As a single mom navigating first generation to college student, immigrant, navigating college, I started feeling very excluded. And so I almost dropped out. The only reason I didn't was because I was waiting tables at the Yacht Club and they asked me why I hadn't applied to do research in a lab to get paid. So then I applied, I got in, I got a job as a student assistant and I was there from sophomore to graduation doing research  and mating behavior and genetics. When I moved to California for my masters in stem cell biology, I started experiencing other facets. It's not just a me thing. This is like, there's a collective experience here. We