Fighting Self Doubt and Perfectionism: Featuring Shay Bahramirad

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00:16:48

June 11th, 2020

16 mins 48 secs

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About this Episode

Need some inspiration on fighting societal stereotypes and pursuing your goals? Our guest, Dr. Shay Bahramirad has an inspirational journey to tell about pushing past limitations to accomplish your dreams.

Growing up in Iran, Shay Bahramirad loved science and wanted to be an astronaut. Such pursuits for a woman in that country were difficult at best, so she left her home and family—first for Europe, then the U.S., where she settled in Chicago. Now with a doctorate in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Shay is a vocal proponent for advancing women in tech careers. She travels around the world giving speeches and founded the IEEE PES' Women in Power arm, to elevate women in the energy industry.

Her global work experience has shown that, despite best efforts in many countries and many fields, we have a long way to go to provide equal opportunities for women and people of different backgrounds. In particular, the power industry has made great strides to make engineering education and careers attractive to women and minorities—great strides in opening career paths to the full diversity of our human capital.

Bahramirad on taking a closer look at the past for inspiration:
_5:39 “I mentioned all of these things to say that there is no reason…there is no science that would suggest that women cannot do what men do. And it goes back to the societal stereotypes and that's different in different places of the board, but there are a lot of commonalities. Women can be executives and they can run companies as well as they can be STEM.
They can be in the operation side of a utility. So any occupation that you think about going through history? Women can be part of it.”

Bahramirad on the importance for diversity during hard times:
_12:51 “If there's a time that the diversity of thoughts and women are needed in organizations, it's now during this hardship”

Bahramirad advice to listeners:
_13:40 “It's okay. Not to be perfect. Don't wait for that perfect moment. Don't wait to know everything before you raise your hand for the next challenge. Don't work on anything to be perfect. It's okay not to be perfect.”

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