STEM needs you. The world needs you. The Avengers, in reality, have been women that we have been looking up to for aeons! Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, Amelia Earhart! Being a woman is being a superhero. When I was 8 years old, for a school homework essay titled “If you could go back to the past and meet someone, who would it be?”, I wrote about Amelia Earhart. I had read about her in an encyclopedia and I was blown away by how empowering her story was. It felt incredible to have such a strong female figure to look up to and write about. I wrote about how she would tell me to be myself, teach me to fly a plane, and also...overthrow male chauvinism and patriarchy. But I ended up scoring much lesser than everyone else. I remember asking my English teacher why it had to be so when I was quite self-aware (and I mean this in a less-cocky manner) about my flair and love for writing, and she said: “Because i expected more from you, maybe writing about Gandhi or Nehru.” I remember feeling terrible but more importantly, angry...as I walked away. That single experience made me realize HOW important feminism was, and why speaking up mattered. This wasn’t an Indian patriotic-themed homework essay, had I perhaps written about Sarojini Naidu, I might have received the same reaction. Why do we all have to be conditioned to look up to Male figures in history, when we have so many exemplary women rockstars to emulate and admire? I look back at that incident with anger, but at 8 years of age, I learnt that glass slippers don’t matter, glass ceilings do. and I strive to pass that message on to all the young girls I’ll ever meet and together, we break it. I'm going to keep it real- Part of the problem is- we let the doubts of others in us, drag us down. We should not focus on just our difficulties- we should focus on our strengths and make them better. We should work so hard and so smart, that all the aspects of our character, that make us Legendary- would be undeniable. Unstoppable. Believe in yourself- there is no stronger power, no greater driving force, or love. Women have been the leaders of yesterday, will lead today, tomorrow, and forever. Because, we have big brains, sure! But we have a whole lot of heart- and that makes all the difference.