Do you take inspiration from other women? I know I do. Right now I am SUPER impressed by Marissa Mayer, the woman who has just been named the CEO of Yahoo.
She's one of the highest-ranking women in Silicon Valley and was the driving force behind creating Gmail for Google (um, seriously, who doesn't use that service?). As I read about her amazing career and the advice that she wants to share with young women everywhere, I'm reminded of another inspirational woman: my own abuelita! As it turns out, too, the two had VERY similar advice
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Although she was no Yahoo CEO, my abuelita was still one amazing woman. Other than being a wife and mother to three kids (and devoted sister to 8 brothers), she was also a math professor back in Cuba. In fact, she wrote a textbook that's still being used by many universities there. So it should come as no surprise that she seriously encouraged me to strengthen my skills in math and science since I was a very young girl.
Marissa shares the same passion for helping women achieve higher status in science, though this time obviously we're talking about computer sciences. In a recent interview with Buzzfeed, she shares her passion for helping more women get into this still-very-growing technology—including "Find a place where you're comfortable. When you're comfortable, that's when you overcome any shyness and inhibitions and can really speak your mind," a piece of advice that my grandmother has told me before, too.
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Okay, admittedly, I became a writer instead of a mathematician or computer scientist. That doesn't mean that their advice is any less valuable, though. I know that when it comes to my own kids (boys AND girls), I'll be encouraging them to explore this field. I'm sure that both my abuelita and Marissa—who just revealed that she's pregnant with her first child, a baby boy—would to the same.
What do you think of Marissa Mayer's advice to young women to not be afraid to go into computer science? Share with us in the comments below!
Image via Fortune Live Media/flickr
