Her Story
About Aissatou
My professional journey is one I'm incredibly proud of because of how far I've come. I came to this country not knowing a single word in English when I was just a child. I went to school not knowing English, but I graduated high school with honors. After high school, I didn't have papers, so I didn't qualify for financial aid, scholarships, or loans. It was either find a way to pay for college myself or not go at all. I chose to pay for it by braiding hair on weekends to fund my bachelor's degree. I had no life, but I took that sacrifice. From there, I published my master's thesis in a neuroscience journal and just kept climbing to where I am right now. So I'm proud of myself as a whole, because not many people will go through that. My path into laboratory sciences came unexpectedly when I went to LabCorp to get my blood drawn and saw a centrifuge separating blood. I asked what they did with it, and when I left that office, I was at the bus stop researching how to get into hospital labs. I found out I had to go back to school again, so I did, earning another master's in clinical laboratory sciences. Now, as a Clinical Laboratory Supervisor with 18 years in the field, my main goal is to make the lab as efficient as possible for everyone and to succeed in my role.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aissatou
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to determination. Everything I've achieved has come from pushing myself forward, even when the path wasn't clear and I didn't have someone there to mentor or guide me. It was self-guidance for me, just trial and error on my end, saying 'okay, let me try this' and then pushing myself to make it happen.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
For any young woman going to college right now who wants to go into science, who's thinking about majoring in pre-med or biology but isn't sure, I would say go into medical laboratory sciences. When you get out, you're guaranteed a job right away. If you major in biology, when you get out, you really cannot be a teacher, you cannot work anything basically, you can only work as a research technician. I would advise anyone going into biology majors, if they have the opportunity to go into medical technology, do that, because not only if they decide to continue on to medical school, they have all the prerequisites that they need, but if they don't make it into medical school, at least they are hireable. They can go work in the hospital right away after they pass their board exam.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunities in my field are job security and versatility. There aren't many medical laboratory technologists out there, so hospitals are always trying to find somebody, which gives us an advantage. As a medical laboratory scientist, we can basically work anywhere - if we want to work in a hospital, we can; if we decide to go work for pharmaceuticals doing quality controls for them, we can; if we want to work for the Department of Health, we can. It's like this big umbrella that covers so much that we're not just limited to the hospitals. The biggest challenge, especially as a supervisor, is finding technologists. As I was saying, there are not many, so we are always short. We always have gaps, and sometimes we have to fill those gaps ourselves. That's the challenge right now.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
For me, happiness is most important - being able to work in a stress-free environment. I mean, stress-free is non-existent, but at least I try to not be as stressed. So happiness for me, peace of mind, and family are the two most important things in my work and personal life.
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