This past Monday, Ivanka Trump tweeted to her 3.3 million followers that she found my TED talk inspiring. It was a disorienting and unexpected turn of events. I was upset, confused, skeptical and on high alert. I didn’t understand how this person, who stands (perhaps symbolically) for things that are reprehensible to me, could find my talk to be inspiring. I reached out to my community and found that they were as appalled and dumbstruck as I was. Was I being used as a pawn in a larger game? I didn’t know, but the one thing I did know is that I needed to respond. A woman in a unique position of great influence, the first daughter of a sitting president, had mentioned me and my work by name. How could I not take the opportunity to respond?

So after turning off my Twitter notifications to protect against the deluge of mentions (and trolls) that came with such a high-profile tweet, I set about the task of constructing a response. I wanted to articulate to her the true premise of my talk: namely, that women of color and other people with intersectional identities face institutional and individual racism and discrimination in our pursuit of our STEM dreams. This uneven playing field robs many of us of those dreams and, as a result, impairs the ability of the larger STEM community to produce the best possible results. If we want a truly exceptional and robust STEM research industry, we must remove these barriers, and allow this additional pool of talent to truly shine.

In other words, my story is inspiring because I overcame so many barriers to become an astrophysicist. That’s why I now not only encourage other women of color to pursue their STEM goals to completion, but work towards dismantling the long calcified institutional structures that work against them at every turn. Opportunities are in danger of becoming even more difficult to navigate and obstacles harder to overcome, making success like mine even harder to obtain. If Ivanka is truly inspired by my story, it means she must acknowledge those barriers and use every capability in her power to work towards removing them. So far, every indication from the current administration is that those barriers will not only remain, but will be reinforced in even more damaging ways.

In the first draft of my response to Ivanka, I wrote of major ongoing STEM and social justice–related issues like the Flint Water Crisis, the Dakota Access Pipeline, the politicization of scientifically supported results like the anthropogenic origin of climate change, the appalling silencing of science through attacks on the Environmental Protection Agency, the staggering inequity in fiscal allocation towards the STEM education system in this country, and the persistent over-reliance on the scientific expertise of white, male scientists. I appealed to Ivanka’s responsibility given her positioning to stand up for the responsible use of STEM in governance. I wrote out potential policy and advocacy interventions that she could personally champion in meaningful ways.

Then it hit me — Ivanka Trump has an incredible amount of influence, but very little governing power and no sworn responsibility to the American people beyond the urging of her conscience. (As an aside, this is part of what makes her undue influence on policy so dangerous: there are no failsafes for us to fall back on with respect to our expectations of her behavior.)

Now, what she does have is an exceptional amount of influence. She has the ear of the 45th US president, and in that advisory role, she has the ability to impact the conversation, even though the ultimate enactment of any policy and/or legislative decisions rests squarely in the hands of the administration. Given that, I want to point out where she could use that influence to have incredible impact. In short, the most potent thing Ivanka Trump can do is publicly and regularly use her voice and influence to advocate for a more just STEM culture through the removal of institutional barriers to education and research opportunities, and for the responsible use of scientifically based research in US governance.

A non-exhaustive list of things she can do right now to make her influence impactful and to align herself with my story are to:

Speak truth to power in private conversations. Be the unquenchable voice of reason and truth during “back-channel” family interactions. Point out the harmful impact of the current rhetoric and the very real and direct consequences it has on other human beings.

in private conversations. Be the unquenchable voice of reason and truth during “back-channel” family interactions. Point out the harmful impact of the current rhetoric and the very real and direct consequences it has on other human beings. Learn about the disparate impact and implications of the current policy discussions on people with a variety of lived experience, expertise and identity. This requires the input of a more broadly representative swath of the US population. Find a way to expand the realm of expertise in every area of STEM-policy discussion. This is truly the crux of my talk: exceptional STEM expertise exists in non-white, non-male bodies and is currently being underutilized.

about the disparate impact and implications of the current policy discussions on people with a variety of lived experience, expertise and identity. This requires the input of a more broadly representative swath of the US population. Find a way to expand the realm of expertise in every area of STEM-policy discussion. This is truly the crux of my talk: exceptional STEM expertise exists in non-white, non-male bodies and is currently being underutilized. Advocate publicly for a strict adherence to the truth. Use any public-facing opportunity to restore a culture of facts, even if they are inconvenient. Publicly stand against the normalization and nomination of candidates that are not acting in the best interest of all that live and breathe in this country. Tweet out scientifically accepted facts like the anthropogenic cause of climate change and the devastation we cause to the environment through the use of fossil- and carbon-based fuels, and advocate for the continued protection of national park lands and endangered species.

for a strict adherence to the truth. Use any public-facing opportunity to restore a culture of facts, even if they are inconvenient. Publicly stand against the normalization and nomination of candidates that are not acting in the best interest of all that live and breathe in this country. Tweet out scientifically accepted facts like the anthropogenic cause of climate change and the devastation we cause to the environment through the use of fossil- and carbon-based fuels, and advocate for the continued protection of national park lands and endangered species. Donate unrestricted financial resources to support the work of water protectors across the country — those fighting for collective water quality and the restoration of potable water in several US cities. Other STEM-related initiatives to consider donating to: community-led direct action programs in support of increased access to STEM education like Black Girls Code, National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), American Indian Sciences and Engineering Society (AISES), National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCCHE), to name a few.

My question to Ivanka Trump now is “What is my story inspiring you to DO?” I want her to translate her fleeting feelings of admiration into a long-standing commitment to support STEM research and education, to scientific transparency, to scientific facts and to a more just STEM culture in the United States. My story is at once a reaffirmation of the strength, brilliance and resolve of those of us who have succeeded despite suffering needless oppression in this country and a constant reminder of the failures of the system that we must continuously work to correct. Ivanka Trump can be inspiring too. It just takes a lot of work and singular dedication to the cause. Take it from me…

My TED talk, which Ivanka Trump tweeted last week.

The TED Fellows program hand-picks young innovators from around the world to raise international awareness of their work and maximize their impact.