“In college I decided that I wanted to teach biology. I was the head teaching assistant and everything. I was told that if I wanted to teach at the college level, which I did, then I should get a PhD. No one in my immediate family had a PhD, and as far as I know, no one in my entire family history has ever gotten a PhD. I didn’t feel that I could afford it because I thought of post-graduate degrees as expensive, but when I found out that you got paid to do science PhDs, that made a huge difference. So I ended up actually applying, getting accepted to a few graduate programs, and starting my career as a scientist. 

During graduate school and now in my postdoc, I've had great mentors. They've been attentive, generous with their time, knowledgeable, and invested in promoting my development as a scientist. None of them have been black. And that creates this additional limitation to how much they can relate to my experience in science and how specifically they can advise me on navigating my career. It also contributes to the imposter syndrome I've felt for the majority of my career. 

As soon as I started grad school I was behind. This is a fact; I just didn't have the research experience that the majority of my classmates did and I was worried about how that reflected on me as the only black student in my cohort. Navigating the feeling of being an imposter under the spotlight that is often placed on trainees from underrepresented groups is challenging. In ten years, I plan to have my own lab to teach and mentor students. I’m glad that I’ll have the chance to help people who—like I did—might question whether they belong in the sciences.”