GWC Summer Speaker Series ft. NASA astronaut Christina Koch
Do What Scares You
Our Summer Speaker Series brings leaders and activists together with our CEO and Founder Reshma Saujani to have conversations about bravery, activism, and tech, broadcasted exclusively to our girls.
We’re so grateful to NASA astronaut Christina Koch for joining this Summer Speaker Series. Check out more of what we learned from his conversation with Reshma.
BEING THE FIRST IS HARD, SO INVOLVE PEOPLE IN YOUR JOURNEY
The last time Reshma and Christina spoke, Christina was literally in space, on the International Space Station. Reshma and her son Shaan got a virtual tour of the station and everything! While she was up in space, Christina had the honor of participating in the first all-female spacewalk with astronaut Jessica Meir. We talked to her about how hard and isolating it can be to be “the first,” and how she manages.
Christina said that one of the most important things for her, to manage the isolation of being first, was to connect with her friends — to share her experiences no matter how technical or different they might be from what her friends were experiencing. By involving people in your journey and sharing what you love about it, she said, you are able to endear them to your passion and what you love. And then, you’re all on the journey together.
BE AUTHENTICALLY YOURSELF, AND REMIND YOURSELF “THESE PEOPLE THINK I’M AWESOME”
Sometimes we feel like we have to be someone we’re not because we feel like we’re representing our entire gender or our entire race, and that leads to feeling like we have to fit in or avoid being noticed. But the truth is, says Christina, you might be surprised to see your relationships with colleagues actually grow when you do bring your whole authentic self.
And by the way, we loved the tip that Christina shared with us about combating stereotype threat. So often, we walk into a room and think “oh my gosh these people are all going to roll their eyes at me.” Instead, do the opposite. Think, “these people think I’m awesome” or “someone told these people that I’m really good at this.” It’s a helpful little trick, and we can’t wait to use it!
DO WHAT SCARES YOU
Christina has said before, “do what scares you.” And we’ve heard that a lot! But we’re not all born astronauts, right? So we love that Tiffany from New Jersey asked, what is the first step towards facing your fears? (We’d been taking notes this whole time, but definitely underlined this tip in our notes!).
The first step, said Christina, is to separate the healthy fears that actually scare you, from the fears that are there because of your lack of confidence or because you can’t possibly imagine yourself doing certain things.
For example, Christina said she’d love to start an organization focused on equality and human rights one day — but she’s terrified about what that might take and whether she could do it! In reality, she says, those are all fears that will just help her learn more, be more prepared, and do better in the end.
One tactic that Christina uses is to replace feelings of anxiety with future feelings of accomplishment — to imagine how she’ll feel when achieving what she set out to do. We’re definitely doing this when we write our next line of code!
Take it from the woman who said, “ I would always joke with my friends that my job was to go into work and be really bad at something that I was just learning.” She had to learn to spacewalk, speak Russian, fly a high performance jet, work a robotic arm in just a year — and that’s not even the half of it! Do what scares you, take it one day at a time and remind yourself: you can do it.
AND FINALLY, SUPPORT YOUR SISTERS (OR IN CHRISTINA’S CASE, HER ASTRO-SISTERS!)
In space, sisterhood means french-braiding each other’s hair so that it stays tucked in when you go out on your spacewalk. Seems like some next level sisterhood to us! While that is actually true (Jessica and Christina used to french-braid each others hair alongside their briefings and technical prep on the ISS), Christina says that sisterhood is really about prioritizing your sisters. Or as they call each other, “astro-sisters.” Make time for your sisterhood even if you are busy, and even if they haven’t asked for it. Doing that, said Christina, builds a sense of trust and a bond rooted in resilience and bravery. That’s the bond that will carry you through.
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Huge thanks to Christina Koch, and of course, to Reshma for having this conversation!
The Girls Who Code Summer Speaker Series is a set of conversations between Girls Who Code Founder and CEO Reshma Saujani and leaders and activists broadcasted exclusively to girls enrolled in our Virtual Summer Immersion Program. Girls have the opportunity to listen in to a fireside chat and then to ask their own questions about bravery, leadership, and tech. To find out more, read our press release here.
