This International Day of Women and Girls in Science, I find myself reflecting not on my own journey, but on the remarkable evolution of two young women I am privileged to call my daughters.
Both studied sciences.
Both excelled.
And both, in very different ways, built creative bridges — merging scientific foundations with professions that inspire and empower others.
Science as Foundation, Creativity as Flight.
My eldest daughter, Temi OH, is an award-winning science fiction writer and screenwriter for productions such as Castlevania, Doctor Who, and others. She studied neuroscience at King’s College London and was preparing to pursue a PhD in Space Physiology when I encouraged her to lean fully into her creative gifts.
When her debut novel, Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, was published by Simon & Schuster at just 22, a dear friend laughed and said:
“Sheila, that’s the evolutionary imperative at work right there. You’ve spent your career bridging arts and science — and now your daughter has manifested that vision in her own life.”
It was — and still is — completely thrilling. Science gave her structure, discipline, and intellectual depth. Creativity gave her wings.
Today, she inspires thousands of young readers to see science not as sterile formulas, but as possibilities — imagination and future worlds waiting to be built.
Science as Service, Healing as Courage.
My second daughter, Ella Omeche, chose a different path. She is a talented and deeply compassionate Cognitive Behavioural Therapist working within the UK’s National Health Service.
During COVID, she was in the midst of her clinical training while our family was locked down together in our small house in South London. She could not share the confidential heartbreak she was helping patients navigate. But sometimes I would see her cry quietly. Then she would run into the garden and dig — planting, pruning, clearing weeds with almost primal intensity.
It was her way of metabolizing pain. Of transforming suffering into growth.
She qualified. And despite her youth, she has grown into the embodiment of my mother’s dream.
My own mother migrated to the UK to train as a teacher and later qualified as a Family Therapist, supporting traumatized migrant children in South London schools. As a child, I often wondered why anyone would choose a career that exposes you daily to such pain. But some women are born healers. The world is better because they answer that call.
Four Generations of Defiance and Possibility
The theme for International Women’s Day 2026 is:
“Synergizing AI, Social Science, STEM and Finance: Building Inclusive Futures for Women and Girls.”
I see that synergy embodied in my daughters — not in abstract policy language, but in the way they live their lives.
One uses science to imagine futures.
The other uses science to heal minds.
Both represent integration — not separation — of disciplines.
When I was 16, my headmistress declared that I “did not have a scientific brain” and steered me toward the arts. My mother marched into her office and insisted I be allowed to study Chemistry, Physics and Biology.
Her response remains legendary in our family:
“Whatever kind of brain she’s got, she’s using it to study science.”
That defiance changed my life.
Now we are four generations of women who understand that studying science does not narrow you — it strengthens you.
Science sharpens your thinking.
It teaches you to evaluate evidence.
To question assumptions.
To design better solutions.
To make better choices.
Science does not limit imagination. It expands it.
Science does not diminish compassion. It equips it.
The Evolutionary Imperative
Perhaps the true evolutionary imperative is this: each generation builds on the courage of the last.
Each daughter inherits not only DNA but defiance. Not just opportunity, but responsibility.
When we raise girls to excel in science, we are not simply preparing them for laboratories. We are equipping them to build stories, systems, therapies, technologies, and futures.
And sometimes, if we are fortunate, we witness them take the foundation we laid and evolve it into something even greater.
Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026.
May we continue to raise daughters who bridge worlds — and build new ones.