>>>Women have long been expected to fill certain positions
or follow certain pathways when entering the work force.
Today more women are challenging those stereotypes
and changing the expectations of woman in the work place.
Guest Cynthia Medina Carson CEO and founder of
Wager and Yadilett Rivera Colon assistant professor
of biology and undergraduate science program research coordinator
at Bay Path join us to celebrate "Mujeres at work".
Women are still in the minority when it comes
to leadership positions however you have 15 years of experience
under management you worked at JP Morgan the department of treasury,
Homeland Security where has this confidence and leadership come from.
>>>>I mean I think I was always that you know
that five year old at kindergarten
who would bounce around table-to-table
making sure everybody was ok. So I've always been curious
and wanted to and knew what I wanted to.
Umm I also happened to have good parents and everyone
around me to support me.
So I've never felt like there were barriers to what I could do
but when I think about this question
I think about all the young woman
who at 8, 9 or 10 are being told at that point to maybe
be a little less a little less aggressive little less
be like you know a boy and I think their pathways of things
they can do start to close.
I happen to not have done that but I know that that happens in our community.
>>>You Yadilet are in a stem career, which is Science
Technology Engineering and Mathematics;
that's not something common that we see women and Latina women in everyday.
So where did that passion for science come from?
>>>My mom got really sick with leukemia when I was 14
and at that point I had to decide what school to go to for my high school
and there was a technical high school and the regular high school
so I decided to go the technical high school just because
it was less violent than the traditional high school
and I did nursing there for my vocation I guess
and then right after that as I was working there I realized
well you know there's a lot of medical doctors here
who are always asking for the nurse's help why not be the medical doctor.
So then right after that I went into University of Puerto Rico Cayey
and I thought I would be a medical doctor and then I had the opportunity
to do research but even then to do research it was a really crazy time
because I didn't have the best grades and when I went to this interview
for an internship at Umass the person was really excited
they were like yeah I think you will be a great candidate for this
but we have better candidates than you so lets see what we can do.
This professor went on to find any possibility to find enough money
to fund me to be there and then right after that he came back
and said yes you can come and do research.
>>>How have your family, your parents, aunts, uncles everybody.
How have they supported you and helped you grow to be who you are?
Even if they may have doubted you at times.
>>>So I think carving a path that isn't obvious is really hard.
I think if you have your parents and you have teachers who guide you
and you have like we were both board members of girls Inc.
and I was a member of girls Inc.
since I was 5 until 11 so there was enough parameters
to let me be my crazy self but like you'll be ok.
You know having that in our lives I think has been everything
because when it's hard those moments where people were saying
they look at you and all they can see is a factory worker.
When they can see maybe you'll be a nurse but don't go too farther than that.
You know you'll have people who've supported you and you can,
you've created a bubble of alright I'm just you know
I am going to move forward I have the support system
I know what I want to be and just you know keep driving myself.
>>>Definitely for me my family didn't understand what I was doing
so that was a lot harder to convince them that it was worth doing
what I was doing cause I they were like "you are still in school,
you are not providing, you are not making money, what are you doing?"
And that was a really hard challenge for me but
I did have the support of a lot of other woman
and all the professors and teachers who really believed in me
and said like "Don't worry hang on you can do this."
>>>And speaking of girls Inc. I know that when you were interviewing
for Bay Path one of your things was I wont take this job
if I cant do work in the community.
Why is that so important to you and also why girls Inc.?
>>>So one of the things that people always ask me
like "why being a scientist is so important to you?"
and I just had a mentor tell me "be really good at something
and then if you are really people will listen to you"
so being a professor is the excuse I have in order
to be able to help my community.
So to me that is the most important thing
and when I was looking for ways that I could help the community,
I was introduced to the Ureka program to girls Inc.
Strong, Smart, Bold that was exactly me.
Like I didn't have to look any further as soon as I started
I just picked up the phone and said hey my name is Yadilett Rivera Colon
I am a scientist how can I help.
>>>Salary is something that brings a lot of people anxiety and uncertainty.
So you started a new venture wager to kind of help people with those emotions.
Do you see that more women especially Latina women have that anxiety
and why is it so important for them to kind of get over that
and how can learn those skills of negotiating?
>>>Yeah so I started Wager because working in the talent field
I just felt like there was a need a platform for people to share salary information.
In general we do not have that network women and men do not have that network
or ability to talk about it openly.
What I've watched and discovered is it's much more essential
and severe for Latinas to be able to negotiate to be able to talk about salaries.
Women on a whole there is a wage gap women on a whole make
eighty one cents to the dollar than the man would make that means
I'm making Eighty one dollars my counterpart is making a dollar
excuse me if I'm making eighty one dollars my counterpart
is making One hundred dollars.
For Latina woman we essentially make fifty three cents to the dollar
that means if I have a wage of fifty three thousand dollars
this man is making one hundred thousand dollars
half for the same job similar job similar skill set.
So we have like an urgency and added need to be better about negotiations
and if we are building communities we are building families
we need this money we need this information and we are out
of that information network we do not have the pipeline of Latinas
and leaders and of people we can go to and find this information
that's one reason why I started wager.
>>>And why is this so important for those young women
to see that it is ok for them to go into a career of stem?
>>>Well growing up I didn't have any role models who were
Latina and scientist at all they were usually white men
and when you are little you don't necessarily realize it
but we did a little session with small children
where we said draw a scientist and this was recent
and they all drew Albert Einstein. So they didn't draw a girl
or a woman doing science they still have that stereotype.
One girl told me "wait but you're pretty and you were lipstick
how can you be a scientist?" and its like no you can do all that
and still do what ever you want with your life of course I am a scientist.
>>>How do we continue to make strides moving forward and also
give the young women of today that confidence
that they can pursue a career in any field that they want?
>>>It is so important again just like Cynthia was saying
for me negotiating a salary I didn't know what to ask for
and I didn't have a person to ask and say "hey one how much should I ask?"
so I actually went around in my lab and I asked people
I asked the male counterparts of me how much would you ask for
and what they told me was way more than what I was going to ask for
I was still nervous but I asked for that amount and got it.
So I would have been one of those women who makes twenty percent
or thirty percent less just by not having the information
so being able to just have a mentorship at this network
of other woman professionals is really essential cause
then you can ask questions that you don't even you should ask.
>>>What is it about us and maybe the way that the things that we see
the way that we were brought up that we have such anxiety
and that we would be ok settling for less just because
we don't want to deal with the anxiety
>>>I think when we were younger we got beat up a lot.
I think we got told so many things that you never tell a boy,
you never you know like reach for the stars, what are all the things you can do,
you know the world is out there for you and a girl your like well
that might be a lot, that may be uncomfortable woman don't do that
and so I just see we don't have that pathway that like that imagination
you know we been told our imagination to imagine a little smaller
a little less and then we fit in that and we are ok now they like me more
and now I am liked more because I fit into whatever people wanted.
So to get through that you need strong mentorship you need
strong friendships woman need that bonding of other strong woman.
>>>Is ok to struggle and everybody is struggling and is not just you
and to be able to find mentors of different types.
Not just for your particular career look for mentors who are woman
who have gone through different things like you have.
If you are a mother find a mother mentor if you need somebody for your career
find one of those also find mentors who are younger than you
who can still keep you just closer to what ideas you had before
and just have those relationships always going
>>>Think about who you were when you were younger right
and all the enthusiasm energy and curiosity and what were you
always wanted to do what were you good at and I think
we sometimes lose that over time.
So now think about yourself older like man I really love this
but I never pursued that I really love feeling this way
but I never went there and you know
I think as we go through the career hold on to that thing
that you are great at and see if can make money and a career out of that.
>>>When it comes to careers for women the options are endless
follow your heart and be fearless when choosing your path
don't limit yourself because you never know how far your passion can take you.
We continue with presencia many voices one community.
>>>Quieres conocer mas de los latinos en nueva inglterra