March is Women’s History Month—a topic that is extremely pertinent in the laboratory as women in STEM continue to fight for inclusivity and diversity in the workplace.
Although many countries are actively working toward these goals, current data shows that—around the world—women account for only 24% of the STEM workforce. What’s more, the gender wage gap between men and women in STEM professions stands at $15,000.
Still, there are many women in STEM who have fought their way to the top through education, mentorship, tenacity and a commitment to science and the people it serves.
In recognition of this, Labcompare recently spoke with Corena Grant and Serena Cervantes, two female field application specialists at Molecular Devices, to shed a light on what they—and other women in STEM—have gone through and continue to go through in a male-dominated field.
Q: What was your journey to get to where you are in your career now?
Cervantes: When I was 7-years-old, I watched Jurassic Park, and when they explained the genetic engineering of frog DNA to make dinosaurs, I knew I wanted to be a scientist. UC Riverside was the closest university, and there I received a BS in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology. As an undergrad, I worked in a lab researching worms. Unfortunately, I was horrible at cloning, but I ended up falling in love with microscopy. As a graduate student, I studied the human malaria parasite and started working with high-content imaging systems. Then I was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellow at UC San Diego studying vesicle trafficking in yeast. After overseeing the purchasing of capital equipment, a technical sales rep suggested being a Field Application Scientist in industry. Shortly after, a recruiter contacted me for a live cell monitoring system called the IncuCyte. Then I “company jumped” several times, gaining more knowledge in the drug discovery high content screening field until finding the right fit with Molecular Devices.
Grant: My education and career path may seem linear on paper, but it was far from that. During undergrad, I became enamored of research and bench science and worked in a lab from my third semester onward. My plan was to become a forensic toxicologist, but I was not as excited by my chemistry and forensic classes. I chose to pursue graduate school because I didn’t feel ready to leave the lab and was truly unsure of what I wanted to do. Throughout my graduate education, I thought I might pursue teaching or working in research at a pharmaceutical company. I even thought about completing certifications to become a dietitian. Ultimately, I took the next education step and completed post-doctoral studies while I continued to debate my career path. When I finally decided I wanted to enter industry, I reached out to my network for advice. As luck would have it, someone had a spot open on their team for a field applications scientist. After hearing about how fulfilling the position could be and the culture and growth opportunities at Molecular Devices, I committed to earning this position with a well-crafted resume and remarkable interviews.
Q: What challenges have you faced on your journey? How did you overcome them?
Cervantes: I'm a woman in STEM, and a mixed first generation, LGBTQIA+ ally, and disabled. Tokenism has been a recurring challenge throughout my career. Professors of a grant writing class could not believe I wrote my proposal and sent it to my PI to verify it was not plagiarized. After confirming it was not plagiarized, they suggested I submit it for a NIH F31 fellowship. Then two weeks before my application was due, I discovered that my PI used one of my aims for their R01 grant. Surprisingly, I was still awarded on my first application. Some tried to discredit my achievement, citing that it was because I am a minority, going so far as to attempt to cancel my intramural fellowship. At the time I was part of an education grant and mentoring incoming graduate students and went to the Dean of Graduate Studies’ office in distress. She gave me space to express my frustration and validated my experience while giving me the courage to continue and finish my PhD. My biggest learning: Do not suffer in silence. Vulnerability processes into resilience.
Grant: In many ways I did not recognize what my challenges were in my career journey until I was already through them. I had wonderful mentors throughout different stages of my education that allowed me to work through these obstacles. I was raised in a very small, rural town where basic knowledge of many STEM careers is limited. This meant that I had to do a lot of exploration on my own to even decide what type of undergraduate education was going to best serve me. Because I learned through experience, overcoming challenges or navigating the unknown often boiled down to going with the flow and being flexible.
One of my most memorable and impactful moments was the first day of my summer internship between my junior and senior years of undergrad. I introduced myself to the professor while they were working in the cell culture hood, and without skipping a beat, they grabbed a plate of cells, handed them to me, and asked if I had my first experiment planned yet. I was shocked; prior to my arrival, we had never discussed experiments, and they trusted me to plan one! While I had been working in the lab at my university prior to this, I had been told what to do rather than trained in the academic thought process required to identify a knowledge gap and plan an experiment to address that gap. My professor challenged me to ask questions, dig deeper in thought, and become comfortable working in the unknown through the entirety of the internship. We would meet and discuss my questions and concerns, but often, discussions led to even more questions, thereby encouraging my development as a scientist. While reflecting on the various challenges and difficulties I have had through my education and career, it has been quite liberating to realize that as a high school student, I didn’t even know that my current career existed. I never would have made it this far without phenomenal mentors to guide me along the way.
Q: How did you land in your current role? Where do you still want to go?
Cervantes: I've felt like Goldilocks, moving from company to company, trying to find the right fit for me. Molecular Devices and the immediate team that I work with has offered the most meaningful career opportunity because I am valued while being able to be myself. The DD1 team are all women, the sales rep, service engineer, and application scientist, and it's been a wonderful experience. I'm grateful to work here and be part of the bigger team who are as accepting as they are authentic. The Bay Area territory is filled with cutting-edge science and wonderful customers to work with. I get to work with academics and industry users on how to optimize their samples and effectively use their automated microscopes to capture cellular images. I love capturing beautiful images and image analysis feels like solving a puzzle. Empowering other scientists to feel excited to showcase their images or great data with statistically significant results is a joy. I’m not sure where my career path is headed, but I enjoy contributing to the evolution of our imaging systems and analysis software.
Grant: I consider myself incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to work with breast cancer patients during my post-doctoral studies. Because of them, I knew that I had to pursue a career that was going to advance our understanding and treatment of diseases. When I decided I did not want to run my own lab, it was only natural to find a career where I could enable great scientific discoveries. As an applications scientist, I work with research groups every day and help them further their studies. I love that I get to experience many different types of research and learn about so many different topics. The travel can also be an exciting and added bonus to my day-to-day. As I progress in my career, I look forward to becoming an even more active participant in my customer’s research and guiding their methods of research. I hope to serve researchers in this capacity throughout my career, but for now, I am staying open to the various ways and careers in which this could be accomplished.
Q: What is a piece of advice you would offer to women in STEM who are just starting their career?
Cervantes: My advice for women early in their career is to not close the door on yourself. It may feel risky putting your genuine self out there or asking for help to get you to the next level, but don’t give up on yourself. It’s ok to fail or be rejected if you learn from those experiences. It’s called research, not search. One of my projects was going nowhere for two years. During one troubleshooting session, I was told to wash my hands; maybe it was proteases on my fingers messing up my experiment. This was during the recession, so I had to ask my cohort for a compound my lab could not afford. I did the experiment in secret, and when I showed the results, I was able to have the intellectual freedom to pursue a different molecular pathway for the project. I call those two years negative controls. Failure is part of the learning process and sometimes you need to fail to know when to pivot and move on to greater things.
Grant: I would encourage all women in STEM to seek out supportive and strong mentors and advocates throughout their entire education and career. Mentors can provide invaluable insight and assistance that you may not have access to otherwise. I believe mentors and advocates fulfill different roles, and having both is important. A mentor is usually there to help guide both your professional and personal development. I have retained some mentors from undergraduate training because they remain incredibly insightful and valuable in my life. This mentor-mentee relationship may evolve over time, and that is wonderful because you can have someone constant in your life through many different career stages. Advocates are usually more specific to your current role. They are someone who will stand in your corner, push for your success, and serve as a reference for you. While advocates do not have to work at your same institution, it is incredibly helpful to have an advocate at your institution in the event of a promotion or chance for acknowledgment. I like to think of an advocate as my “hype person” who will pick me up off the floor when work and life get tough.