Shayle Matsuda

So I didn't transition until I was just, until I was in my master's program.

And so I had the experience of being a woman in science for my entire life.

coming into science.

In high school, I was put on the honor science track and it took me a while to realize that this is something that happened.

Those experiences in particular really came to head for me when I showed up at my PhD program, well into my medical transition.

all of a sudden had access to conversations in space where people really kind of let you know what they really think in ways that I didn't before.

And it has been a very interesting experience to see on the other side really a lot of the things that I thought were happening, the old ways of thinking and kind of the gatekeepers for a lot of opportunities in STEM.

From from this point of view.

And so I think that like the taking a longer time in your journey is something that's very typical for folks, you know, from many underrepresented backgrounds in the sciences, especially after decades, centuries of being excluded not only from science careers, but also like, you know, science research.

The medical industry is a great example of that.

Because it's really hard to be alone and struggling.

You know, I'd say like for me, like the hardest things have been, you know,

Personal in this journey as opposed to like the science is hard Yeah, but I have lots of people to talk to you about my experiments and so like I think that like, you know besides all the like systemic things that we need to do to help make stem actually more inclusive We need to find our communities and like lift each other up Do you find that?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, imposter syndrome, yeah.

Yes, definitely.

And sometimes you see it.

It's very obvious.

You're like, oh, I know.

You walk into a room, and I feel like every person of color, probably every woman, probably every LGBTQ person, when you walk into a room, whether it's a new class or a conference, you kind of look around the room, and you look for your allies.