I had the privilege of speaking on Tesla's first diversity panel at a UC Berkeley luncheon. After the panel, undergraduate and graduate engineering students stayed an extra hour to connect with us one-on-one. They described our honest conversations about our journeys as "inspirational." Not a single person was on their phone.
When you show up authentically, the right people are drawn to your message. I'll never forget when a student who had been in foster care thanked me for creating spaces where people could feel seen. A few others even picked up a copy of my book.
Being seen is a powerful experience.
We had the honor of engaging with the following groups:
- Black Graduate Engineering and Science Students (BGESS)
- American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
- Black Engineering and Science Student Association(BESSA)
- Graduate Women of Engineering (GWE)
- Hispanic Engineers and Scientists (HES)
- Latino/a Association for Graduate Students in Engineering and Sciences (LAGSES)
- Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (OSTEM)
- Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
- Women in Computer Science and Engineering (WICSE)