Growing up as a Black girl in New York City, I was fortunate to experience the wonders of diversity. New York City is a melting pot of many different cultures and backgrounds. As a child, my parents encouraged me to follow my passions, which included science and mathematics. I was known in elementary school for asking questions. This was mostly a good thing, except when I asked a series of questions right before recess, to the dismay of my classmates. I always wondered why things are the way they are and how things work and function.

When I was 12, I went to a private school in the suburbs. While I loved my classes, I experienced an interesting sort of isolation. The school was predominately white, and I noticed my classmates tended to group by race. However, I didn’t fit into any of the groups, even the Black ones. I self-identified as a “nerd,” which made me an outcast to most. It wasn’t until I got older that I found other nerds and realized that what meant the most to me was finding people who loved academia and learning the way I did. Race didn’t matter. My group of friends were all different races and backgrounds, and I learned so much from each of them.