Women in Science- 2

We had our second Women in Science meeting, this time to discuss Networking. This was another success- there were about 10 ppl, a good size for chatting, many of them new from last time. I felt like I learned a lot (since I didn't lead this session), and I am already starting to see the fruits of this thing. You wouldn't think that spending 1.5 hrs once a month would make much of a difference to yoru career, but it does. After the evening discussion, several of the women from lab wanted to hear about what happened, so we had secondary discussion- 3 or 4 of us, 3 or 4 times- more ideas, more imput, and more support. I like to imagine other people are doing this too. Awesome.

The other big boost is the change in the way people think of me. Perhaps because I am semi-regularly spamming no less than 33 ppls inboxes, but I am suddenly the career person. Did I tell you about the email I got from one of my committee members? After I had gone to discuss with him my ambitions to work in policy, he forwarded me a career newsletter with a note that said "Since you think about your career you might like this." He works surrounded by people who would willingly commit 10+ years to their post-secondary education, but I am the only one he thinks of as thinking about her career. I also got an email from the director of an undergraduate program that regularly invites speakers from off campus to talk to the undergrads about different career oppurtunities, and she asked me if I might like to have lunch and meetings with this weeks speakers. Yes! I suppose that if I could more reliably harness this network magic, I could give my whole persona and overhaul. As is it, I am very pleased with the way things are headed.