For Women's History Month 2020, the editors at Women of Color magazine have put together inspirational quotes from scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians who won the top award at the Women of Color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference over the last 24 years.

“I’m excited by the NSF’s ten big ideas that will impact most significantly. Seeding innovation, harnessing the data revolution, and the future of work at the human-technology frontier are but a few of these ideas that will bring people together to solve global problems."— 2019 Technologist of the Year, Pamela McCauley, professor & laboratory director, University of Central Florida

"Growing up, I wasn’t exactly sure where my love for STEM would lead. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, there aren’t too many paths laid out for an African American girl from Detroit interested in learning about how things worked. So, I decided to forge my own." — 2018 Technologist of the Year, Donna L. Bell, director of research operations, Ford Motor Company

“Industry is always going to need people who can innovate. The technology we have today wasn’t here when our parents were young. We Americans love to be the first at doing something. Innovation is a part of our core.”—2017 Technologist of the Year, Denise Gray, CEO, LG Chem Power Inc.

"The future is never an exact repetition of the past. You have to take risks.”— 2016 Technologist of the Year, Aleksandra Boskovic, research director, Corning Incorporated

“The award opened up a lot of career conversations in and outside of my company. It definitely gave me access to executive-level connections and conversations I wasn’t having before. I don’t think where I was in middle management, those conversations would have occurred as quickly.” — 2015 Technologist of the Year, Delia Grenville, research scientist, Intel Corporation

“Any time you are driving for results and moving fast, you will make mistakes. Don’t pretend you have all the answers. Having a level of humility goes a long way.” — 2014 Technologist of the Year, Alicia Boler-Davis, senior vice president, General Motors

"While working to improve an existing product and in the process of trying to understand how the software worked for the product, I realized we were solving the wrong mathematical problem; a nearby problem, but still the wrong problem. Recognizing and fixing the issue which significantly improved performance brought me a real sense of accomplishment." — 2013 Technologist of the Year, Camille D'Annunzio, manager, Automated Sensor Exploitation Technology Center, Northrop Grumman

"Remember along the way, engineering is a great adventure." — 2012 Technologist of the Year, Sonya Sepahban, senior vice president, General Dynamics Land Systems

"I knew that if I was going to have a better life this was the field to focus on, back in the early 1970s." —2008 Technologist of the Year, Irene Hernandez Roberts, program director, IBM Software

"I didn’t grow up where people talked about stocks around the table at night or what was going to happen in the market the next day. But I was fortunate to work for the first female vice president at Northrop Grumman. Suzanne used to tell us ‘If you want to work in this industry and you want to be competitive, you’ve got learn how to have 'rhino hide'—not take anything personally.’” — 2007 Technologist of the Year, Chineta Davis, vice president, Northrop Grumman

“When I started doing research in ceramics, I came up with theories based on rocks that were different from the conventional wisdom at Corning. The experts did not agree with me and they were not interested in me coming up with different theories. I don't want anybody to go through that kind of pain of being undervalued.”— 2006 Technologist of the Year, Lina Echeverria, vice president, Corning Incorporated

“I would like to share a quotation. It's part of a Sanskrit shloka ( a form of Hindu prayer) from the Gita: 'Karmanyeva dhikaraste, ma faleshu kadachanam.' This means we have a right to our work and duty but do not have a total claim on the results and achievements.” — 2004 Technologist of the Year, Dr. Asha Goyal, vice president, IBM Global Services