Bhavana Chikmagalur Raghunath

I believe we all feel like we are women living in a man's world, right, especially in sciences or research. There is a lot of conditions that women have which have been ignored for ages now. I figured if we could focus on some of them, especially the hormonal changes that happen in women which are specific to women, there's not enough research about it. So I want to focus on some of these issues, and the day I come up with something for the specific issue that affects women, I would definitely consider that a success.

About a year ago, I had moved to the US and a lot of things that were happening around me were affecting me. I was losing my motivation, losing my interest, and the vision that I had for myself was getting dimmer day by day. One of my colleagues was talking to me and she said, when I spoke to you first, there was a spark that I don't feel anymore. Are you okay? That was what I needed to hear, to ask myself, okay, what's going on, and where am I going? Where am I missing this? She told me, never forget your vision. Your vision should not get dimmed by the problems that you have today. I think that really resonated with me because if you focus too much on the current issues and current situations, the goal that you have, the vision, you forget about it. It's easy to get distracted.

Be persistent. Just keep at it. Keep trying. You don't know when a door is going to open for you, when a step is going to come up for you to take up. So keep at it, keep learning, keep growing wherever you are. I believe when you are really persistent about something, the universe will bring in a particular opportunity for you to take it up. But you're only ready for that opportunity if you're growing. Don't stop learning, thinking that I don't have the right opportunity at hand right now, because when the right opportunity comes, you want to have the skill set to get in there. So focus on what you want to be, be persistent about it, and keep looking for options.

In general, I feel there are a lot of challenges for women, specifically coming to motherhood. I feel the industry is not set up for mothers right now. We've got to be honest, we've got to be present. We don't have options of work from home, or we don't have options of flexibility to get things done at home. So I think there needs to be more norms that come in to make it accessible for us. I have had issues where I'm asking people about what is the maternity policy, and they're like, you just have to take time off and nothing else. So I think there's still more work to be done there to understand what a woman is and what comes with being a woman.

There are a couple of values that I really hold close. One is quality in the work I do, in the life I live. I think quality will be something that I look for. And I think persistence and perseverance, I think those will take anybody further in life. And honesty and transparency are also values I hold dear.