Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM
We’re Kathy Kale Nelson and Linda LaTourelle — co-hosts of Ordinarily Extraordinary: Conversations with Women in STEM.
Our mission is 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 in a wide variety of STEM fields, 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
100. Isabel Nelson - Computer Science (soon to be) graduate; Kathy's daughter
Isabel Nelson is a senior majoring in computer science, minoring in business at Montana State University. She is in her last semester of college and is beginning to look for jobs.
What do we talk about in this episode?
Isabel talks about why she decided to go into computer science even though she had never taken a coding class before declaring her major.
- How Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO) and starting college during COVID affected her college experience.
- The difference between a BS and BA in computer science.
- How to deal with social anxiety when you're starting to job hunt and interview.
- Challenges of starting work life remotely. Her full remote internship was not a great entry into the work world.
- The importance of internships and leveraging connections and networks to find and change jobs.
- Don't be afraid or embarassed to find resources such as tutors to help you be successful in college.
- Girls should be able to be themselves - dress how they want to, wear makeup, do their nails, etc. and be in STEM fields.
- Normalizing girls and women in STEM in media, social media, etc. to make it more accessible to young girls/women.
Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio
Resources
"Hello World!": A complete Python-based computer programming tutorial with fun illustrations, examples, and hand-on exercises. (https://www.amazon.com/Hello-World-Computer-Programming-Kids/dp/161729702X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2J3RCZ05QGXZU&keywords=hello+world+python&qid=1676681470&sprefix=hello+world+pyt%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1)
In software engineering, the terms frontend and backend (or sometimes referred to as back end or back-end) refer to the separation of concernsbetween the presentation layer (frontend), and the data access layer (backend) of a piece of software, or the physical infrastructure or hardware. In the client–server model, the client is usually considered the frontend and the server is usually considered the backend, even when some presentation work is actually done on the server itself. (wikipedia)
Esteffanie - A YouTube content creator who likes to build things and share my projects, experiments, and failures on my YouTube and Instagram channels. (https://www.estefannie.com)
Grace Hopper Celebration - Created in 1994 and inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, the AnitaB.org flagship event Grace Hopper Celebration brings the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. (https://ghc.anitab.org)
In computer graphics, turtle graphics are vector graphics using a relative cursor (the "turtle") upon a Cartesian plane (x and y axis).
Girlboss, also known as girlboss-ism, is a neologism popularised by Sophia Amoruso in her 2014 book Girlboss, which denotes a woman "whose success is defined in opposition to the masculine business world in which she swims upstream". The concept's ethos has been described as "convenient incrementalism". (wikipedia)
Junior Achievement’s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed. The inspiration piece comes from community volunteers who not only deliver our lessons, but share their experience. In the process, these volunteers serve as role models helping to positively impact young people’s perceptions about the importance of education, as well as critical life skills.
