Onlies and Firsts: My Path in Geoscience

Underrepresentation is a significant issue in the geoscience profession, particularly in academia. At the time I was pursuing my Ph.D. degree in the geosciences, I was one of only a handful of black women doing so. I will recount events in my life that led me to geoscience, but also those that helped me want to continue to work in this field. The fact that my professional journey contains so many situations where I was a “first” and/or an “only” seemed to me to be less an accomplishment than simply a condition that needed to be changed. If not me, it would have been somebody else. I have surmised through discussions with other women of color in geoscience over the course of my career that seeing my path as merely a condition to navigate may have significantly contributed to my ability to overcome obstacles. There were things I wanted to do, and I was determined to figure out a way to do them. I share my life story because I did not take a straight line to geology, or even a straight line through school. I had to juggle family and career in the way that many women do, I met and got to know many unique and interesting people, and I had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world. I will name names to acknowledge my significant mentors. It is because of many positive experiences and support from them that I have such a difficult time coming up with negative experiences. I hope my unique path may help readers to develop a deeper understanding of some of the subtle obstacles that have been keeping the numbers of black women in geoscience so low for decades, illuminate the ways that those obstacles can be traversed, and contribute to a little bit of change for the future.