Sasha Luccioni

BIO

Postdoctoral researcher at Mila AI Institute (Canada). Mother to Thaïs (5) and Zoé (3).

Instagram: @sasha.MTL

Sasha Luccioni

“It was incredibly challenging to juggle publishing articles and presenting at conferences with nursing and diaper changes.”

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I had both of my girls during my PhD. It was incredibly challenging to juggle publishing articles and presenting at conferences with nursing and diaper changes. I wrote my thesis while on maternity leave with my second daughter, and I remember comparing her weight to that of my 400-page thesis (the thesis won).

Since I didn’t get any of the postdoc scholarships I applied for, I got a corporate job a few weeks after I submitted my thesis, and spent two years in applied research to pay the daycare bills and mortgage.

Early last year, I decided to go back to academia and pursue the postdoc I had dreamt about, even if it meant a sizable salary cut and more stress. A year later, I couldn’t be happier I made that choice, and hope that I can find a tenure track position once my postdoc is over.

While having small children in a male-dominated scientific field is tough, I always hold my ground, get up from meetings at 4:30 to go pick up my kids, work from home when needed, and never ask for permission (or forgiveness!) to put family first.

I often speak about the challenges of academia for mothers of small children and what changes need to be made to make things easier on us, and I hope that I’m helping move the needle on these changes.