How These Four Women Have Made Their Mark in STEM

With notable exceptions—thank you, Madam Vice President—the glass ceiling is a reality across all workplaces. And perhaps there are few with such glaring gender disparities as the industries in STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In fact, although women make up half the workforce in the United States, they occupy just 27% of STEM jobs, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Such stats inspired OLAY to launch #FacetheSTEMgap campaign. The social initiative, which debuted in 2020, aims to help double the number of women and triple the number of women of color working in STEM by 2030. “For more than 65 years, superior science has been at the core of all we do at OLAY. But it also goes beyond the lab—women from all STEM disciplines are critical to our brand—from IT to business analysts and more. OLAY recognizes the importance of gender equality in STEM, and as a brand of our size, we have a responsibility to help make this change,” explains Nicole Draznik, communications director at OLAY.

To champion this cause, OLAY is highlighting four remarkable women. Here, they share their stories, passions, and insights into working in STEM. Here, they talk to us.

Julie Daniels

Raven Baxter, Ph.D., molecular biologist and STEM educator

“I literally imagined myself in a lab coat as I was growing up,” says Dr. Baxter, also known as The Science Maven. Despite knowing what she wanted to pursue from a young age, she ran into obstacles when trying to pursue her dream—such as the implicit biases against women of color, for starters. “I can’t imagine anyone who is marginalized hasn’t felt at least somewhat isolated in educational and work situations, but the most jarring was definitely when I had just begun a job and had a fellow staff member threaten to call the cops on me because I ‘didn’t look like a scientist,” she recounts.

Then, there was the pervasive stereotype that women are more emotional than men, which Dr. Baxter points to as a significant factor in the lack of women in STEM. “Of course, that’s not true, but it’s so ingrained into our culture, some women actually buy into that theory and don’t aspire to their greatest potential as a result,” she says.

I can’t imagine anyone who is marginalized hasn’t felt at least somewhat isolated in educational and work situations.

Now established in her career, Dr. Baxter’s goal is to show women that there’s so much more to STEM than the traditional industries, like big-tech. “Many disciplines can benefit from scientific and mathematical minds,” she says. Skincare, for example, is at the forefront of scientific research. “With numerous people trusting the health of their skin with OLAY, it’s so important that there are women involved in the science behind the products.” Who better to know what women want from their skincare products than, well, women?

OLAY

Emily Calandrelli, executive producer of Netflix’s Xploration Outer Space and Emily’s Wonder Lab

For Calandrelli, an engineer and author of Reach for the Stars, OLAY’s emphasis on STEM is a no-brainer. “The brand aims to create a world in which women can look and feel their best so that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to,” says Calandrelli. “Part of this goal requires taking steps to create a world in which women are given equal opportunities to succeed,” she adds.

Calandrelli discovered the need for more women in STEM when she began studying engineering at MIT. “Any time you walk into a room where the vast majority of people are unlike you, you feel like you might have walked into the wrong room,” she says. It didn’t alter her goals, but it did make the path to reach them harder than it had to be—she had a tougher time getting the same quality one-on-one time with mentors than her male peers, for instance.

Any time you walk into a room where the vast majority of people are unlike you, you feel like you might have walked into the wrong room.

As a result, her focus these days is on attracting girls to STEM fields in thoughtful ways. “All too often we see STEM careers sold as this isolated endeavor of a single genius working by themselves toward a ‘Eureka!’ moment,” Calandrelli says. “Kids hear stories of tech geniuses becoming billionaires because of the next hot technology and may be inclined to think that this is what STEM has to offer.” Her goal is to change this narrative, so it no longer feels unique for girls to love STEM.

OLAY

Keiana Cavé, entrepreneur and scientist

Cavé sees OLAY’s #FacetheSTEMgap campaign as a game-changer—and one she hopes will pave the way for others. “Without this type of guidance, I wouldn’t have been empowered to pursue STEM myself,” says Cavé, who developed a toxin-detecting molecule when she was a teenager.

And she’s seen firsthand how the STEM gap can play out. “Only 3% of my 14,000 person engineering school were people of color, and women of color made up only 0.2%,” she recalls. And she was singled out during her freshman year as “the molecule girl” by a group of classmates, who were surprised that she didn’t fit the typical engineer stereotype.

Despite the inequities, she has managed an impressive impact in STEM. And she was inspired by her teenage experience with hormonal birth control. After seeing three doctors to figure out the cause of her nausea and mood swings, the fourth finally realized that her birth control was to blame. This was alarming, especially because no one educated me about the pill before I started taking it,” says Cavé. “Depleting our bodies of the hormones we need to function properly should not be the most effective way to prevent pregnancy—or ‘solve’ other issues like heavy periods—so I decided to combine my love for solving STEM-related problems with my frustration towards the birth control industry to create Sublima.” This venture is a female-led pharmaceutical startup working on developing the first non-hormonal contraceptive pill in the U.S.

Now at the helm of her own company, her goal is to provide access to healthier and safer women’s health products, making it clear the impact that women in STEM can have on the world.

OLAY

Estefannie Gutierrez de la Garza, software engineer

“We all interact with programmed devices at every second of the day, whether it is a phone or a microwave,” says Gutierrez de la Garza. That gives it an outsized influence compared to other fields, which is why the gender gap in STEM is so concerning. I believe that women’s representation in tech can help create better solutions to real-world problems for everyone,” she says.

The more advanced the classes, the fewer women [were in them]. I was the only woman in my classroom by my senior year.

For a long time, Gutierrez de la Garza didn’t even realize STEM was an option she could choose. “I didn’t know any engineers or scientists growing up—definitely not women. I thought I wanted to be [a pop star],” she says. As she got older, her attention shifted from her musical icons to the noticeable female underrepresentation in STEM. “The more advanced the classes, the fewer women [were in them],” says Gutierrez de la Garza. “I was the only woman in my classroom by my senior year.”

At university, she started the computer science girls club, a safe space for women in tech majors. Now, working as a software engineer—and at times the only one in the building who’s a woman of color—she still feels the difference. It is such a strange feeling to feel so different from everyone else,” Gutierrez de la Garza says. [But] I no longer feel the need to prove anything to anyone — and have been enjoying science and engineering like I thought it would be like when I was a student.”

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How These Four Women Have Made Their Mark in STEM
Source: Filipino Journal Articles