About Me — Shakuntala Mitra
Becoming the woman and scientist of my younger self’s dreams
Why I Write
Recently, my dad informed me that he had found a couple of my old journals at home — from 10 years ago. One line, in particular, stood out:
“I tell everyone that I hate writing, but that’s not true. I love writing.”
Yet, none of the journals had more than a few pages written down. Sounds paradoxical, right? As talkative as I am, one thing I struggled with as a child was feeling heard, or just believing that what I had to say was worthwhile at all. That feeling of wanting to share and be understood while not knowing if I was worthy… I’m still working on it.
I am a scientist — formerly in biochemistry and currently in data science and artificial intelligence. I’ve always been fascinated by the human brain and the process of problem-solving.
I am also a neurodivergent woman of color. I love that description of me because saying “neurodivergent” almost sounds like I have some kind of superpower, but what it means is that I think and learn differently compared to what’s widely considered “normal”.
If I did have a superpower, it would be the ability to communicate exactly what I was feeling and thinking to others, telepathically. Effortlessly. Instantaneously, even. The ability to explain precisely what I mean and share the full picture of my experience with others. I don’t have a superpower, so that’s why I write.
My Journey
As a child, I was often punished for making mistakes, asking too many questions, or asking for help. My undiagnosed ADHD was misinterpreted as incompetence, so from a young age, I internalized that I would never achieve the level that I craved.
As a neurodivergent woman, I’ve struggled and pushed myself beyond my limits to be successful in an education system that was not designed with people like me in mind.
I struggled through the entirety of my four years at university. One of my biggest shames is that my hard work and true ability are never going to be reflected in my transcripts because I was frozen by the stigmas attached to academic failure and shied away from asking for help sooner. I could not be more grateful to the past me, who plucked up the courage to open up to a professional about my experiences — mere weeks before graduation. She laid the foundation for every single thing that I do now, that I could never have seen myself doing before.
Being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult validated my struggles and helped me reevaluate my journey through kinder eyes.
Embracing (and appreciating!) my neurodiversity was the keystone I needed to build a career that plays to my strengths. I enjoyed being a biochemist, but I had the most fun and felt the most fulfilled while working on data science and machine learning projects in college. Thanks to my biochemistry career, I was able to nurture my curiosity and natural affinity for iterative, experimental processes. I’ve grown to value the importance of asking questions and of drawing out the full story. I am diligent and rigorous in all my endeavors, and I am highly attached to the quality of my work. Working in the lab also taught me how to build trust and anticipate my teammates’ needs. These skills are now my greatest tools as a data scientist.
Most real-world problems are messy, and complex, and don’t have a clear black-and-white solution. Data science is my tool of choice for cutting through the noise and making sense of the chaos in the world. I love having the freedom to creatively problem-solve, explore different solutions, and communicate the stories hidden in messy data.
By pursuing data science, I am finally giving myself the freedom to fully chase my desires — not the ones fed to me, not the ones that feel safe, but the ones that creatively and intellectually fulfill me. I am evolving as a scientist and bringing my authentic self to the table.
I’m proud to say that writing this blog is me, heart cracked wide open — an ongoing exercise in radical self-love as I engage with the Data Science and Machine Learning community. My goal is to share with you a recklessly honest view of my tech journey and the things I learn along the way. Hopefully, you learn something new, too.
