Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
We’re Kathy Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.
Kathy, an electrical engineer, launched the podcast in 2020 to share real, unfiltered stories of women working across STEM disciplines. Now with over 130 episodes, the mission remains the same: to amplify the voices of ordinary women doing extraordinary work in science, technology, engineering, and math.
We’re deeply committed to:
- Normalizing the presence of women in STEM by making their stories visible
- Building community for women who may be the only ones like them in their workplace
- Educating listeners about the wide variety of STEM careers — and what they actually look like
- Empowering growth and retention by addressing the challenges behind the leaky pipeline
From early-career professionals to experienced leaders, our guests share how they got started, how they’ve grown, and what they’ve learned along the way. This podcast is a space where women in STEM can be seen, heard, and supported — because representation isn’t just powerful, it’s essential.
Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
84. Cynthia Changyit Levin - Mechanical Engineer turned global health advocate
Cynthia Changyit Levin is the author of the newly released book "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Mom's Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started". Cynthia has been active in the advocacy world since her children were very small. She advocates on a number of bi-partisan issues, but her main focus is global health. Cynthia has bachelor's and master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering and shares how her STEM background helped her as she moved into her advocacy career.
Episode Notes
Cynthia shares her journey into mechanical engineering and how she went from mechanical engineering into advocacy. She shares how when her children were born, she made the decision to leave the engineering world to care for them, intending to go back. However, as we all know, life sometimes sends us on a different path - Cynthia's path was into global health advocacy - sometimes with her young children in tow. Cynthia's recently published book shares some of the stories of meeting with legislators with her children and some of the hilarity and humanity that ensued and provided for some great connections.
Cynthia and I went to school together, from grammar school to high school. We share many of the same math teacher influences that helped get us into engineering. We talk about a lot on this podcast...global health, politics, the importance of using our voices, electricity, and so much more - not to mention her book - from what's in it to different ways books can get published.
Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio
Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check
Cynthia's website: https://www.changyit.com
Cynthia's book "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World": https://www.changyit.com/books
Spectrum (Radio Frequency (RF Spectrum)) - Electromagnetic waves in this frequency range, called radio waves, are widely used in modern technology, particularly in telecommunication. (wikipedia)
Turberculosis - an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis. Around 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kill about half of those affected. Typical symptoms of active TB are chronic cough with blood-containing mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss. It was historically referred to as consumption due to the weight loss associated with the disease. Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms. (Wikipedia)
