Juliette Soulard, Associate Professor
My time at school was really tough. I was the only girl in a class of 30 at technical college in my native France. My classmates didn’t exactly make life easy for me. Luckily, I did have a very inspiring female role model, she was a 5ft 5in maths teacher, and a semi-professional basketball player!
Believe in yourself
I wouldn’t describe myself as extraordinary, but you don’t need to be extraordinary to succeed. Of course it is challenging being a woman in a ‘man’s world’ but if you are ambitious, motivated and most of all believe in yourself, then you can do anything, and I’m proof of that.
Support network
At KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, I joined a network of female professors. We shared experiences and we gave each other a little ‘push!’ I’ll never forget the support that I was given, and I try to pay back wherever I can. The world is not always a fair place and I’ve witnessed some terribly unfair treatment of colleagues. That said, there are some things you alone can’t change, so don’t waste your energy, hold your head high and keep going.
We are all fantastic and we all equal. To young women starting out I would say this: ‘believe in yourself - you can do it and you are good enough.’
