How To Make Imposter Syndrome Your Superpower

This week on The Waves, a special episode from Slate's podcast How To!

When Leslie landed her dream engineering job right out of college, she was elated but also worried she was a tad unqualified—even though she has the skills and expertise. Since then imposter syndrome has reared its ugly head on a regular basis. Besides being the youngest in her department, she’s one of the only women and the only person of color, which has made things even more isolating. On this episode of How To!, host Amanda Ripley brings on Dr. Jessica Esquivel, physicist, advocate for marginalized communities in STEAM, and author of Our Queer Universe. Dr. Esquivel has some wise, hard-earned advice for shifting the burden of being enough, learning to fail, and making systemic changes so people don’t feel imposter syndrome so acutely. 

If you liked this episode, check out: “I’m Great at My Job. So Why Do I Feel Like a Fraud?”

Podcast production by Derek John, Rosemary Belson, Kevin Bendis, and Jabari Butler.  

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