WOMEN IN STEM: In Conversation with Athena Brensberger
Science Communicator and international model, Athena Brensberger discovered her love for Space Science when, at 11-12 years old, her teacher asked her to pick a book off the shelf, to write a report on it and present it to her class.
As luck would have it, Athena picked out a picture book of photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and the images of distant galaxies and stars and planets blew her mind in such a way that she has never looked back!
Breaking stereotypes around what it means to be a space scientist, Athena spends her life educating and inspiring others by communicating and presenting Space Science in a way that is engaging, dynamic and relatable. Her secret formula? She rejects the notion of adopting a particular persona, in order to match stereotypical expectations and instead, brings all of her various interests, her multifaceted and bubbly personality and her authentic self to everything that she does.
Oh, but what a journey it’s been for her to get to where she is now!
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Athena grew up in New York and was constantly described as bubbly and talkative by her peers, her teachers and her parents. Speaking with her, it’s clear that her passion to communicate and authentically connect with others has been an integral part of who she is and a driving force since those early formative years. Her desire to connect with others sparked a curiosity in her that led her to immerse herself in dance, theater and the arts from a young age, which she describes as a great way to process the world.
“Science is language to explain what we see, whereas art is the way to express how we feel from what we see,” Athena explains.
Athena’s love for science, and space science, in particular however, emerged when she was 11 or 12 years old and her teacher asked her to select a book from the bookshelf in the classroom, write a report on it and present it to the class. Athena found herself drawn to a book that was colourful, sparkly and full of photographs, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, and it was there that she first experienced the wonders of space! The photographs of various stars, planets and galaxies were so awe-inspiring that she was initially convinced that they were artistic works or paintings done by a great artist. But when she learned that they were indeed photographs, that’s when the questions started flying around in her head non-stop.
“I remember thinking-wait! There’s more? There’s more out there? There’s more than just this…whatever it is I see? If there are other planets, there must be other life out there. Are there other humans? What are aliens like?”
Athena pinpoints this as a turning point in her life.
Even when she got into a performing arts school through their music program, she was gripped by the fact that the school had their own planetarium. She eventually took her first astronomy class there, which solidified her love for all things related to space. A few years later, she ended up enrolled at the College of Staten Island, where there was a whole astronomy department and an observatory waiting to fan the flames of her already profound interest in the surrounding world and universe.
It was the College of Staten Island, that she met her mentor, Dr. Liu, who she credits for taking her under his wing and making her fall in love with communication just as much as astronomy, using his charismatic and dynamic teaching style to make the sciences both fun and relatable…a legacy that Athena works to further today.
After completing around 80% of the program she was enrolled in, however, Athena made the unorthodox decision to leave school to pursue modelling. With the support of her mentors who encouraged her down the path of self-exploration, Athena ended up following this new path before her and she ended up travelling the world in the process, visiting places like South Korea and the Philippines- a country Athena hopes to visit again sometime in the future.
These days, at the age of 31, life has come full-circle and Athena is back at school, studying to finish her Bachelor of Science in Astronomical and Planetary Science at the University of Arizona, demonstrating that every journey can look different and that people don’t have to follow one set trajectory in life. “It’s never too late to go to school. It’s never too late to start school,” Athena says with a big smile. Other than her studies, Athena is also the founder of Astroathens, a platform dedicated to bringing science to non-scientists, that she established in 2014 and she also runs her own YouTube Channel that she has had for 6 years.
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Athena, however, as a woman in STEM. Even though she grew up in New York, which meant growing up around a lot of diversity and acceptance externally, when it came to starting her own venture as a scientist, she found herself confronted with internal sexist stereotypes that pressured her to conform.
Coming from a background of dance, theater and modelling, she thought that she would have to adopt the persona of what a scientist ‘should be’ if she was going to be taken seriously . “I thought I have to put [the arts] aside, if I want to do science.” Figuring that her peers might not take a bubbly, energetic, friendly, five foot ten blonde, wearing make-up and a fancy outfit as professional, she kept thinking that she could not be herself, if she was going to pursue this new career.
“I was wrong about that-especially today!”
Even though Athena started out in the world of science toning down her smiles, energy and bubbliness, she quickly realized that it was inauthentic and contradictory to who she was, and decided to just be herself, through and through instead. She says that nowadays, those stereotypes and expectations of what a woman ‘should look and act like’, are diminishing more and more, which is something to be glad for. “Stay confident in yourself and in who you are. In your own knowledge and in your own vision and in how you choose to present yourself to the world,” is her message to girls who feel the same pressure that she felt as a woman in STEM.
And Athena believes that there are so many ways that you can get involved in space science without being an astronaut. There are a plethora of fields from research, astroparticle physics, education, entertainment, inventions, sustainability and art that can incorporate space science. “You can always pursue creativity that is educational, that is helpful in reaching others to learn about science,” is Athena’s unique perspective on this.
All in all, despite a full plate of projects and ideas for the future, Athena shows no signs of slowing down or of losing her passion and curiosity for her line of work. In fact, she stresses that there is ‘space is for everyone!’ (pun totally intended) and that if you feel that there is no space for you on account of your differences, then rest assured that those differences are incredibly important and valuable. She astutely points out that even though science has been a certain way for many hundreds of years, the global developments in technology and the exponential growth of these industries worldwide over the past few decades have coincided with more women starting to work in areas that they hadn’t been able to work in before, bringing fresh perspectives to their industries.
“You bring something different to the table. We need that!... I can’t wait to see what the next five, ten, fifteen, fifty years are going to be like in the area of science!”
And we wholeheartedly agree!
We cannot wait to see what this new generation of confident and empowered girls, that Girl Boss Chess and incredible Girl Bosses like Athena Brensberger are inspiring, is going to look like. We just know that the impact that they will have in their fields and on the world is going to be undeniable and significant…and we are here for it all the way!
Sally Sampson
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