Successfully maintaining a healthy work-life balance while pursuing my dream career as a Rehabilitation Engineer creating prostheses for those from underrepresented backgrounds.

I’ve been a creator all my life. Whether it be the building I made from Legos when I was 6, the underwater robot I built when I was 13, or the mechanical arm I programmed in the tenth grade, I’ve always loved watching the things I imagined being brought to life. With my love for hands-on creation in mind, it wasn’t hard to figure out I wanted to pursue a career in STEM. I picked Bioengineering as my major after a project I did over the summer after tenth grade. I had the opportunity to work on a team to create an assistive device for a little girl who was bound to her wheelchair. We created a tool to help simulate dribbling because she didn’t have the dexterity to make sure the ball came back to her. Watching her use our device changed my life. Seeing the joy and excitement on her face made me incredibly happy and left me feeling proud of myself. I knew from that moment that this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. From here I was able to pick a career in Rehabilitation Engineering. It’s my goal to become a Rehabilitation Engineer specializing in creating prosthetic limbs with a focus on kids and those from marginalized backgrounds. Working with kids was a huge part of my life growing up. My mom ran a daycare when I was younger, and I’ve worked in childcare for the past 6 years. As a part of the black community, I’ve had first-hand experience with the healthcare disparities that we face in terms of quality of care. I believe with my career I can bring more awareness to this demographic and make them a priority within my field. Growing up wanting to go into a STEM field, there weren't a lot of people that looked like me for me to look up to in my field. I want to be able to be that role model that I didn’t get to have when I first got into STEM. This is my biggest motivation for wanting a career in STEM. I’m very grateful for the experiences I was exposed to when I was younger, and I want to be able to give back in the same way. As a part of my career, I want to implement programs in my community to help introduce more girls of color to STEM. As the world of STEM grows, I want to make sure that the diversity of the field grows with it. It’s important to me that I introduce these programs to my community because that’s what kickstarted my involvement in STEM and I would love to be able to do that for other young kids who might not get the opportunity otherwise. With this as my career, I’m able to pair my passions with my interests while giving back to my community.