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Being a woman in today’s scientific community isn’t easy. CU Boulder’s group invited , Founder and CEO of Bossed Up, to teach us the tools to improve our communication skills in a sold-out event last week. Aries is a nationally recognized speaker, writer, podcaster and is well-known for her TED Talk “The Power of No.”

From the moment she walked to the front of the room, she had us captivated with her witty and confident speaking style. The first thing she addressed was the difference between assertive (taking into account others’ opinions and feelings) and aggressive (not taking into account others’ opinions and feelings) forms of communication. She fiercely led us through scenarios where these new communication tools could be put to use. We laughed and more importantly we learned how to be assertive in truly difficult situations – when your advisor asks you to stay late to process research for a conference (again), when a lab partner mentions that you “didn’t really do much work” on the collaborative project, or when someone decides that everyone in the office should listen to their music.

Aries was a fantastic teacher, and I love how she took the time to go over all the details – not only what to say, but also taking into account our posture, our tone and our vocal fillers. The workshop left all of us in higher spirits and feeling more powerful in our communication.

Shout out to Haley Sohn, the organizing mastermind behind this event. With the help of Meredith Canode, Cami Uzcategui, Leila Saleh, Katherine Hale, Kenneth Anderson, Jona Koka, Adrienne Blevins, Nicholas Bongiardina, and Kaitlyn Garifi, she was able to bring Aries here for such a wonderful event.

Don’t miss any future WiSE events which can be found on our .

Katelyn Long is a third-year organic chemistry PhD student.