My name is not Daisy.
My Worst Moment: Thinking my husband would leave me because of what happened. Feeling like I had nothing to live for.
Daisy gave her mentor the benefit of the doubt. When he sexually assaulted her, she says she was ‘lucky’ to have short term disability to cover part of her salary. Daisy declined to provide a photo
I Have Given Up On: Assuming everyone is basically good and has good intentions. I missed a lot of red flags because I thought he was my mentor and “he couldn’t possibly mean it that way”.
I’m Afraid for all the women who don’t have the means to recover from harassment or assault.
This Has Cost Me: I was very lucky. I had short term disability which enabled me to be paid at 60% while I recovered. I had health insurance that covered part of my hospital stay, outpatient counseling and medication. My new job actually paid me MORE than the one I had to quit when I was assaulted. I would estimate I lost about $6K in wages and spent around $2K on my medical care, and other $2K in lawyers fees. However, I can’t put a price on my lost productivity and all the extra administrative labor related to my assault.
Something You Should Know About Me: I make up silly sons to distract my son when he’s cranky 🙂
Is There a Bright Side: For me, I have become a passionate advocate of diversity and inclusion. I never attended a SWE conference in undergrad, because I thought it was lame. Now I actively seek out female-only conferences to network, recruit and champion women’s issues. I validate other women’s experiences when they confide in me. For women in STEM as a whole, I do hope we can move forward to a better place.
My Fight Song:
My Secret Weapon: My amazing network of women friends and mentors.