Greetings, I am Kaiya LaRue, a third-year industrial engineering student currently attending Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. Industrial engineering has been a passion of mine since I was 10 years old and I will one day work for a theme park industry, planning and coordinating with other like-minded engineers to help improve the experience for guests at theme parks. It is my belief that more women of color are needed in this male-dominated field of STEM. More importantly, the younger generation needs role models who can represent them in STEM careers. Women and people of color who enter the STEM field are inventors and change agents who see the world from a different lens Someone who made a big influence on my life is mathematician Katherine Johnson. Katherine Johnson has been an inspiration for me ever since I learned about her during Black History Month when I was in the fifth grade. An African-American mathematician who helped NASA send a man into orbit invigorated me, even though my focus is not on aeronautical calculations. Either way, she inspires me to pursue mathematics since my current major is math-heavy, she makes me feel confident in moments when I question if I made the right academic choice. Finally seeing her story along with Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson in the movie "Hidden Figures" made me understand how impactful Katherine Johnson’s story has been on me, how monumental my work could be in history, and how others may look up to me like I do with Katherine Johnson. When I was younger, my parents would take my family and me to theme parks like Universal Studios and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. At the age of 10, we flew to California and went to Disney's California Adventure located in Anaheim. A rollercoaster in California Adventure birthed my fascination for roller coasters, that being California Screamin’ (now referred to as the Incredicoaster). When we got home, I kept watching YouTube videos of the roller coaster and started sketching out my roller coaster designs. That Christmas, I got Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 as one of my presents and played it on any computer I could get my hands on. Moments like these in my childhood made me realize becoming an engineer was something I am extremely passionate about. Katherine Johnson emphasizing how important it is to enjoy your work has been the final stepping stone in me ensuring that becoming an industrial engineer is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Lastly, my work in a STEM career could be inspirational to someone, just like Katherine Johnson is inspirational to me. The presence of women, especially African-American women, in STEM careers has been obscure in history, but the promotion of STEM to women has caused an increase in the interest of careers such as engineering, biology, and food science. Overall, there hasn’t been and there aren’t a lot of women in STEM careers, so if my work as an industrial engineer could inspire another girl to enter into engineering or any STEM career would inspire me to continue. Currently, that is my goal, to continue to study hard to become an industrial engineer. In conclusion, the importance of influential people in your life is detrimental to whether you will be able to succeed in your future and have the correct motivation to pursue a career. Some people will pursue engineering or medical fields due to the high salary, but I want to be the motivation for kids just like me, passionate about their interest and excited to change the world.