From whistleblowing to raising millions: Fearless women who turned career setbacks into opportunities

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’re resharing stories from professionals featured in our #Catalyst series. Whether it’s blowing the whistle on powerful officials, creating a company from scratch, or building a new generation of robots, these women pushed past challenges to overcome self-doubt and find success on their own terms.?

Standing by your why

?Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha used hard data to expose a deadly water crisis in her city. ?After discovering traces of lead in her patients’ blood work while serving as a director of a pediatric residency program at Hurley Children’s Hospital in Flint, Michigan, Hanna-Attisha held a press conference.?

“Shortly thereafter, I was attacked by almost every arm of government, saying I was wrong, that my data was wrong, that I was an ‘unfortunate researcher,’ that I was ‘splicing and dicing’ numbers,' ' Hanna-Attisha said.

She began to second-guess herself, her research, and her credentials.?

But Hanna-Attisha stayed her course — and likely saved countless lives in the process by sounding the alarm on one of the nation's biggest public health crisis.?

Get the details of Dr. Hanna-Attisha’s story here.

The Power of Different

Often one of the only women or Black people in the lab, Dr. Ayanna Howard built an illustrious career in robotics, working on a number of exciting projects including NASA’s next generation of Mars rovers.?

Howard’s career was propelled to new heights when she learned just how important diversity of thought and experience are for success. Her and her team were grappling with a design problem when building a robot meant for icy conditions; the problem was that no one on her team had ever lived anywhere where it snowed regularly.

“When you're part of a team or when you're creating a team, look and make sure that you are all not the same,” Howard said. Being different from other teammates, or as Howard puts it, being the “one and only” is actually a superpower.?

Learn more about Howard’s innovative work here.

Letting go of labels

Former Secret Service special agent and best-selling author Evy Poumpouras learned how to read people’s behavior to become an expert lie detector after getting duped early in her career.?

Dealing with a woman she thought was a victim, she let her guard down and missed red flags because, “She didn’t look like what I thought my fraudster should look like,” Poumpouras said.

After training to be a polygraph examiner and interrogator, Poumpouras looked back on that incident and realized she had not been paying enough attention to the woman’s behavior – the key to figuring out a person’s intentions.?

“Sometimes we get lost because we’re so quick to label… that we don’t pause to really look at the behavior,” Poumpouras said. “Pay attention to people. When you’re speaking to people, talk less, listen more. In fact, shut up.”?

Learn more about Poumpouras’s career as a special agent here.

Becoming the money?

Inspired by her heritage, Sandra Velasquez created Nopalera, a luxury soap company that uses Mexican botanicals like the nopal cactus.

She bootstrapped the operation for the first two years but when her products started selling out, Velasquez knew she needed to raise capital in order to grow.

As a startup founder, she felt hindered by a sense of desperation for money when meeting with potential investors. Velasquez soon realized, “you have to show up feeling confident like you could walk away from an offer.”

With her new mindset, she surpassed her goal and raised $2.7 million in her Series A funding. “Be the money,” Velasquez said.

More on the secrets of Velasquez’s success here.?

Figuring out your true calling

Sister Monica Claire found her true calling when she finally started listening to her authentic self.?

After years struggling to make it as an actress and toiling in the advertising industry, she realized she was deeply unhappy because she’d spent her life doing what other people told her to do.?

A combination of therapy, lots of research, and learning to follow her own intuitions eventually led Sister Monica Claire to quit her job and join an Episcopalian convent in New Jersey.

“Nothing would have changed if I had continued to be scared,” Sister Monica Claire said.

Learn more about how Sister Monica Claire overcame her fear and tapped into her true self here.

Have you struggled with setbacks and self-doubt in your career? How did you get past it? We want to hear from you in the comments.

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More Catalyst stories featuring fearless women: Rae Wynn-Grant ? Lina Taylor ? Caitlin Keating ?? Jen Liao ?? Jane Turner ? Lizzy Talbot ? Angie Nwandu ? Adrian Solgaard ? Julia Stewart ? Martinus Evans ? Simidele Adeagbo? ?? Sandra Velasquez ?Sarah Robb O’Hagan ? Patrice Banks ? Saori Kawano ? Cheryl McKissack Daniel ? Ayanna Howard ? Martina Edwards ? Megan Piphus Peace ? Colleen Curtis ? Meghana Dhar ? Dr. Sian Proctor