>> Women make up 48% of the workforce, but only hold 23% of jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math.

which is why three young women interested in those fields set out on a cross-country journey to talk to the trailblazers who came before them.

They hit the road in search of wisdom and guidance to find what it actually takes for women, passionate about the sciences, to build a life around doing what they love, because breakthroughs come from breaking down barrier.

A balanced equation.

[MUSIC] >> We are in Arizona.

>> About three weeks into the trip, I think we have a week and a couple days left.

>> We are headed to California, and it's kinda sad, cuz we have like one week.

>> It's been really cool to get to see the country.

It hasn't sunk in that I've done all of this.

>> It's been an amazing experience.

[MUSIC] >> Arielle you we're right for not one in the drive.

>> Mm-hm I know.

[MUSIC] So we're about to go interview and rock climb with Natalie Duran who has been on American Ninja Warrior.

>> Get your feet high.

Keep your feet high.

>> And she's a research scientist, so she does a lot of cool stuff.

>> Felicia?

>> Nice to meet you.

>> Ariel, nice to meet you Natalie.

>> I thought that climbing unto the roof of our RV was hard, but it was nothing compared to this.

>> I see like slight fear and a lot of excitement.

Okay, come on, so the kind of climbing that we're going to do today is called bouldering and it involves getting up the same color problem is what we call it and getting to the top or as high as you can.

>> Nice, you got it, there you go.

You're so close.

[MUSIC] >> Go again.

>> [LAUGH] This is so frustrating.

>> You're fighting for that one, I can feel it.

>> Where were you when you were our age?

>> I've always had a science background, and I love the sciences, so I went with a major of neuroscience.

Right, after that, I actually went here to UCLA in Los Angeles to do clinical research in gastroenterology.

I actually rock climbing my freshman year of college.

I wanted to stay fit, I wanna stay healthy.

It was something to distract me from the stresses of school.

I got to relax and be focused on myself, I fell in love with it.

It's a physical ability, but also having the mental confidence to do these obstacles.

Because, they're terrifying, you know, if you first look at them.

>> Fricken awesome.

>> And I felt like taking this in a day-by-day basis, like with studies and my research.

>> Woo.

>> This is my chance to show people all around the world that women are stronger than what people make them out to be.

Ahh.

>> Kind of break beyond the green.

And we're like quiet and timid, and that's nothing, what I am.

>> [LAUGH] >> Natalie Duran, so strong.

That's what I get from her.

It's just to be a strong woman.

>> Just be vivacious, and just fierce, and not limit yourself.

It's really empowering and encouraging.

[MUSIC] Our last stop on the road trip is San Francisco.

We have a couple days left.

A part of me doesn't want this to end.

[MUSIC] Traveling around has given me a lot of new perspective.

The gender gap, the fact that all these women have acknowledged it, means that there's still a lot of work to be done.

Last semester, one of my computer science recitations, I was the only girl in it.

There need to be more of us, this shouldn't be an issue.

>> Our last stop on the road trip is San Fransisco.

And we have a lot of interviews, so our days are gonna be really full.

We're about to go interview Debbie Sterling, the creator of Goldie Blocks Toys that combine storytelling with engineering for little girls.

>> I'm just so excited to meet her, because she's done something super cool.

>> Growing up, I thought that construction toys were for boys.

Girls play with Princesses, boys were the ones building.

And it made me realize that maybe that's the reason why so few girls grow up even considering engineering.

I became so obsessed with this idea.

It was all I could think about, all I could talk about, and it got to the point where it took over my life.

And I knew it was what was I was born to do.

Most people would say, wow, what a great idea, how does this not exist yet?

Go for it.

But other people would say, great idea, but did it ever occur to you that maybe there's a reason why boys are inclined toward building and girls are inclined towards dolls.

Maybe this is an up hill battle that you wont win.

So I picked up every piece of research I possibly could on this issue, gender differences, cognitive development in children, I talked to a neuro scientists, I met with teachers, pediatricians.

The first thing I learned is there's absolutely no male advantage to science or engineering or math at all.

It's irritating how much people continue to propagate that stereotype because it is not true What I identified was the lack of role-models.

Most kids, if you ask them to draw a picture of scientists, they draw a white male.

And so, we need to dispel that myth and shatter those stereotypes, especially for young girls.

I realize that about myself, that I'm a role-model.

And, I don't know if all of you know that you're role-models, but you are.

>> I think what you guys are doing on this trip is the greatest thing you could do, because you guys are out there, and you're representatives of what STEM or technology can be.

But also, that you're showing what all of these different people have done with that.

That's exactly the way to affect social change in the world.

>> So we are here to speak with Danielle Feinberg at Pixar.

>> In a couple of months, I will have hit 20 years at Pixar.

So I started Pixar fresh out of undergrad with my computer science degree in hand.

The movie I was working on was A Bug's Life, I was just so excited to be making movies.

I was like, we're making a movie.

This is so cool.

It's this perfect combination for me of art and technology, where there's some coding, a lot of problem solving and getting the computer to do what you want it to do.

But the end result is the visuals, which to me is so magical.

Where you are doing this very sort of left and right brain things, and that's kinda my happy place.

Do you have a favorite project that you've worked on, or like a favorite scene or something?

>> My favorite thing that I ever got to work on was I got to light the jelly fish sequence in Finding Nemo.

I was working on it, and I got all the pieces balanced just so, the kind of murkiness in the water, and the caustics on the bells of the jellyfish, and all of the fog beams and stuff.

And I showed it to the director, and the director was silent.

And you never know what that means right, and then he just started clapping.

And then the production designer started clapping, the whole room starts clapping.

And so it was this moment of, you put in this hard work late at night, and it all kinda came together to make you feel like, all right I do know what I'm doing and this is awesome, and we're making movies.

>> Thinking back along the way, have you had any challenges or obstacles that you've had to surmount to be successful, and if so how?

>> You know I think in a lot of ways my biggest obstacle is myself, in terms of, you know, assuming that I don't know something or that person knows more than I do.

And there was this epiphany of like wow, I have been putting myself down and having a bad internal voice over these assumed things that actually weren't even true.

And so it was a great lesson for me to just really speak up and get my voice in there.

Like when we worked on the film like Brave, and we have this awesome teenager.

And she has flaws, she is not some perfect character.

She has flaws, like we all do.

But she's also this powerhouse.

And she's fiery and spirited, but she's kind of battling what her parents want.

And it all felt like it's totally relevant to the sort of social issues we face today.

So the idea that I can take sort of my experiences in this amazing platform being able to effect change in that way is totally awesome.

>> All along this journey I just heard the word so many times.

And if I let the first no stop me, I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am today.

I've heard thousands of no's.

For every thousand no's you may get a yes.

So follow the yes', but don't stop with the no's.

>> In my experience, you can get a lot of things by working hard, and that actually is the most important thing is working hard.

It isn't that you have to have some genius for it or something.

It really actually is more about working hard at it.

And it's sort of a common thing to say, do what you love.

But it, man, when you are at work and you feel those moments of inspiration and love for what you do, it isn't work anymore.

It's like pure joy and you may be working long hours, like working on the jellyfish late at night.

But I didn't care, I was so happy.

It was just the greatest thing and I felt lucky to be able to do it.

So it is worth whatever it takes to get to that job you love.

>> It just seems very ridiculous.

All the glass ceilings out there, whether racial or gender >> This isn't just like a journey of girls through STEM, but a journey of like, humans through STEM.

And if we can eliminate this one problem, then the world would be so much better for it, and we could all just be humans finding our own way.

And not like, girls in STEM finding our own way through everything.

[MUSIC] >> So we're currently just outside of San Francisco and technically, it's really like the last day of the trip, it's the last full day.

>> There's an art to this Ariel, you wouldn't understand.

This is why I'm the master chef.

>> [LAUGH] >> And I'm the sous chef.

>> I think we're more open to being who we really are.

I think when we first met each other, you put your best face forward and you trying to get along and stuff.

But now we're showing who we are being our bubbly selves.

And I see Regina opening up and she's so funny.

And I think she was kind of quiet at first.

But she's like the jokester and stuff now.

Are you watching Sous Chef?

>> Yes, I'm watching.

>> Yes.

>> Alesia and Ariel, I feel like they've been of like big sisters to me Someone eat my eggs and compliment them.

>> These are the best eggs I've ever had.

>> Honestly, I've grown attached.

Half of me was afraid to do this trip because I was like, we're probably not gonna like each other, and we're gonna fight all the time.

Or it's just gonna be silent treatment cuz we don't get along and we have nothing to talk about.

And it is so much the opposite.

I'm just gonna miss everybody.

>> Have you been in the?

>> I didn't ask you to sing.

So our last interview is going to be with Kari Byron who was a MythBuster and like my childhood hero.

[SOUND] >> Kari Byron.

>> Hello we're here.

Kari is the reason I grew up wanting to be an engineer.

As a little kid, I wanted to be a MythBuster, not knowing that was what an engineer did pretty much.

That was my first introduction to engineering.

I can't say I would've pursued engineering without that, and I know that sounds really weird, but I didn't have the exposure to it.

That was my exposure.

And then she was the reason I never stopped to think, a woman can't do that.

[MUSIC] >> This is seriously the interview I've been looking forward to the most this whole trip.

So I'm absolutely freaking out.

[MUSIC] >> Hi there.

>> Hi.

>> Hi.

>> Hi.

>> Hello.

>> Elisia.

>> Elisia.

>> Hi, Ariel.

>> Ariel.

>> [MUSIC] So as a kid, I grew up watching MythBusters so you were my female role model.

And even though I didn't know what an engineer was, I knew that's what I wanted to do based off off of watching it.

So I understand how significant that exposure was for me.

So, can you give us some background as to how you got to this point in your life, now?

>> Yeah, before I had gotten into MythBusters, I wanted to get into special effects.

I came up during the golden era of special effects where that was the magic in movies.

Where people actually created practical effects.

So I took an internship at M5 Industries, which is a prop shop.

And my first day as an intern also was the first day that MythBusters started filming at M5 Industries.

And I got into this show MythBusters because I was just willing to go the distance and do anything.

They were going out to the desert, to put some Jada Rockets on an old Impala, and buzz it across The desert and try to make it jump into the air.

Well, I was working two jobs so that I could have the internship.

I had a job before and after my internship during the day.

I didn't sleep so much.

And I really wanted to see this wild creation happen.

So even after my waitressing job ended at night, I drove myself all night long down to the desert, slept three hours in the parking lot until their vans got up to go film.

And then just ran out and was like, I'm going with you.

I got people waters, I helped out.

They needed a wrench or a bolt I went and I got it.

And I just made myself important to them long enough to become part of it.

And I think my enthusiasm and my willingness to do the hard work for no money made them say okay, she's dedicated enough that maybe we're gonna bring her on.

>> Look the 747 is putting out 54,000 pounds of thrust per engine.

[MUSIC] >> What was the experience like, the television role?

Because you didn't start off wanting to be in television.

>> No, everyone who knew me as this kid or young adult was sort of shocked that this is the trajectory of my life.

Because I was shockingly shy, to the point where during junior high, the girls walking to school across the street, I use to wait for them to leave their house, so that I could walk on the other side of the street and wait for them to invite me to walk with them.

And then I didn't talk to them the whole way.

And I just, I consider them my best friends even though I was so quiet and shy.

And that and lasted all the way to high school and I was kinda doing what you guys are.

I did not know what to do with my life.

I was scared, I found the ending of college to be terrifying cuz that's when you actually have to take the real steps to figure out what you're doing with your life.

It was hard just finding a major.

So the day I left college, I got a rough ticket around the world and I just started traveling.

For a year, I went from country to country, to country on very, very little money.

Just trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.

And I found that the experiences I had made me brave.

Because I did so many things I didn't think I could do, and it made me stronger.

I feel like traveling is the best possible education you could give yourself to being brave, and learning why not?

Because these opportunities will come your way.

And you can choose to be scared and not take them.

Or you can just go for it and see what happens, cuz what's the worst that can happen?

I take an internship at this prop shop.

I'm terrible at it, I'll have to try something else.

I did it in an advertising agency, I did it for all sorts of different places to figure out what I didn't want to do before I found out that this was fun, and I liked it.

>> I like going back to what you said earlier, about being a shy kid.

Which is funny, because you're such a charismatic TV personality, and now advocate too.

So I'm just wondering, what the steps were for you overcoming, kind of your shyness, and I guess just breaking those barriers.

And if you ever feel that shyness even now or.

>> Yeah, it's almost crippling sometimes.

I am terrified of public speaking and I have to do it all the time.

And before I go on stage, my hands sweat and my feet sweat and my throat closes up.

And I just take that first step and then just let it go.

Because I've also grown up with a crippling depression where I go through big bouts of uncertainty and have found that I've had to just some days take one foot in front of the other until I made it through.

And that's really difficult in a career where there's a camera on you and people are looking at you all the time.

And I'm hoping that by telling other people that I have this, that maybe they can get over their shyness as well just by going for it.

So do you think that Mythbusters experience has kind of narrowed your scope or interest in television to science?

Are you now an advocate for science?

>> I feel like more than an advocate for science, I'm an advocate for girls because I didn't have strong role models of women in strong careers coming up.

Like all the women on TV, if they were on medical shows, they were the nurses, they weren't the doctors.

I didn't really see that.

If I had to wait around for a role model myself, I probably would have never got one.

So when you guys tell me that that inspired you, it makes me want to cry because I never set out to try to Be a role model.

And, my God, look at you.

You're killing me right now, you're killing me.

>> Are you crying?

>> [LAUGH] >> It's sort of a wonderful side effect that's happened from the show.

And I love it so much, I love it so much.

My God, I'm gonna hug you right now.

I'm gonna hug you.

[LAUGH] I was like freaking out.

>> [LAUGH] a year or so.

>> She has been.

>> I met my childhood hero.

[LAUGH] I'm still like excited and like, so excited.

[LAUGH] I don't how long it's going to take me to process.

I don't think it's sunk in yet.

I don't know if it ever will sink in.

It's such a incredible feeling.

I hear her struggles and how she still became something so amazing going through the same things.

It's empowering.

Tomorrow we're all flying home forever.

>> [LAUGH] Hasn't kicked in yet.

>> It's a bunch of mixed emotions.

I've grown really attached to everybody in this RV.

[MUSIC] Don't film me putting my underwear away.

Do something interesting Alesia.

[MUSIC] >> I can't dance.

>> I feel like we don't only learn from people who are teachers and professors and these leaders.

We've also learned from each other.

I've learned so much from Alesia and Ariel.

And they're role models to me.

And going forward, I know that I'll have them.

We have our own little crew.

And I know I can alway count on them.

Does anyone want to sit on my bag with me?

This is really heavy.

[SOUND] [LAUGH] Sorry.

>> We talk about the future, and what we're gonna do in the future together.

But I think it's because we sincerely like to see these relationships sticking around.

>> It's not the end of our journey together.

>> I've never had sisters, and so, to have this bond with them I feel like, you know, they are my sisters.

It's like it's a family, and I'm gonna miss them a lot.

I love my room.

You're trying to make me cry, and I'm not gonna do it.

[LAUGH] I'm not gonna do it.

>> All these women were telling us about support networks that they had.

And I think it's so important that we all form them.

I think that's what was missing from my experience this year in college, was just finding that strong support network of women in STEM.

>> It's about being in a community.

Because I think the times in my life where I had the most difficulty, and the greatest struggle, was when I was isolated.

Nobody does it by themselves.

You always have to have that support.

>> Just seeing women doing it and hearing their stories, I think that that helps me a lot.

>> There actually are a lot of us now, more than there used to be.

I felt like when I was your age that wasn't the case.

I really couldn't see a single woman who had a job that I wanted.

And so one thing is to just make us more invisible.

That's my goal now is to be a role model.

>> I need to just keep doing what I'm doing.

I need to be that woman and an engineer.

I need to be that role model.

>> It's kind of our job to take it into our own hands and bring the next one in and tell her you know you can do this too.

Road Trip Nation!

>> [LAUGH] The fact that only a month ago we were in Boston, and now we're in San Francisco, I did that.

I drove across the country.

I've seen more in the last month of my life than I think I'd seen in the 20 years leading up to this.

[MUSIC] >> The thing I had to teach myself after college was how to hear my own voice amidst the noise.

You have to hear your voice before you can follow it.

And so getting to know yourself is maybe the work of this phase of your life.

>> I've definitely realized that I love exploring and just seeing new things and going to new places.

The difference now from the start of the trip is that I'm not trying to picture my career because I feel like it could be anything.

>> [LAUGH] >> Be playful and unafraid, and just experimental and curious.

Don't act in fear, act in curiosity, passion, and joy.

>> It's just exciting to think that there are all these new things that haven't been tried yet and that we can try ourselves.

The future just feels very open.

>> Before, I felt like I wasn't gonna get into medical school, so I was planning on changing my career.

I'd kinda given up.

I mean, I'd still work a job, which is fine, if that's what you wanna do.

But that's not what I wanted to do, and so now I have a little more confidence that I can keep going.

>> You start to second guess yourself in your skills, but it doesn't matter what anyone else is saying about me, it is something that I can do.

>> Instead of finding out, this is not for me, I wanna do something else, these are women that are just like me.

And so I do belong here.

I'm just excited about that, the realization that I really do belong in science.

>> I think there's a huge difference between living life and experiencing life.

Somewhere along the way I lost my passion for anything I was doing.

I don't think I realized how lost I was until I started to find it again.

>> Are you gonna cry?

>> You.

>> Aw.

>> Don't cry.

>> This is gonna be sad.

Don't let go.

>> I think at the end of the day, this road trip brought back that excitement to be amazing.

[MUSIC] >> To learn more about how to get involved or to watch interviews from the road, visit roadtripnation.com.