It’s been a year since I was part of the HerVoice podcast interview with the UN organization Girl Up, specifically the Girl Up Texas chapter, to discuss the topic of building inclusive cultures and gender equity. I was reminded of this interview recently because I sometimes catch up and run into students and they surprise me by sharing that they listened to this podcast.
I had the pleasure of speaking with a talented high school student and Girl Up co-coalition leader Willow Miller about my circuitous journey into academia, the sciences, and now diversity and inclusion work. First off, I applaud the young women who created this podcast series as part of their leadership efforts to contribute to the conversation on gender equity. When I was in high school, I was painfully shy and quiet, so far away from engaging in conversations regarding women’s voice and or even my own voice. So, this is all to say, that I was so impressed by the smart questions that Willow brought to the interview and the poise in which she carried the conversation. Hats off to these young ladies of the Girl Up Texas Triangle organization for creating and producing a podcast that shines a light on many different women’s journeys to finding their paths and voices. I highly recommend you check out the entire podcast series!
If you’d like to listen to my interview, I’ve embedded the Spotify link below. One of the reasons why I decided to post it is that as someone who has benefitted greatly from having strong professional women as mentors–from my PhD advisors Paula Moya and Michele Elam to more recently my work mentors Paula Welander and Amy Balsom–I now have the great honor to help impart some of the wisdom that I’ve learned to the next generation of students. There is power in sharing your story even if you think that people are not listening. Even if it’s just one person who connects to your story and feels less alone because of it, that makes the sharing all worth it.
xoxo,
LC
Critical Chica 