We had the good fortune of connecting with Ishani Bakshi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ishani, what do you attribute your success to?
Though most people characterize awkwardness as a byproduct of middle school parties, bad hair days, and bad jokes, in my experience, tackling awkwardness has been the key to building my youth organization. For the Women’s Alliance in STEM and Humanities (WASH), I have often had to approach teenagers I barely know from MUN conferences, and professors I meet on college tours, and ask them to help expand WASH. The initial approach is awkward and so is the inevitable interrogation: who runs this? how is this legitimate? what do you want from me? Many Gen Z might derive second hand embarrassments from such cold approaches, but these approaches helped me expand WASH across several continents and develop a mentor base of multiple Ivy League alumni and faculty.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Going into freshman year, I faced a conundrum: what do I do? Far from short on interests, I did not know how to combine my political interest with my natural inclination towards STEM and my need to talk to people. However, through a series of lucky coincidences, I somehow found my career path. Others in my position weren’t as lucky. So, I created the Women’s Alliance in STEM and Humanities (WASH, https://womensalliancestem.wixsite.com/wash) to empower women through dynamic workshops and community events. Initially, we only had 30 students and two volunteers (including myself), but slowly that number grew to 30+ chapter leaders, 1500+ students, and around 15k raised. It was not easy; it was a product of begging, compromising, and learning. Nothing about running an organization comes easy. It is simultaneously an exercise in management and in knowledge, and therefore, also wholly not worth it unless you believe in the mission of your work as I do for WASH.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Personally, I always view a city through its food. A visit to Dallas would not be complete without tacos from the Resident Taqueria, Italian at Lucia, and barbecue at Cattlelack. Of course, the food would need to be walked off in the Dallas Arts District!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to dedicate this shout out to my organization- not its funding or impact stats- but to its people. To all the volunteers willing to take their summers to teach young kids about interdisciplinary sciences. To all the board members hopping on calls and following my rambling about future Hackathon and collaborations. To all our community partners (ex: The South Plainfield Public Library) for taking a chance on a local youth organization, and helping us host wonderful STEM days, book drives, and clothing drives. This is a shout out to everyone who has built the Women’s Alliance in STEM and Humanities for what it is: a family.

Website: https://womensalliancestem.wixsite.com/wash

Instagram: @women_stem_humanities23

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@womensalliancestem_humanities?si=_5xuO-MR-xErrOLH

Image Credits
Wendy McNeil – the photo of myself

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