Catherine Boisvert
BIO
Evolutionary biologist, ADHD, mom of 2.
Twitter: @SharkEvoDevo
Catherine Boisvert
“Becoming a mom has been the most transformational (and difficult) experience I have ever been through.”
I have always been fascinated by evolution and became hooked on palaeontology in my first year of university. My PhD research combined developmental biology and palaeontology, and I was awarded a fellowship to move to Australia for my Postdoc. There, I built a shark developmental programme.
Up to this point, my life was dominated by work. When I got pregnant and had severe prenatal depression, things started to change. I took a much needed ”break” of a year when my son was born. He was very a high-need baby but attachment parenting made things doable for me despite being on my own most of the time.
My husband worked long hours and neither of our families lived in the same city as us. The nanny I found for my son became a support for me too and, although it didn’t make sense financially, it allowed me to continue on my career path.
When feeling ”stuck” with my progress, I turned to mentoring available in my university and I created a peer mentoring group which helped me get promoted. I also hired a personal coach who supported me both at work and during a period of frequent miscarriages.
My daughter was born last year and during my ”almost” year off (1 day of work a week), a friend helped me get my son diagnosed with ADHD. In the process, I was also diagnosed with it. This was eye opening for me: Finally, I could make sense of my difficulties at work and understand why my son was so hard to parent.
Becoming a mom has been the most transformational (and difficult) experience I have ever been through. As a multidisciplinary researcher I know the demands of being pulled in many directions. Throw in a neurodiverse kid and a family spread around the globe and things get pretty difficult.
All in all, the single most important support I have received in my career is from other women, with or without children. Together, we are a most formidable bunch!