“This is a story for all of the girls growing up in small towns, and all of the adults with the privilege of mentoring them. I grew up in rural Oklahoma, my graduating class had less than 30 people in it. When you grow up like that, you're sent a lot of messages about what a scientist can be, and told that it definitely can't be you. I'm here to tell you that you're exactly who science needs right now. I was a smart kid growing up, and did better in the STEM-related classes than a lot of the other kids in my class. In 5th grade, a boy's mom yelled at me after an awards ceremony for getting better grades than her son. She said there was no way that I actually did better than him. When I got a bit older, adults started telling me that while me being smart had been cute when I was younger, no boys would want to date a girl who was smarter than them. One of my first boyfriends asked me to lie about my grades around his friends so he seemed smarter. I would tell people that I wanted to become a doctor, and everyone would ask me if I wouldn't rather be a nurse, because male-dominated fields are just too difficult for girls. So, how does one girl overcome all of this negative messaging? How do you grow up hearing that you can never be a scientist, and if you do manage it you'll never be worthy of companionship, and still become a strong female scientist anyway? You can't do it on your own. I couldn't. My junior year of highschool, just as I was getting discouraged about science and starting to believe that I would never make it, one of my teachers took me under his wing. He introduced me to other women who had done amazing things, who were successful in their fields. Women who could mentor me. These women became, and still are, my support system. When I become convinced that a woman could never make it in this field, I looked to them. I asked them for advice on how they had handled these situations long before I was born. They provided me with a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, and arms to lift me up whenever I needed them. That is the importance of having mentors who look like you and have lived your experience. Thanks to the help and support of those amazing women, I am now a neuroscientist who is able to pass along that same mentorship to other women looking to get into STEM. It is a long and difficult road, but with the right companions the journey can be amazing.”