[Applause]
good evening I am an advocate for
science technology engineering and math
careers in particular I am passionate
about women and Latinas building and
growing stem companies why stem because
to me stem is everywhere it is in
everything that we do the US Bureau of
Labor and Statistics states that there
are 2.6 million job openings now and
between now and 2020 for and that figure
is gonna continue to grow by 13% until
2026 now I looked at that number and I
thought to myself alright the u.s.
population is 51% women twenty percent
of those women are Latinas we’re gonna
women in stem have gone down the number
of women in stem has gone down since the
90s
currently 25% of the stem workforce are
women and of those women Latinas make up
[Music]
1.9 percent no wonder no wonder I felt
alone to give you an idea let me take
you through my Sam journey I was raised
by a father who immigrated from Chile
and a mother who was born and raised in
Puerto Rico it was a spanish-speaking
multicultural household they raised my
younger brother and me in Union City New
Jersey it is the second most densely
populated city in the u.s. I attended
public school from kindergarten all the
way through twelfth grade and through
hard work dedication and a community of
support I beat the odds and was accepted
to MIT I graduated with a degree in
civil engineering and I went on to work
in construction management I worked on
projects in Boston New York City and
then I came back to my hometown of Union
City to work on some projects there the
project that I am most proud of was in
Union City and it is the Union City High
School project 375 thousand square feet
it took 176 million dollars to build it
and did I mention that Union City is the
second most densely populated city in
the u.s. there’s no space to build so we
pretty cool right it’s won numerous
awards Sports Illustrated even named it
one of the top ten high school football
fields in the nation my story is not
unique there are many other women who
have accomplished just as much or even
more than I have but we feel a
we feel like we’re the only ones as the
project manager for that project I was
the only female manager in my company
and I felt it I felt it every single day
I had to prove myself every single day I
was given reason to quit every single
day but I stuck it out I built another
building and then I went on to start my
own company and a non-profit I believe
there are many more young women out
there that have the math and science
ability to succeed but do not have the
blueprint on how to get there so what is
the blueprint funny you should ask
I actually have it and it starts with a
strong foundation just like any other
building and that foundation comes from
within the individual every single
person has to have two things you have
to be able to stay on your daily it is a
term that my business partner and I
coined and that means that you make sure
you prepare every single day so that you
are never cold
you’re never cold and you’re always on
point the second thing is mental
toughness now this is a tough one
because many people are afflicted with
self-doubt or that impostor syndrome and
what I found is that especially women
all the women I have spoken to across
the country that are in STEM fields have
self-doubt remember that graduation
picture I showed you where I’m holding
look at what I’m doing and look at what
my family is doing I am looking at my
degree for the 20th time that day to
check if that in fact is my name on the
degree I had zero reason to doubt that
was my degree I did everything right
I met all the requirements I was ready
to graduate and yet that day I couldn’t
believe it I still couldn’t believe it
now I didn’t let that doubt hold me back
I got through that that self-doubt does
creep up every once in a while but I
keep it at bay and I do that by staying
on my daily and being tough because I
wouldn’t have managed that project if I
allowed that self-doubt get the best of
me so I say to you to have a strong
foundation believe in yourself and stay
on your daily the next part of the
blueprint and this is for many people
but it is true for Latinos family and
friends family and friends sometimes
come first for us but I’m telling you
today that they can’t they have to be
second first as you and to the family
and friends that are here if a loved one
is pursuing a stem career support them
and support the vision that they have
for themselves not the vision that you
have for them the vision that they have
for themselves don’t know how to support
them ask might just be listening maybe
that’s all they need maybe it’s just you
just understanding what it is that they
next is at the educational level I
encourage everyone who’s an educator to
teach a growth mindset what’s the growth
mindset it’s staying on your daily it is
teaching students that through hard work
and dedication they can achieve their
goals mentorship be a mentor if you are
in a stem field if you are in college
and studying a stem field mentor a
younger student your professor mentor a
student if you’re a professional mentor
another professional and I encourage you
to mentor a woman all of my mentors have
been men and the mentor that gave me the
best advice was that first mentor I had
when I started my career he gave me the
best piece of the leadership advice I’ve
ever received which is teach someone
else everything you know teach them
everything you know and allow them to
help you to grow he also taught me to
never be cold to always prepare the man
was teaching me to say in my daily
colleagues one of the issues that women
have and one of the main reasons women
leave the field of stem are the
challenges they face at work from
harassment sexism racism and what I have
the solution to all of those issues is
respect
we got to respect our colleagues women
are your colleagues you’re working
together you’re collaborating together
you should all be working towards the
same mission therefore all you need to
finally leaders if you’re a leader
leader of an organization leader of a
company corporation your own business
and you say that you are all for
diversity and inclusion and you do not
have a single woman by your side that
you listen to whose advice you take then
you are not about diversity and
inclusion to be a supporter of diversity
and inclusion means you need to listen
to women you need to listen and
implement their ideas don’t just bring
on board a woman and not listen to her
don’t just do the PR thing and show off
hey look my board has all these women
look at them lives in this grade I’m all
about diversity and inclusion and you
don’t listen to a single one of their
ideas listen to their ideas implementing
take the risk that’s what you got into
business so my call to action to all of
you here tonight is to find yourself in
the blueprint and do your part to help
us grow the number of women and Latinas in STEM fields thank you
good evening I am an advocate for
science technology engineering and math
careers in particular I am passionate
about women and Latinas building and
growing stem companies why stem because
to me stem is everywhere it is in
everything that we do the US Bureau of
Labor and Statistics states that there
are 2.6 million job openings now and
between now and 2020 for and that figure
is gonna continue to grow by 13% until
2026 now I looked at that number and I
thought to myself alright the u.s.
population is 51% women twenty percent
of those women are Latinas we’re gonna
women in stem have gone down the number
of women in stem has gone down since the
90s
currently 25% of the stem workforce are
women and of those women Latinas make up
[Music]
1.9 percent no wonder no wonder I felt
alone to give you an idea let me take
you through my Sam journey I was raised
by a father who immigrated from Chile
and a mother who was born and raised in
Puerto Rico it was a spanish-speaking
multicultural household they raised my
younger brother and me in Union City New
Jersey it is the second most densely
populated city in the u.s. I attended
public school from kindergarten all the
way through twelfth grade and through
hard work dedication and a community of
support I beat the odds and was accepted
to MIT I graduated with a degree in
civil engineering and I went on to work
in construction management I worked on
projects in Boston New York City and
then I came back to my hometown of Union
City to work on some projects there the
project that I am most proud of was in
Union City and it is the Union City High
School project 375 thousand square feet
it took 176 million dollars to build it
and did I mention that Union City is the
second most densely populated city in
the u.s. there’s no space to build so we
pretty cool right it’s won numerous
awards Sports Illustrated even named it
one of the top ten high school football
fields in the nation my story is not
unique there are many other women who
have accomplished just as much or even
more than I have but we feel a
we feel like we’re the only ones as the
project manager for that project I was
the only female manager in my company
and I felt it I felt it every single day
I had to prove myself every single day I
was given reason to quit every single
day but I stuck it out I built another
building and then I went on to start my
own company and a non-profit I believe
there are many more young women out
there that have the math and science
ability to succeed but do not have the
blueprint on how to get there so what is
the blueprint funny you should ask
I actually have it and it starts with a
strong foundation just like any other
building and that foundation comes from
within the individual every single
person has to have two things you have
to be able to stay on your daily it is a
term that my business partner and I
coined and that means that you make sure
you prepare every single day so that you
are never cold
you’re never cold and you’re always on
point the second thing is mental
toughness now this is a tough one
because many people are afflicted with
self-doubt or that impostor syndrome and
what I found is that especially women
all the women I have spoken to across
the country that are in STEM fields have
self-doubt remember that graduation
picture I showed you where I’m holding
look at what I’m doing and look at what
my family is doing I am looking at my
degree for the 20th time that day to
check if that in fact is my name on the
degree I had zero reason to doubt that
was my degree I did everything right
I met all the requirements I was ready
to graduate and yet that day I couldn’t
believe it I still couldn’t believe it
now I didn’t let that doubt hold me back
I got through that that self-doubt does
creep up every once in a while but I
keep it at bay and I do that by staying
on my daily and being tough because I
wouldn’t have managed that project if I
allowed that self-doubt get the best of
me so I say to you to have a strong
foundation believe in yourself and stay
on your daily the next part of the
blueprint and this is for many people
but it is true for Latinos family and
friends family and friends sometimes
come first for us but I’m telling you
today that they can’t they have to be
second first as you and to the family
and friends that are here if a loved one
is pursuing a stem career support them
and support the vision that they have
for themselves not the vision that you
have for them the vision that they have
for themselves don’t know how to support
them ask might just be listening maybe
that’s all they need maybe it’s just you
just understanding what it is that they
next is at the educational level I
encourage everyone who’s an educator to
teach a growth mindset what’s the growth
mindset it’s staying on your daily it is
teaching students that through hard work
and dedication they can achieve their
goals mentorship be a mentor if you are
in a stem field if you are in college
and studying a stem field mentor a
younger student your professor mentor a
student if you’re a professional mentor
another professional and I encourage you
to mentor a woman all of my mentors have
been men and the mentor that gave me the
best advice was that first mentor I had
when I started my career he gave me the
best piece of the leadership advice I’ve
ever received which is teach someone
else everything you know teach them
everything you know and allow them to
help you to grow he also taught me to
never be cold to always prepare the man
was teaching me to say in my daily
colleagues one of the issues that women
have and one of the main reasons women
leave the field of stem are the
challenges they face at work from
harassment sexism racism and what I have
the solution to all of those issues is
respect
we got to respect our colleagues women
are your colleagues you’re working
together you’re collaborating together
you should all be working towards the
same mission therefore all you need to
finally leaders if you’re a leader
leader of an organization leader of a
company corporation your own business
and you say that you are all for
diversity and inclusion and you do not
have a single woman by your side that
you listen to whose advice you take then
you are not about diversity and
inclusion to be a supporter of diversity
and inclusion means you need to listen
to women you need to listen and
implement their ideas don’t just bring
on board a woman and not listen to her
don’t just do the PR thing and show off
hey look my board has all these women
look at them lives in this grade I’m all
about diversity and inclusion and you
don’t listen to a single one of their
ideas listen to their ideas implementing
take the risk that’s what you got into
business so my call to action to all of
you here tonight is to find yourself in
the blueprint and do your part to help
us grow the number of women and Latinas in STEM fields thank you
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