Rachael Urquhart

I attribute my success to myself - my own discipline, dedication, and determination. I mean, I do think a support system is important, but they can only get you so far. I think the real success, especially as a female in a male-dominated space, is your own self, your own perseverance, and your own confidence, and how to find that authentically. Having a support system is part of it, and mentors are important, but I think what really takes you the whole rest of the way is your own confidence and perseverance. Yes, I had encouragement, but who did the work? I did. It's not just about my career - it applies to anything in life.

The best career advice I've ever received is to trust your experience and expertise - trust yourself. As a female in a male-dominated space, there comes a lot of doubt and imposter syndrome. You need to trust your instincts, trust your experience, your education, your training. As a teacher, trust that you know what you're doing is best for students. Essentially, you need to work through the doubt and trust yourself.

It's so hard at the beginning of your career to see and realize all of the gendered expectations that are against you. But trust yourself. Authenticity is so important! Don't feel like you have to fit yourself in some kind of box just because society says so. Take up space confidently. Uplift other females in your spaces and be there for each other.

Speaking from the perspective of a female high school band director in a male-dominated field, the biggest challenge for females looking to enter this space is that while the gendered expectations might be improving, they still exist, even in 2026. They might not be as overt, they might not be as out in the open, but people still have biases against strong female leaders in male-dominated spaces, which are prohibiting females from achieving equality not only in my field, but in STEM, the medical field, science fields, and financial fields. The gendered expectations are still there, even in 2026. However, the opportunity that goes hand in hand with this is that I think more females are starting to feel comfortable speaking out against them and starting to call out the microaggressions they experience. More women are confident enough to say, "Hey, that's not okay," or to speak out against those microaggressions. The challenges still exist, but it's slowly going in the right direction.

The value most important to me in my work and personal life is authenticity. It's funny how my view on that has shifted after doing the doctorate and going through writing the dissertation and doing my own research. I think now, at this point in my life and career, personally and professionally, authenticity is what matters most. That kind of goes along with the best career advice I've ever received - not only trusting yourself, but being true to yourself. So, trusting your authentic self. My research really opened my eyes to how important authenticity is as a female leader, especially in male-dominated spaces.