A Seat at the Table: In Conversation with Black Girls CODE’s Director of Alumnae Programs, Anesha Grant
Grant discusses the importance of mentorship and representation in STEM.
Have you had any mentors? If so, can you chat about the influence they’ve had on you personally and professionally?
Anesha: I’ve had a lot of informal mentors along the way. The mentorships that I’ve fostered that stand out to me are those with former supervisors. They showed a continued interest in my career growth and served as advisors that I could go to to ask questions and push my own thinking forward. They provided valuable insight on the approaches that I took to different circumstances that would arise in my career. Mentors have been pivotal in helping me realize my own strengths. There have been times in my career where I’ve envisioned what I “should” be doing, but they’ve stressed the importance of doing what is fulfilling. All of my mentors have been people of color which I think has been beneficial for me because I can talk openly about the challenges that I’ve faced as a Black woman. My mentors have inspired me to really focus on how I’m leveraging my voice. I’m appreciative of people who don’t have anything to gain from my success but still continue to push me to be as successful as I can be.
Can you discuss the importance of mentorship and how it can be instrumental in changing the trajectory of someone’s path?
Anesha: When thinking of mentoring I always think about the quote “you can’t become what you can’t see.” I believe there is a lot of value in people being able to see folks who look like them doing what they aspire to do. I think it’s really important for Black women, especially Black women in STEM. You have to see what is possible but then you also have to figure out how to see what hasn’t been done and prepare yourself to do something that you can’t possibly envision. Mentors help you see new avenues for success as a possibility for yourself. They help you to break free from stereotypes by modeling leadership, agency and self-efficacy. Mentors help you learn from their experiences so you can make more informed choices. Mentors help you develop the willingness to question norms and mobilize resources. Having a mentor who can share what the industry is about allows folks who are striving to be innovators or changemakers in that space to understand what is fully possible. There is comfort in pushing back on boundaries once you understand where the boundaries are.
“Mentors help you see new avenues for success as a possibility for yourself. They help you to break free from stereotypes by modeling leadership, agency and self-efficacy.”
Can you discuss the importance of representation in STEM and how it’s intertwined with mentoring?
Anesha: There is a lack of representation in STEM. In education, there’s research that shows kids do better in the classroom when they have teachers who look like them. It translates to the STEM space as well. In my conversations with our alumni, they say when they walk into interviews for internships or jobs, they aren’t just representing themselves, but they are representing their gender and race and a lot of them are scared to fail. The more people of color who are able to be successful in this space but also be candid about their challenges takes the pressure off of perfection. It shows our girls that you can go in, innovate, make mistakes and recover and in doing that you have more comfort in owning the space and charting your own path. It allows you to be more courageous and daring to go out of the bounds of tradition within that industry.
What can we do to ensure that students from underserved communities have access to mentorship opportunities?
Anesha: As we’re in the midst of the pandemic, thinking about cultivating virtual connections is crucial. We have to develop ways to continue to connect young people with leaders and potential mentors in the virtual space. Cultivating this digital alumnae community has allowed our mentor program to be far-reaching. We’ve had a #futuretechboss sitting in her mom’s kitchen in Brooklyn talking to a woman engineer in Australia about her work experiences, career growth and opportunities within the field. Leveraging virtual connections will expand opportunities for mentorship. Within BGC our long-term goal is to cultivate mentorships between our girls because there is a lot of value in peer-to-peer mentoring. You can still learn from their experiences and make informed choices even if there is just a one or two-year age difference.
“We’ve had a #futuretechboss sitting in her mom’s kitchen in Brooklyn talking to a woman engineer in Australia about her work experiences, career growth and opportunities within the field.”
How can one of our #futuretechbosses go about finding a mentor in STEM?
Anesha:The first step is getting your LinkedIn together. The platform can be a great conversation starter. Once you have a good foundation on LinkedIn, leverage the connections that you have. If you see someone whose career path inspires you, you can reach out to them directly and send them a note. Before reaching out be clear about what you want. Is it professional advice? Academic advice? Is it pathway advice? Being clear on your ask.
On the importance of allyship.
Anesha: People of other races can still play a role in mentoring Black girls. You have something to contribute to teaching our young women about how this industry works. You can be an advocate for our young women in the space until there is more representation. It’s important to be conscientious about the privilege that you have in the tech industry and be willing to have candid conversations about that privilege and about how our students can leverage their gender, race, experiences and backgrounds in thoughtful ways in technology. Mentorship can be a form of allyship.
What’s on the horizon for the BGC Alumnae Program?
Anesha: We’ve partnered with companies like Google, Cisco, Guardian Healthcare and Zendesk for mentorship initiatives. In January, we launched a mentorship program with Xandr, a subsidiary of AT&T, that focused on data actualization and data science. The young women who participate in that program are working in small groups and creating their own data science projects. The programs are opportunities to help our young women think about careers in STEM and hear from women who are actually doing work in the space.
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