My role models

I believe in equality, I believe everyone brings something to the table and that working together we can do much more. More and more people agree, but for my voice, and women’s voice to be listened to, so that we are all treated equal, many have fought difficult battles.

Many women fought so that I could have a better future as a woman.

As I grew up, I have surrounded myself with more and more women who have studied and work hard, really hard and are an inspiration for me. My best mentors have been my supervisors, my professors, in different parts of the world, and I want to talk to you about them today.

arolina Wählby is my PhD supervisor in Uppsala University and she has been the most amazing guide and tutor I have met. She has devoted her precious time to guide me and many more in the past and currently to become integral and honest researchers and she’s in the forefront of life sciences, she is helping the world understand the mechanisms of disease right in the RNA the smallest unit of us. She has the most impressive curriculum! She’s a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, and is a professor of many courses, has been awarded numerous grants and has seen many a PhD student start and then spread their wings and fly. She’s a member of so many comittees and groups that take important decisions. I can’t possibly name them all, that is why she has her own website and media. Not only Carolina works super hard in academia, she a wife and a mother of 3 and a scout mom. I honestly do not know how she manages. She’s my hero.

arcela Hernadez is my master supervisor. She gave me the chance to go to France and study in Lyon, where she herself did her master and went through very tough times. She’s a professor in image analysis in Andes University in Colombia and she’s a leader not only in computer science but also a champion of equal opportunities. Thanks to her I was able to fulfill my dreams and she keeps working and has worked very hard so that other women and other students also have better opportunities. She’s a marvelous example of work/life balance and I think I could never do what she does, and in Colombia on top of all, where there is a really long way to go to improve women’s inclusion in all fields and decisions.

laudia Jimenez is a professor in Big Data and is the coordinator of the Master of Information Engineering (MINE in spanish) in Andes University in Colombia. She was also a huge inspiration for me and I learned so much in her course that it made me really excited (I love to learn). In her course I really learned more deeply, formal methods for data analysis and for creating systems that can handle Big Data. During one lecture she said: “Those courses of Stanford and all U.S universities have nothing on us” and chuckled. But you know what? She was right. We’re always looked down upon, we’re the little guy, we’re women working in engineering in a country that loves to push women down to the middle ages. And yet she built herself a full master program in a prestigious university to give me and other women the opportunity to learn the bleeding edge technology that allows the internet to understand data. She included me in several interesting projects during my master and for that I am very grateful.

Sometimes I think I didn’t have enough mentors when I was young and I become sad. But later in life I managed to surround myself with great women, professors and classmates and all of them are all over the world participating in great things! and I want to mention them here.

I love you all, professors, sisters, mothers, friends. Even if some might not remember me, I remember them and what they taught me.

There are so many important women in my life, my friends, my family and people I admire. From many universities, many countries, of all sizes and races and ages and all such a beautiful diverse group. I feel so happy to have met you all and I feel all your support, and I want you to know that you have my support.

And perhaps above all others, the woman who changed my life completely and who I love unconditionally and who loves me, my aunt Esperanza, who has taught me the beauties and wonders of the world before I went on my own to explore them.