‘
KEEP
WORKING.’
Katharine Owens is a 2019 National
Geographic explorer who is focused on
linking environmental science to policy
action and on reducing plastic pollution
in Earth’s oceans. Recently, Owens trained
more than 50 teachers in Kerala,
India, on how to engage their students
in marine debris collection.
“Keep your head down and keep working.
Just keep providing evidence that you are
great through hard work. Eventually, people
won’t be able to deny your talent. Do what
you love and all the work will feel like fun.”78%
of the artificial
intelligence profes-
sionals in the world
are men, according
to the Global Gender
Gap Report. Within
AI talent pools, men
fill a greater share
of higher level and
more lucrative roles,
the report says, while
“women are less likely
to be positioned in
senior roles and are
less likely to gain
expertise in a number
of high-profile,
emerging skills.”Fitting in is overrated.
I spent my first few
years at my first job
out of college doing
everything I could to
make myself more like
the people around
me. It didn’t bring out
the best in me—and
it didn’t position me
to bring out the best
in others. The best
advice I have to offer
is: Seek out people
and environments that
empower you to be
nothing but yourself.SHE JOINED
MICROSOFT IN 1987,
MARRIED ITS CO-
FOUNDER IN 1994, AND
NOW HELPS RUN THE
BILL & MELINDA
GATES FOUNDATION.
So many women lack
self-confidence. You
have to jump 30 more
hurdles than the guy
next to you to get to
the same place. You
have to be calculating,
you have to be check-
ing all the signals in
the room, you have to
pick your space, pick
your time to say some-
thing, to be something.
Imagine the inherentexhaustion in all of that!
I would say that you
need to go for things,
trust your instincts, and
remember that luck is
often a product of hard
work. And be outland-
ish; don’t worry about
what people are going
to think about you.
Don’t worry about fail-
ing or succeeding, just
go for things because
you think they’re the
right thing. And don’t
sit back in the back
seat and be driven;
get in the front seat,
put the key in the
ignition, and drive.FORMER CEO OF THE
RETAILER PATAGONIA,
TOMPKINS NOW FO-
CUSES ON THE SOUTH
AMERICAN LAND PRES-
ERVATION INITIATIVE
SHE BEGAN WITH HER
LATE HUSBAND, DOUG
TOMPKINS. HER INI-
TIATIVE IS A PARTNER
OF THE NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC SOCI-
ETY’S LAST WILD
PLACES PROGRAM.
KRIS
TOMPKINS
MELINDA
GATES
I would say, try to
be defined not by your
gender but by your
capacity. The harder
you work, the more
you throw yourself
into something you’re
passionate about, the
more your work starts
to speak for itself.
That’s actually what’s
helped me. At the
start everyone was
like, “But you’re a girl.”
And today, nobody
cares what I am. I’m a
necessity: The system
needs me to help to
make changes. I would
say to any girl out
there, that’s what you
want to aim for—to be
defined not by your
gender but by
your capabilities.FOR MONTHS THE
ASPIRING SCIENTIST
WROTE SEEKING
WORK ON A WHALE
RESEARCH VESSEL,
UNTIL FINALLY SHE
WAS HIRED—AS A
DECKHAND. TODAY
SHE’S THE ONLY
SRI LAN KAN WITH
A PH.D. IN MARINE
MAMMAL RESEARCH.
A NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC
GRANTEE, DE VOS
FOUNDED THE
NONPROFIT GROUP
OCEANSWELL, WHICH
AIMS TO PROMOTE
CONSERVATION BY
EQUIPPING STUDENTS
TO CONDUCT
MARINE RESEARCH.
ASHA
DE VOS
What Advice Would You Give Young Women Today?
Q:156 INTERVIEWS HAVE BEEN EDITED FOR LENGTH AND CLARITY.