As we troubleshoot a technical issue, please enjoy this reposting of our Over Coffee® Mother’s Day special, in which three dynamic professional women discuss the ways being a mom has inspired them and underscored their professional accomplishments.

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Noramay Cadena is a mechanical engineer, systems engineer, and a Managing Partner of Los Angeles-based Supply Change Capital.

Deshjuana Bagley is a computer scientist, a STEM entrepreneur, and the Director of IT at State College of Florida’s Coding Academy, in Sarasota.

Jill Zande is a marine biologist, Associate Director of Monterey-based Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, and the Founder of the annual MATE ROV Underwater Robotics Competition.

And all three of them have been inspired, challenged and engaged, while pursuing both their professional paths and their 24/7 careers as moms.

Noramay, who has three MIT degrees, took her 1-year-old daughter along with her as she attended her first undergraduate classes. Desh created her educational technology company, TechPlayzone, after realizing that her sons’ science and math classes didn’t relate to their lives and interests. And Jill is seeing the ways in which working with the robotics teams have prepared her daughter for leadership in her future arts-oriented career.

A very Happy Mother’s Day to Noramay, Desh and Jill, and to all moms! Once again, we’ll say it: anyone who’s a mom is certainly no stranger to “innovating, creating and making a difference”!

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• How Noramay first came to the realization that engineering could be her career path;

• What life was like, attending MIT classes with her 1-year-old;

• What helped to keep her going;

• Noramay’s advice to her own daughter, about building her future career;

• How a realization about her sons’ schooling led Desh to “find robots”;

• What Desh found fun about robotics and how the realization led her from “stay-at-home-mom” to tech entrepreneur/innovator;

• Desh’s first foray into hosting a robotics event in virtual reality during the pandemic;

• Desh’s advice to fellow creatives;

• How Jill brought robotics into her daughter’s classroom to inspire the students;

• The paths Jill’s daughter is currently exploring, for her future;

• What the 2021 MATE ROV competition was like, with its VR addition;

• Why Jill went from “reluctant messiah” to embracing virtual reality as an addition to the competition;

• How the VR component brought visitors into the competition;

• How working with the robotics teams has taught JIll’s daughter leadership skills for her interest in the arts;

• Jill’s perspective on leadership and how she’d like her daughter to learn from what she’s seen with the MATE ROV Underwater Robotics Competition.