Written by Nidia Trejo

It was an amazing experience to give a TED-style talk with Women in Clean Tech & Sustainability Talks (WCS Talks) at Google. These talks are held once a year, and among a super supportive community of women (and men). I met the founder of Women in Cleantech & Sustainability, Lisa Ann Pinkerton, when she was invited to give a talk at a start-up incubator in Ithaca New York early 2017. She spoke about how important it is for women to share their unique perspectives in public spaces. Because in doing so, it can inspire other women to speak up, and help lead a path toward a greater number of women leaders.
(http://www.womencleantechsustainability.org/) 

I submitted my speaker application on the concept of Social & Environmental Responsibility in Fashion. For 7 months, I was trying to figure out how to make it unique. Being an active member of the Latinas In STEM Foundation, the Climate Reality Project, and learning about the United Nations - Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 really helped me shape my story. I shared the story of my grandmother coming to the US from El Salvador to sew clothing, and how she inspired me to make fashion collections. I showed pictures of clothes I made and dyed with natural and synthetic colorants to express sustainable opportunities. I proposed solutions to making safer chemicals, preserving water as a natural resource, and empowerment of makers in the supply chain for innovation framed around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

​The audience was 200+ mainly from private companies, non profits, and students. I was one of the youngest speakers! I was surprised that many of the audience members were very interested in learning more about what I'm doing in sustainable fashion, and seem really eager to help. From the audience members, I learned that NASA Ames is working on water recycling projects for their space travel, and Levi Strauss & Co gave me invaluable advice on several of my ideas. 

Women in Cleantech & Sustainability has already posted the 2018 Speaker Submission application. I hope the Latinas in STEM community submits applications to speak, and I’ll share mine once it is available on YouTube.  

Written by: ​Annie Deusch - Future Latina in STEM

The panel’s keynote speaker, Dr. Sarah Milkovich, gave a powerful presentation on her experiences leading up to the present. She is now a planetary geologist for NASA at JPL in Pasadena. I was inspired by her story on how impactful the Earth’s various structures influenced her decision to pursue a career in geology. Dr. Milkovich expressed a key tip to stay focused on your goals is to “surround yourself with like minded people.” I also appreciated her candidness about her struggle with anxiety. She stated that there were times when she wanted to give up on her career but a deeper voice than her anxiety did not let her. My next new hero of the day was, Dr. Michelle Flowers Taylor, Director of IEC3 at USC. I admired her honesty about the hard work that lies ahead for us. She said that we should not be afraid to fail because failure helps us rethink our plans and makes us resilient. 

As a junior at an all-girls school in Alhambra, I see the mission of empowering teen girls in STEAMS on a daily basis. On any given day,  I might see the robotics team shuffling nuts and volts across the room in a mad flurry to design a robot and then walk past the choir, singing tenors harmoniously. As for myself, Information Technology has taken a bite out of me! After attending the panel, I researched tech opportunities for teens and I hope to be accepted to a global learning classroom. As a Latina, my hope is to help bring STEAMS panels to more communities in the East LA area. We can do it!

Special thanks to UN Women – Greater LA Chapter for access to Girls Can STEAMS: Celebrating International Day of the Girl.