The real influencers | Serve as an example

(Farah Alibay, Frantz Saintellemy and Stéphanie Harvey) They broke through in areas where they sometimes had trouble recognizing themselves. Today, Farah Alibay, Frantz Saintellemy and Stéphanie Harvey are paving the way for those who would be tempted to follow them.

Engineer Farah Alibay remembers her early days in the aerospace industry. The one who describes herself as “racialized woman, immigrant, with red hair and queer” looked around her and did not find many people who looked like her.

” It’s difficult. We all experience impostor syndrome. When things are not going well and you turn around and no one around you looks like you… You wonder: is there really a place for me here? “says the one who works today at NASA.

The new chancellor of the University of Montreal and president and chief operating officer of LeddarTech, Frantz Saintellemy, notes that “there are not many people from Afro-descendant communities who have succeeded in the field. high technology”.

“There were hardly any women in the early 2000s when I started my first tournaments, maybe two or three girls among 500 or 1000 guys,” recalls the designer and former champion. of video game Stephanie Harvey.

All three today represent models of atypical success in their field, capable of exerting an influence on young people who would be tempted to follow in their footsteps.

“Many times, women have told me that they entered the industry because they had seen me on TV or in an interview,” explains Stéphanie Harvey, who recently published missharvey, gamer and proud of ita book that focuses on the concept of cybercitizenship.

Beyond the glass ceiling

Although she notes that women remain “very, very underrepresented” in the video game industry, she takes pride in being able to inspire others.

“It confirms that what I do is worthwhile. Sometimes, getting up in the morning to go do an interview on the radio when I had practices until 1 a.m. the day before, I was less tempted. »

Farah Alibay finds that things are slowly changing in genius. The proportion of women with a bachelor’s degree in engineering remains around 20% and is rising at a snail’s pace.

The one who acquired immediate fame with the Mars 2020 mission multiplies the conferences in schools in Quebec. She says she received a message from a girl recently. “She wrote to tell me that I had come to her CEGEP to give a conference. She decided to go into aerospace and today she works in that field. »

Early in her career, she noticed that executives didn’t look like her. She says she wondered if there was not a glass ceiling and that she would suffer the repercussions.

Frantz Saintellemy notes that his “models were of all origins, all colors, all cultures”. “I don’t just like to limit myself to people who look like me physically,” he says.

Her “real influencers” were her high school teachers. Arrived from Haiti at the age of 8, he had trouble understanding the sharp Quebec accent of some of them. The young introvert withdrew into himself, was seen as struggling.

Then a handful of teachers made gestures to help him come out of his shell and realize himself, remembers the man who founded Groupe 3737, a center for innovation and entrepreneurial diversity located in the Saint-Michel district. , to Montreal.

“Leadership is about getting people to do more. I was lucky. I’ve met people like that. »