I am deeply committed to mentoring and providing research experience as a critical pathway into STEM to my students and mentees. I have mentored a wide range of both undergraduate and graduate students. I continually try and improve my mentoring strategies. As a graduate students completed UCLA’s Entering Mentoring Training and constantly look for feedback from my mentees of what works for them. I use approaches like mentoring compacts, frequent dialogues, and tailoring our interactions to meet individual needs for support, communication, and guidance. Nearly 80% of my mentees have been have self identified to be from groups that are significantly underrepresented in biology (this includes a mix of genders, ethnicities, neurodiversities, and disabilities). Being able to talk about my personal experiences and struggles helped them realize that they too could pursue research as a career goal. I actively recruit and work with students who may not stand out on paper. Often these students have amazing drive and passion to learn, but never formally applied to lab positions because they did not think they would be selected.