We don't do normal around here. It's not allowed. And today's story is about a woman who blazed her own trail. She did things her way and she didn't take the normal path in life.
This is a story of Ines Mejia, Mexican-American botanist. Hello everyone and welcome to Make Them Mainstream. My name is Danielle and I am the founder of Make Them Mainstream. Today is Wednesday so that means we are talking about an amazing, influential female in STEM.
And STEM... stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. But I'm getting ahead of myself. What is Make Them Mainstream?
Well, I help parents, educators, and businesses recruit and retain females in STEM. So I give them the tools and the resources that they need. need in order to make sure that they can encourage and facilitate female interest in STEM. So let's talk about Ynes Mejia. She grew up in the United States with her mother and father, but they divorced when she was young.
Her father moved back to his native Mexico and her mother stayed in the United States. Ynes would end up moving to Mexico with her father, but before that she would travel and live in different states in the United States with her mother. Ines was married twice and both marriages did not end so well. Her first husband unfortunately died and her second husband was very frivolous with money and they didn't have a very good marriage.
So she was living in Mexico at the time with him, ended up traveling to the United States so she could recuperate from the marriage and they ended up getting a divorce. It was here in the United States in San Francisco, California where she found her love. for nature.
She found this love when she joined the Sierra Club and she joined in order to get closer to nature. The Sierra Club is a grassroots movement in the United States and it is the largest in the nation. Their work includes environmental conservation.
So you can see how Ines got so involved with the environment. This love and passion for nature led Ines Mejia to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied natural sciences. She would study at UC Berkeley off and on for the next 16 years.
Oh, and did I mention... that she entered UC Berkeley when she was 51 years old, she knew that that was a young age. She knew that 51 still meant that she had so many years ahead of her to follow her dreams and to follow her passions.
So like I said, Eunice was in and out of school because she wasn't just studying she was actually going out into the world and doing something. Her first expedition was sponsored by Stanford University and she traveled to Mexico to collect plants to record them and so they could be used for scientific research. She ended up going with a group but Yanez Mejia found that she actually worked better alone.
She was adventurous, she was independent, and she wanted to do her own thing. So while in Mexico she decided to leave the group and go and trailblaze on her own. on her own. But Ines didn't just stop in Mexico. No, she traveled to Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, back to Mexico, and then back again to the United States.
Ines Mejia collected over 145,000 species of plants. In that collection, 500 of those species were new species that she discovered. And she now has 50 species of plants named after her.
Ines Mejia accomplished so much in life and everything that I've talked about today she accomplished after she was 50 years old. One more fact before I wrap this whole thing up. Ines Mejia traveled the Amazon River by herself on a steamboat, then a canoe, and then on a raft made of balsa wood. That is insane. Her life was filled with adventure and discovery.
Let Yanez Mejia's story inspire you to go after your dreams, to go after your passions, because it's... never too late to do that. If you enjoy just this little part of Yness Mahia's story, then I highly recommend you go to MakeTheMainstream.com so you can view the full article there.
I have put a link in the description below. Is there another female in STEM that you want to hear about? Is there a female in your life that Yness Mahia reminds you of?
If so, I want to hear about her in the comments below. If you liked this video, please subscribe I think you know what to do and if you love this video then please consider subscribing. Every Wednesday I talk about an influential female in STEM and every Thursday I talk about female STEM education for parents, businesses, and educators. But until then, happy learning!