Czarina Salido is a Tuscan woman who is determined to help Native American girls pursue careers in STEM. She founded an outreach program called Taking Up Space. It provides educational opportunities, encourages a passion for STEM, and sponsors trips to Space Camp in Alabama at the United States Space and Rocket Center Museum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. They are working with six tribes from Alaska to Minnesota, but they’re not just focusing on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They also teach about indigenous art, body positivity, and even storytelling. 

Every week the girls of Taking Up Space do just that… they take up space. They check in with Czarina about how they are feeling, what challenges they have, and achievements they would like to make. They learn astrological history and dance, discuss how to fix the environment while writing songs. Czarina sees her mentees as a sprout. Like a flower or tree, you need food, water, and a good place to start. She was one of them. She started kindergarten, skipping with happiness to be starting school. Now she helps other people share in that joy through her nonprofit.