Q&A With Dhawni Vani

By Hannah Burleson

Who are you, what do you do, and why do you do it?

I am a young scientist and researcher who believes in innovation and equality. I believe I have a mindset of growth and passion with the drive and determination to keep on learning, growing and achieving.

The qualities I have developed have grown with my experiences and time. I was an overachiever from a young age in many areas of my life but academics was not one of them. These areas included sports where I have been nurtured to be a blue belt in karate and have played multiple other sports on various levels including district level where I represented my institution.

Being an athlete at a young age made me a visionary and a challenger. At the same time my love and passion for astronomy and research grew; at the age of 15 I gained my Diploma’s in Cosmology and had started working in research groups at the age of 14.

I have empowered many young girls and their families due to my influence in some of my clubs such as spantrik. My commitment and charisma lead me to be the voice of change I believe in.

My story includes rejection due to age, gender and personality but these didn’t stop me from reaching heights and honoring my learnings.

I have been a part of many WHO events for the past years to help spread awareness. I am the founder of a youth-serving organization called One.Step which aims to provide help to a passionate learner and having a trustworthy mentor.

I was the first member of SPANTRIK that aims to empower girls and share their stories.

This platform will allow me a larger community to help inspire and grow as we are located in Asia which holds a stereotypical mindset for the girls born here.

These were the things that have led me to gain the Rising Leader Award and the Female Child Prodigy Award from Icons of Asia. I have [also] been awarded Bronze Honor in the International Astronomy and astrophysics Competition held in 2021.

I want that in the coming years the unknown leaders of the greatest success in the world’s history never be hidden again like Margaret Hamilton who deserves the credit for all that they have done.

What do you wish more people knew about STEM, and why?

That it is alright to not like a part of STEM but still feel passionate about the overall result. Many people have this wrong mindset that if you want to be a scientist you have to love mathematics which leads them to giving up on the sector completely.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In 10 years I see myself travelling to different countries with different aims of having collaborative research projects with them while learning the ancient past of the places I will be visiting. I see myself to be independent and helping support many passionate learners without the care of their gender, race or ability.

Who do you look up to, and why?

I have always had an analogue that states the only person you should look up to is the future you in 2 years span. This allows me to not limit myself from stopping achieving what other great people have already achieved.

How is STEM personally important to you?

For me STEM is a place where anything you dream can come true. It is a way of expressing your imaginenations and help make them into reality may it vary from drone to VR technologies. It gives us a chance to either prove outself right by giving us the ability to test.

What should aspiring young women who want to go into STEM do to get started, in your opinion?

Voicing their opinions and reching out to women or even men in that matter of fact and explaining them their intresents and what they aspire to do. In todays highly connected social society platforms like LinkedIn provide a pathway of connecting with people in every different level of their careers.

How did you know you wanted to work towards your current career goals/path?

For me my astronomy was not something that I got to know as my passion, for a fairly young age I was attracted to the night sky, curious as to what all lies beyond and before the age of 5/6 I was sure that is something I will be doing. Even when I was failing in school, in life my dreams, goals never left the truth of my future.