Stella Biderman has always had vivid dreams. One Fourth of July during college, before she affirmed her identity as a transgender person, she and her brother shared a room on a family vacation. Her brother tried to talk to her as she was waking up one morning, repeating her birth name several times before she answered. “I didn’t understand that he was talking to me because I couldn’t process the name he used.”
She didn’t register that name because she’d been dreaming as her authentic self: a woman named Stella.
Until then, “I actively avoided looking at my face in the mirror.” Since embracing her gender identity, Stella says, “I don’t avoid my reflection anymore. I’m happier.”
That’s not the only dream Stella has realized. “Even in the fifth grade, I was doing robotics competitions (FIRST LEGO League). I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up." Today Stella and her team at Booz Allen help the Department of Defense and other intelligence clients use data to inform mission-critical decisions. She’s also getting her master’s of science and computer science with tuition help from the company and is a 2019 DCFemTech awardee.
“Being authentic at work was important to me, so I was skeptical about joining a large government contractor like Booz Allen—it didn’t seem like the most trans-sensitive place. I never expected the company to be so engaged in the community. The people here aren’t just accepting—they’re actively supportive of who I am.”
The Booz Allen data science team is a good fit for Stella. “I think there’s an intersection between being transgender and being in data science, which leans toward examination and analysis. An inquisitive, scientifically minded culture prompts more people to question their identity and therefore discover their identity,” she says. “Some people realize they’re not what society tells them they are.”
Stella knows exactly who she is. And she brings that woman to work at Booz Allen every day.
