To be quite honest, no certain individual motivated me to pursue a career in technology. From my youth to the present, I have been my own source of drive and influence. I grew up with two elder sisters who went into the field of business, and a father who dropped out of college to become a full-time alcoholic! Aside from the jokes, I was entirely on my own when it came to determining a career path. I knew I couldn't ask anyone in my family for help because while my mother couldn't even speak English, my sisters would push me to work it out on my own. So, I did. Though it was difficult to choose a career pathway, I always figured it would be in the technology industry. I'm not sure what it is, but I've always had a fascination for it. The first aspect of the computer profession that I encountered was the notion of coding, which felt like entering a new universe to me. I had to learn a brand new language that I had never heard of before. I had always known that I wanted to strive for something challenging, but this was something quite different. This was something I had seen "clever geeks" do in movies and yet, I never imagined I'd be one of those clever "nerds" later in life. The sensation of achieving something entirely on my own was indescribable, and I craved more. Although no one in my household could assist me with any of my tech studies, tech job path, or whatever it was, it no longer seemed like a loss, but rather a big accomplishment. I finally learned something on my own, without the assistance of others. I discovered something that my family was unaware of, and now it was my turn to help them and pay it forward. This encounter gave me a crucial lesson that strengthened my passion for the technology field. I learned a variety of abilities, like trust, patience, and confidence, which helped me to become an independent woman and recognize my own value. My passion for technology allowed me to realize that even if I could never receive any help from those around me, I could still always rely on myself and my resources. As a student majoring in Computer Information Systems at Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business, with a GPA of 3.940 and approaching her junior year, I couldn't be more grateful for the life lessons I've learned as a result of my fascination for technology. As a result of these teachings, I continued to push myself by enrolling in the Cybersecurity & Cloud Computing Fellowship Program with America on Tech & NBCUniversal. I was definitely challenged, and there were times when I felt like I wasn't up to the task, but then I reminded myself of how far I'd gone. I am not stopping anytime soon. I will continue to be greater.

The simple answer is, that I want to take on a challenge. In the first Software Engineering course I took in my sophomore year of high school, I fell in love with the tech field yet absolutely despised it at the same time; it was a mixture of sweet and sour. While I did not understand the majority of the content, there was some voice in my head forcing me to teach myself all the concepts. Though programming and debugging code had me ripping my hair out some days, I still felt like I was being tugged in. In other words, there was something telling me to just keep going forward and not to give up. As I listened to this voice in my head over the years, I ended up majoring in Computer Information Systems while also joining numerous tech-related fellowships in which I learned to love the challenge. I realized it wasn't the technology nor the programming that I hated, but it was the idea of being stuck. I was afraid to be confused and feared that I was not good enough for this. But what I feared more was giving up a challenge because the guilt sat in my head. Over the years, I learned to love the challenge and the feeling of success after I fixed an issue that I was stuck on. STEM has always been a mainly male-dominated field. As not only a woman but one of color, it is almost impossible to feel accepted into places where I feel I do not belong. Through my experiences in tech programs, there had been times when I was paired with an all-male group. Not only did I feel belittled in that group, but I felt bad for the women who were the only females in their technology jobs and also felt excluded. As someone who speaks out for what they believe is wrong, I ended up speaking about my feelings to my group which I finally felt heard for the first time. Additionally, my CIS class is male-dominant, which is extremely upsetting as I am never surrounded by women's STEM majors. I hope to raise awareness of this dilemma that is not spoken about as it should. I want to make sure that every single woman is comfortable in a room full of men and knows that her ideas are still just as important. Though realistically, I might not be able to influence numerous women to join the STEM field to adjust the statistics, I can, however, shed light on this topic and pour confidence in women who feel alone in a crowded room.