I hadn't heard of the spiral ceiling until I read Laura L. Mays Hoopes memoir, Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling. And after I read it, I realized I had the same opportunity as she while I worked with scientists and engineers in the aerospace industry. Unfortunately, I turned down the chance to be a manager early in my career, took a ten-year break from aerospace to raise my little boys, and by the time I went back, other smart women had passed me by. So I applaud Laura. She is an inspiration to all young professional women. She has proved that it is possible to have it all a fulfilling career, a loving marriage, and the experience of being a mother. As Laura prepares the eBook version of her memoir, she talks about her career and her writing and family life in The Next Big Thing Q & A. Here's Laura. *** Hi readers and writers, My own Next Big Thing is a new eBook version my memoir, Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes a DNA Scientist. It is … [Read more...]
This scientist leaned in years ago
Review of Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling by Laura L. Mays Hoopes
I can definitely relate to Laura L. Mays Hoopes memoir, Breaking the Spiral Ceiling: An American Woman Becomes A DNA Scientist (March 2011). She and I grew up at the same time, and we both entered careers in the scientific and engineering world. We also both experienced the inequities between men and women that abounded in that world. Though I am not a trained scientist as Laura (Laura got her Ph.D from Yale), I worked as a technical writer, editor and proposal manager in the aerospace industry and trained many scientists and engineers to write. However, Laura is not a scientist who needs writing help. Her memoir is easy to read even for non-scientists like myself, and her voice is humorous and friendly. Not only does she tell the struggles of moving up the spiral ladder in her scientific world, she shares her life as a wife and mother. During that time if woman wanted to make it in the man's world, she had to prove herself way more than her male colleagues. Plus, she couldn't let … [Read more...]