Sometimes all it takes is one person or one example to get you thinking about what your future could be.
For Jamila Lindo, it was her high school chemistry teacher.
“He said I was good at science and math and he encouraged me to try a summer engineering program for high school students,” she said. “So I did a summer program at Manhattan College in Riverdale, NY and I eventually enrolled my freshman year of college for engineering.”
Engineering was never part of Jamila’s plan. She originally thought she’d become a doctor, following in her mother’s footsteps into the medical field. But she learned her passion for humanitarian work could find a place in engineering. She focused on civil engineering so she could ‘build bridges and make sure people have clean water.’
While she enjoyed engineering and saw how it aligned with her personal values, she didn’t always find the space welcoming to her, a woman of color.
“My classes were primarily boys. I usually found myself as one of the very few girls in class and the only girl of color. One time, I had a question in my introductory calculus class, so I turned to a male classmate for help. After asking my question, I received no response. Once we got more friendly, years later, my male classmates told me they were scared to talk to girls, which is why I didn’t always receive a response. I thought, ‘Seriously? This makes it harder for me and other girls to feel welcome.”’
Jamila was able to find a community of supporters through programs like the Society of Women Engineers and she tutored other young women, but she wanted to do more to help connect women to tech. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she knew she needed a project to keep herself busy, so why not write a book?
‘Girls Can Be Engineers, Too’ follows a young girl in search of a career for Career Day. Every time she focuses on a career, she finds they are mainly male-dominated. Her mom, who happens to be a structural engineer, jumps in and shows her that she can do anything regardless of her gender.
“I learned only 12% of children’s books have characters of color and now girls, especially of color, can see themselves represented. The mother in the book is a structural engineer so you’re able to see a woman of color in a space that you might not have seen before,” she said.
Jamila took her idea and book to Kickstarter to get enough support to get it individually published and donate copies to organizations in New York City. The book went to print earlier this year and is now available for sale on Amazon.
If becoming a published author wasn’t enough of a pandemic project, Jamila is finishing a graduate degree at Columbia University in Construction Administration and is interning at Microsoft in their construction sector.
She says there is something for everyone in the book and wants it to be a teaching tool. Jamila said the message of ‘anyone can do anything’ would have been helpful to her younger self.
“A boy in my 3rd grade class said he wanted to be a nurse and I told him, ‘No, you can’t, you’re a boy,”’ she said now, reflecting on the gendered messaging she received growing up. “I’m embarrassed now because I know people can do anything, no matter their race or gender.”
Fearless is working to highlight technologists of color in our community to inspire the next generation. We know how hard it can be to see yourself in an industry if you don’t see anyone who is like you.
We want to shine a light on the incredible people who can and should be role models for our future, more diverse tech workforce. Is there someone you think we should feature? Get in touch!
