Ten Role Models Your Daughter Should Know

Girls can do anything. Seriously – ANYTHING.

Read on for a list of 10 strong, smart, and brave women who are out there proving it every single day.

  1. Adriana Ocampo, Planetary geologist and Science Program Manager at NASA Headquarters. Her research has contributed to the understanding of the Chicxulub impact crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
  2. Anne Wojcicki, Entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of the personal genomics and biotechnology company 23andMe.
  3. Emily Leprount, PhD, an early pioneer in the high-throughput synthesis and sequencing of DNA. She is the CEO of synthetic biology company, Twist Bioscience.
  4. Dr. Jedidah Isler was the first African American woman to receive her Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Yale University. Dr. Isler is currently is an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Astrophysics at Vanderbilt University where she studies hyperactive, supermassive black holes.
  5. Lea von Bidder, Founder of Ava, a company that developed a wearable fertility Tracker is for women who want to monitor their health for trying to conceive or getting to know their bodies.
  6. Mae Jemison, Astronaut and Medical Doctor. She was the First African American woman to travel to space.
  7. Nina Tandon, Biomedical Engineer. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of EpiBone, a revolutionary bone reconstruction company that allows patients to “grow their own bone”.
  8. Pardis Sabeti, Geneticist who sequenced the Ebola genome. She is also the lead singer for rock band Thousand Days!
  9. Rana el Kaliouby, PhD, Computer Scientist. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Affectiva, an emotion recognition software company.
  10. Susan Solomon, Atmospheric Scientist. Her research has provided invaluable insights into the causes of the Antarctic ozone hole.

Now try this: Choose one woman on this list and share her accomplishments with your daughter. Let her ask you questions and take the time to learn more about these amazing women together. Keep going until you’ve gotten through the whole list!

Remember, while the women on this list are all strong and amazing, YOU are your child’s first role model. When you show her that you believe she can do anything, she’ll start believing it too!

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