Ranu Mukherjee

I attribute my success to learning how to function within uncertainty and maintaining a healthy dose of chaos. Having triplets taught me that you have to be in the present with kids, and you're always in the present and the future at the same time. I think that's a really good life lesson. Kids give you energy as well as take it, and that exchange has been a big influence on me. You learn to understand how to function within uncertainty, and I think we have a lot of that in the world right now. Being able to manage that healthy chaos and stay present while also thinking about the future has been key to my success.

I've received this advice from a lot of different people in different ways, but I think taking care of your health and your spirit, and staying connected to yourself when you're doing a lot of external work or making work for the public, is really important. I have a holistic doctor named Gabrielle Francis, who's an incredibly inspiring woman, and she always encourages people to find something about themselves just from understanding their body and culture. The people who have been able to reflect that back to me have been really influential. It's about maintaining that balance and staying grounded in who you are while doing outward-facing work.

I would say ask a lot of questions and pay attention. Negotiate for what you're worth. I went into my career not knowing how to negotiate - no one taught me about that. Look and see what the men are being paid. Really, just know your own worth and don't underestimate that, and don't let other people underestimate it. You're going to have to deal with being underestimated. I'm a woman and also a woman of color, and it took me a long time to realize what was going on. The gaslighting can be real. Talk to other people, talk to women who are a little bit advanced in their career, more advanced in their career. Ask them, because I think most people are really open to wanting to help the next generation. If they're not, then they're not worth your time. I honestly didn't really know how to do that myself, which is why I'm talking about the things I didn't do. I didn't have many female faculty when I was a student, so I learned from women I don't know who are writers or artists or filmmakers, people I really admire, or from my peers and the other women I'm working with. I spent a portion of my career primarily working in collaboration with a few other women, and I learned a lot from working with other people too. The stuff about advocating for yourself and talking to people - I didn't know how to do that at all.

Health and safety are definitely important values to me. I'm from a really hybrid background - I'm the child of a person who immigrated to the U.S. from India and a fourth-generation American white working-class person. I'm the product of people who reached far beyond where they came from to come together, and I think that's the value I really aspire to in all the things I do. One of the things about education that's most important to me is that I get to work in these environments where people are together from all different backgrounds. That kind of cultural mixing and bridging across different kinds of histories is crucial, and it involves a lot of listening and being tuned in. I really value sensory perception, so being present and doing what you need to do to maintain the tuning of the senses. I think that's kind of at risk in our culture right now with everything being so digital. My work really deals a lot with the wider natural world and being tuned in to other species and plant life. I think that connection is essential.