel challenged us to change the way we look at failure. Don’t think of it as a personal affair. Let yourself fail. It’s ok to be rejected. It’s okay for an idea to bomb.

Take failure as a lesson, and don’t let anyone bring you down. Good ideas and bad ideas are born from the same attempt, so never hesitate to try something new.

Part of being comfortable making mistakes is allowing others to share their ideas without judgement. It’s fine if others don’t think like you. That’s actually the value of working in a team. Different opinions don’t have to lead to conflict. That’s part of the journey, and it can lead to innovation.

And that’s it! I personally think that one of the biggest takeaways is as simple as just asking and being clear about what you want from your team, your friends, and everyone in your life.

I felt inspired and motivated listening to these talks. It really gives perspective when you consider your personal accomplishments as just a part of life’s journey. Do not forget who you are in order to get where you want to go.

I hope this will give you some food for thought, merci d’avoir lu jusqu’au bout !

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