WIB-Seattle Leadership Spotlight: Lili Bahrami

Lili Bahrami
Lead Development Representative 
WIB-Seattle 2021–2023 YWIB Communications Chair 

Lili Bahrami is currently the Lead Development Representative for a life sciences instrumentation company. She served as WIB-Seattle’s Young Women In Bio (YWIB) Communications Chair from 2021 to 2023. She continues to work with YWIB National helping with social media.

Lili’s passion for science started at a very young age. “I don’t remember not liking science, specifically biology,” she said. “When I was little, I remember going to a bookstore, and there was a massive human body book. That was all I wanted… and I still have it! Growing up, my parents were really encouraging of me pursuing science. They always leaned into my curiosity of STEM. As I got older, I did start to realize, though, that there were not a lot of people who looked like me in the field. I loved Bill Nye, of course, but there were never a lot of women, and definitely not Middle Eastern women, in the spotlight.” Despite the lack of diverse representation, one of the major factors that kept Lili on the path to pursue science throughout school was that she consistently had women mentors who supported her journey. “I took AP Biology in high school, and my teacher was an amazing woman who really encouraged me. Once I got to college, my research was with Dr. Joanna Kelley in evolutionary genomics. She was amazing,” Lili said. “She was really patient with me when it came time to learn some computational biology. Even when COVID hit in my senior year, Dr. Kelley let me continue remotely and extended my role until I was able to find a job.”

Working under Dr. Kelley and contributing to Kelley’s research in functional genomics, Lili earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Washington State University. After graduating, her first job was related to manufacturing at Parse Biosciences, where she mentioned to her manager that she was interested in volunteering. He then told her about Women In Bio. “When I joined WIB-Seattle in 2020, I knew I was really interested in YWIB. I offered to jump onto [a committee] a few months later,” she said. For Lili, replicating the mentorship she received throughout high school and college was a top priority. “The women in my life were and are really important. I credit a lot of what kept me going during challenging times to having someone who believed in me,” she said. “From a YWIB perspective, when you don’t have someone to look up to who you can relate to—it can be discouraging. But if you do have even just one person, you start thinking, ‘If she can do it, I can do it.’” Lili’s favorite poem relating to this is by Rupi Kaur, which says, “I stand on the sacrifices of a million women before me thinking what can I do to make this mountain taller so the women after me can see farther.” 

Lili’s current role has transitioned out of the laboratory and into the commercial side of biotech. Throughout her education, she “never thought about a job outside of the lab,” but that change was pivotal in finding where her skills could shine. “Have an open mind. If you’re early enough in your career, and if you have the resources, try new things,” Lili said. “I began my career at a start-up and ended up learning so much and gaining valuable experience. It really helped me to have a more well-rounded outlook and resume. You can always go back to the lab or whatever you originally planned on doing, but take those risks earlier on to find your passions. Sometimes they are where you least expect it.”

In addition to finding a new role that might work better for you, Lili also believes that growth is the key to success. “If I’m stagnant in where I am, irrespective of job title or income—if I feel stuck just in my mindset, then I don’t really feel successful. Success, to me, means always moving forward and growing, not staying in one spot,” she said. “I feel that learning and evolving is the whole point of the human experience. Even if you’re in a role where you do the same thing every day, you can still think of things that make the process better.” 

Lili has had many female mentors in her life to whom she credits her success. The most valuable piece of advice she’s received is to lean into your voice and be confident. “As women, we tend to make ourselves smaller, and it can be hard to raise our hands first to say, ‘I can do that, I can take that on,’” she said. Having an environment that supports women's voices and ideas has helped Lili believe that she is capable of taking on challenges, and it’s a big part of why she believes so much in YWIB and the communities that WIB has created. 

We are so thankful for Lili’s passion for mentoring and her determination to continue the cycle of mentorship with young women in the Seattle community! Her great work with YWIB, both in Seattle and on the national level, has helped us to grow and encourage hundreds of young women to pursue science.

Submitted by Mariana Huben