This week we’re spotlighting a member of our community, sharing the first of a 4-week series on historical women in STEM, and seeking your input for 2026!
Got ideas or want to share your story? We’d love to hear from you! 🙂 >> erin@feminstem.co.uk & zahrah@feminstem.co.uk. 💜
Community Spotlight ⭐️
Hayley Blythe 💜
This week, we sat down with the lovely Hayley Blythe to chat about her journey into STEM.
Hayley’s path into engineering wasn’t completely linear; in fact, she initially imagined herself as a vet, but once she realised, she couldn’t face the idea of putting animals down, she began to explore other pathways. Growing up around motor sports, she developed a fascination with how things worked and that curiosity drove her to engineering!
As a mental health advocate, Hayley is open about her ongoing challenge of balancing ambition and well-being. Earlier in her career, she discussed how pushing herself too hard eventually led to panic attacks and burnout, forcing her to step back and re-evaluate what’s truly important. She realised, though, how integral boundaries are for a sustainable career; saying no when needed, not feeling guilty about logging off on time, and accepting help from others. Living with ADHD and having people-pleasing tendencies made this more complex but also deepened her empathy and resilience.
Hayley believes failure is integral to success. Once ashamed of mistakes and hesitant to seek help, she now views reaching out and learning from setbacks as essential for growth.
Her message to women in engineering today:
Seek allies (whether within or beyond your immediate team), trust your abilities, advocate for yourself, and remember that other people’s behaviour is not your responsibility. You deserve your place in STEM.
Weekly STEMspiration ⭐️
Historical Women in STEM
Over the next few weeks we are going to be spotlighting historical women in STEM who have been overlooked, despite contributing massively to our society. This week, we’re highlighting a pioneer in medicine… Alice Ball.
Alice Ball was an American chemist who discovered a breakthrough treatment for Leprosy (or Hansen’s disease). At just 23, Ball developed a chemical process that allowed for unusable oil to be safely injected. This became the first successful treatment for leprosy worldwide.
However, this was not without its challenges. Alice passed away unexpectedly, before she was able to publish her findings. A male chemist then found and continued her work, eventually publishing and eradicating her contributions completely. For decades, she was unacknowledged and uncredited for work she curated.
But the truth couldn’t be concealed forever! Through former students speaking up, scientific advocacy, and historical digging, Alice Ball was finally recognised as one of the most impactful medicinal chemists of the 20th century.
Alice Ball faced rejection throughout her life, in the form of structural dismissal from spaces that weren’t built for her and rejection from her place in history. Yet her legacy continues to remind us that setbacks and erasure do not get rid of its impact.
Community Updates 💜
Online & in-person events
| We realise we haven’t had an in-person event since our last amazing meet-up in November but that’s because we are busy planning lots of exciting activities for 2026!!I speak to a lot of women in STEM and it seems we all have common struggles in our professional life. I want to know if you’d like more webinars, workshops or career panels on these topics so we can build confidence, and success in our careers together! Let me know >> reply CONFIDENCE to this email so we know you’re interested 💜 DM if you’re interested in being a part of it >> DM me! |
| Get Involved |
| Got an idea for newsletter segments? Let us know by replying to this email! If you’re a STEM employer >> talk to me about your plans to improve inclusivity for women in STEM, let’s see how we can get you there together. If you’re a woman in STEM >> reach out and have your story featured! Young women need to see the generation of women before them working in industry to be inspired, that could be you! |
Thanks for being part of feminSTEM.
Erin 💜
Connect with me on LinkedIn
feminSTEM 
Leave a comment