In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8th, we’ve interviewed 5 Itineris power women and talked about their career path, gender equality in the workplace and about the women who are an inspiration to them.

During this International Women’s week, we’ll be sharing their stories with you, because we believe together we can #BreakTheBias.

Today: Sam Foss, Functional Analyst at Itineris.

In my younger years, I thought I would go into teaching Music Education or Music Therapy. I’ve always been drawn to Fine Arts and creating music has always had a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, during my second year at high school, chronic tendonitis was diagnosed in both of my wrists. That’s when I realized I had to change my future path, as my wrists did not physically sustain a full-time career in music. Economics ended up being the right fit for me and I graduated in International Economics and Modern Languages. After that, I joined Itineris as a Functional Analyst.

Luckily, my family has never discouraged me from pursuing any direction with my studies or career. Many of my female friends, however, were pushed towards studies related to people rather than technology or science. That is why I would love to see a change in the culture of how we raise children to pursue the fields that interest them – regardless of gender, race, or background. To equally encourage that women can be developers, scientists and engineers, and that young men can be nurses, teachers and educators.