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Becoming Your Best Advocate

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What is self-advocacy? Self-advocacy involves speaking up for yourself, your worth, and your needs. The concept of self-advocacy transcends disciplines and its’ mastery is critical for the career development and promotion of scientists at all stages of training. Self-advocacy requires you to bring attention to yourself and your needs, which may be a particularly uncomfortable task for trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds. Under-represented minority scientists are often the only person from a particular background in their group, department, or institution, and thus they may not feel a strong sense of support in their current position. Unfortunately, under-represented minority scholars often feel as though they are responsible for carrying the weight of their communities as they complete their training, and this will not be corrected until dedicated efforts are put forth by the scientific community to support diversity and inclusion. For example, under-represented minority scientist