Good Mentors give you wings

I was 8 years old when my brother suffered a traumatic brain injury. I saw him laying in the ICU covered in bandages and it was in that moment I had made up my mind to become a neurosurgeon so I could cure him. As I progressed through school biology was one of my favorite subjects, how living things functioned fascinated me. I imagined myself being a doctor curing disease, as I got older I realized there was a lot more to science than being a medical professional.

I graduated university with a bachelors in biology and dreamed of working in biotechnology solving world problems in a lab, but as life would have it I got married had kids and moved cities. The desire I had to work in biotechnology still burned bright within me and as luck would have it I moved to San Francisco the hub of biotechnology. Surprisingly I was unaware of all this until a friend mentioned it to me and told me about biotechnology certificate programs offered at community colleges I could benefit from.

I found out about the stem cell certification offered through City College San Francisco and enrolled for the certification as luck would have it the city of San Francisco made city college free for all its residence, so now I was able to get a world class education without spending any money except those in taxes of course. Through the college I participated in speed networking events and met with all sorts of science professionals working in different fields, some were doing world class bench science in academic labs others were the masters of their field in startups. I met scientist managing labs, working in marketing and project management and other diverse fields which make up the broader arena of the biotechnology landscape.

At these networking events I met many women scientists and I started to believe that I too could one day work in a lab. I found my first amazing mentors in one of my instructors, I liked her the instance I saw her the first time, she had so much enthusiasm and energy. I loved how well organized she was and so driven. She too is a mom and I thought hey she is doing it with kids, so I can too. I have been very fortunate to have had her as my instructor and mentor who has guided me, whom I confided in when I was going through tough times at home or stressing about assignments.

Through the college I was also able to do an internship it was during the course of that internship I realized the importance of good mentors. I unfortunately got teamed with a mentor who was overwhelmed with his own project and told me point blank that he was not interested in teaching me as I would need a lot of training and he could not invest that kind of time in me. I was very driven and passionate to succeed so I still tried to continue the project I was given, every time I made a mistake my mentor would get very upset and tell me I must have done something wrong and I did not have what it took to be a good scientist. In the same lab there was a graduate student, I was not his mentee but he took the time to sit with me and explain things to me. He told me that I did have what it took to be a scientist and I will make it one day.

This year I decided to start looking for work and I was fortunate to find an internship through city college at a startup working on finding a cure to Parkinson’s disease. I had always wanted to work in neuroscience so I was elated to be part of a team of leading scientist. I started to work in operations and here again I got lucky with a fantastic mentor who believed in me, guided me with patience and taught me the ropes to running a lab and setting up a lab from scratch. I got hired to work at Nitromebiosciences in operations and also to get training in tissue and cell culture.

After my experience in my previous internship I was a hot mess during my first few times in the tissue culture lab I would get super nervous and end up making silly mistakes. Both my mentors reassured me that it was ok, we all make mistakes. One of my amazing mentors said to me, the most important thing a person needs to have is passion, if one is driven I know they will learn. No one comes into the field knowing it all. Hearing that gave me a lot of courage, I decided I will give it my best shot and do my best. One of the biggest difference this time round has been the amazing mentorship and instruction I am receiving. The support and the belief in my capabilities. Now when I mess up and make a mistake I do not get yelled at or told I cannot do it, instead my mentor walks me through the technique again, we trouble shoot the issues together and try new strategies. I am encouraged and supported. Validated when I do something well and guided when I make a mistake. In the worlds of my amazing mentor as long as a person has curiosity and are driven they will do good science.

Thank you to all my amazing mentors, I feel I am closer to reaching my life long dream of contributing to science and to find cure to disease because you took the time to teach me and support me.

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