Sylvia Acevedo became a Girl Scout when she was seven, a life-changing moment that propelled her into a field with few Latinas: science and engineering. After earning her science badge by building model rockets, she realized she loved math and science and eventually became one of the first Latinas at NASA.

She faced several obstacles. Once, after winning a college scholarship for engineering, the committee couldn’t believe a woman had won and sent a team of men to test her. The test? Changing the oil in a car. In one of her first jobs, there wasn’t even a bathroom available for women. Following her dad’s advice to work hard and find her own solutions, she brought a bike to work so she could bike to the nearest women’s bathroom.

Now she is the CEO of the Girl Scouts, and she finds satisfaction in encouraging girls to envision themselves in science and engineering jobs, hoping to inspire them to follow in her footsteps.

She recently released a book for young adults about her life titled, “Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Science.”

Photo courtesy of Girl Scouts of America.

This segment was originally broadcast on September 29, 2017.