I’ve been going over the exercises in the Aurora booklet, corresponding to the first day, “Identity, Impact and Voice”. These exercises are mostly focused on improving the impact you might have on others. Reflecting on the women that inspire me, and the techniques discussed during the first Aurora day, I’d like to try channelling leaders to remind me how to improve certain aspects. Here there is my very personal channelling list, with names that I already mentioned and some extra ones:

  • Aquí estoy or I’m in charge (Rosalía): Depending on the circumstances, this can mean to occupy my space without being sorry and/or that I’m here to tell something important to me and thus, that it will be worth your attention. Besides trying out channelling my inner Rosalía, it’ll be great to work on improving my story telling skills.

  • A lo grande or Thinking big (Marie Curie, Beatrice Tinsley). Dream big enough to stretch beyond my current comfort zone and grow. This connects with having a growth mindset, enjoying the learning process in search of answers to questions that drive me forwards. This is also related with allowing myself to think crazy big, to not just focus on the next couple of papers/projects, even if these will end up taking years to complete.

  • A producir or Be effective producing papers (Claudia Lagos, Risa Weschler). I find easy to distract myself with collaborative work or with other type of work that is not actually producing first author papers, the academic measure of worth. Every day, I need to remind myself to keep working on my own projects. Writing papers is tough, but is also were I learn the most.

  • Inmigrante y feminista or Bring your heritage (Angela Saini, Emma Watson). Many times I feel uncomfortable about talking from my condition of woman, immigrant, lover of dance, etc. I need to channel my inner Angela to bring what has shaped me to work, as any of the aspects that build me can actually bring a different perspective to the table if I allow myself to speak proudly with them.

  • Atiende todas las áreas de tu vida or Life is more than work (Gemma Pérez, Simona Lafuente, Marina Díaz). In order to be satisfied and produce good work, I need to be healthy, both mentally and physically, and to have strong, meaningful relationships.