A career in science is hard, especially for women, but it is not impossible. A mentor once told me that when we met to discuss my career choices in science. It’s been over a decade since I decided to pursue a career as a researcher. With all its ups and downs, navigating the science world as a young girl and now as a woman, has been rewarding. I won’t sugarcoat it—it’s tough. But I am grateful to have met wonderful people who have helped me thrive in this journey. They are my mentors.   

To celebrate a decade of Women and Girls in Science Day, I’m sharing my thoughts and experiences on how mentorship can help shape a better future for women and girls in science.

Your first mentor creates a first impression

People say the first experience of doing something creates lasting memories. This is very true for science. I still remember vividly how my high school biology teacher—who then became my first science mentor—made a puzzle to help us learn the glycolysis cycle in a fun way. At that moment, I fell in love with science and found joy in learning it, which led me to my path today. I was lucky.

For many young girls, their first bite of science is in a high school or an undergraduate research program. From my experience, it is not uncommon to see them land in a lab that’s unprepared to mentor young people. Even worse, some young women won’t have a chance to get into a program. Many end up not having a good science experience, which slowly discourages them from pursuing a science degree or career.

If young girls have more equal opportunities to experience science in a positive way and have mentors prepared to guide them, they will have a better foundation to grow and flourish in the sciences.  

Finding the right mentoring team

In my doctoral training, I was fortunate to enroll in several mentoring programs. The main lessons I learned as a mentee were that you need to have a goal, and you should pick the right mentor. What I mean by the “right mentor” is someone who can help you to achieve your goals.

As a mentee, it’s important to build a mentoring team. In traditional scientific training, your first mentors are usually your advisory team, which consists of senior researchers in the field. While this scientific mentorship is critical, having multiple mentors outside this primary circle can be beneficial to your career. Those additional mentors can be your peers, practitioners or scientists from different fields. Having a mentoring team helps broaden your perspective in tackling challenges.

A great mentor creates future mentors

As I progress in my career, my role as a mentee has gradually transitioned to becoming a mentor myself. As a postdoc, I receive mentoring from my principal investigator, but I also have learned to mentor an undergraduate student. Being a mentor is challenging and a lifelong learning process. I mostly reflect on my own mentorship experience to understand how to be a mentor. I wish mentorship training was as widely available as writing or leadership training, because it is a critical skill to have.    

In the U.S., women contribute to 35% of STEM workforce. Fewer hold senior positions in science where they mentor younger women and girls. In the future, as scientists, we can’t rely solely on this “women advocate for women” approach. It is everyone’s responsibility to advocate for equality and equity in science, creating a better future for women.

My overall advice for women and girls is: Find a great mentor who will be your biggest cheerleader. Choose someone who will help you be who you are and go where you want to be, not mold you into who they think you should become and where you should be. Find people who will support and guide you in making the impossible possible. And later, be one of them.