Women Like You Take The Lead: Danielle N. Lee
Take The Lead salutes women who are doing extraordinary things in their communities. We will be recognizing women as part of our Women Like You Take The Lead campaign in the weeks leading up to the Take The Lead Challenge Launch Event on February 19th.
Dr. Danielle N. Lee blogs at Scientific American’s website as The Urban Scientist, writing on issues of urban ecology, evolutionary biology & diversity in the sciences. In 2009, she was named the Diversity Scholars Award recipient by the American Institute of Biological Sciences for her contributions to science and promoting diversity within the field.
Her outreach efforts emphasize sharing science to general audiences, particularly underserved groups, via outdoor programming and social media. Lee even has a blog – SouthernPlaylisticEvolutionMusic – that uses hip hop songs to explain evolutionary science. Danielle has been a featured panelist at Blogging While Brown – the largest conference of people of color in social media and a co-moderatator at ScienceOnline – the largest conference of online science communicators.
A few months ago, Danielle faced what many women in the sciences, and especially women of color in the sciences, face: sexist backlash. She was called a “Whore” by a science blog editor for declining their offer to blog for them.
This was her official response to said editor: “Recognize that folks are professional. Not just in how you interact with them, but their time and their energy is worth something. And that’s the really important part I want scholars out there – particularly if you come from these backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented. It’s important that you recognize your professionalism in your work and be compensated in some sort of way that’s compensatory for you…. You’re your first line of negotiation.”
Watch her full response here and prepare to be amazed.
Ready to do more in your career and life in 2014? Join us and 1 million other participants on February 19th for the Take The Lead Challenge Launch Event, designed to inspire you and show you how to embrace your power and fulfill your potential.