Yes, I just made a verb out of Dr. Mae Jemison’s name. The first time we heard Dr. Jemison speak, we thought she felt more verbish than nounish. She exploded with confidence and self-assuredness; she inspired us to transform, evolve, shift and become more— a verb. Listening to her story, we realized if her childhood reminds us we’re never too young to command the stars, her adult life announces we’re never too ‘experienced’ to fly.

After Women@TheFrontier’s interview with Dr. Jemison, we knew we had to share more about this woman of action. So, here are a few introspective lessons Women@TheFrontier learned during our Female Game-Changer interview with Dr. Jemison, the first woman of color to travel through space. We like to call this one “Three Lessons to ‘Jemison’ Your Life!”

Lessons 1: Think Big and Work Harder

To “Jemison” our lives, we have to remember that success resides somewhere amid feeling, thinking, and doing. It means listening to our head and heart despite the skeptics, self-doubt, and obstacles in our way. It’s about thinking big and working harder.

Dr. Jemsion embodied this lesson early in life when she dreamed of going to space. Born the youngest of three kids, she was raised by her mother, a teacher, and her father, a construction worker who also drove a cab.

“My dad taught me how to count and play cards at the age of six,” Jemison says, “but he was also the type of father who took the time to comb my hair in the morning before school.”

When asked about her confidence and inner-drive as a child, she responds with decisiveness and humility, “I think it comes from choosing your parents well! I think parents have an incredible impact on their kids.” Later, she explains how her parents encouraged political conversation, which included discussions about women and space. “They didn’t always agree with me,” she says. “The difference was I was allowed to have those conversations. I was allowed to argue my case.”

Dr. Jemison’s intellect and drive were evident when she graduated high school at 16 and attended Stanford University, majoring in chemical engineering and African-American studies. After receiving dual degrees, she enrolled at Cornell University Medical College to become a biomedical engineer.“I didn’t know much about Cornell,” Jemison says. “I went to Cornell because I wanted to live in New York!” She becomes pragmatic when asked how attendance at renowned schools like Stanford, Cornell and Dartmouth (where she was a professor until 2002) made a difference. “I know people who have done wonderful things but didn’t attend Ivy League schools,” she says. “[For me,] going to Stanford was important, going to Cornell was important. It’s the people you’re exposed to that help you gain perspective.”

Yes, Lesson 1 encompasses a fundamental element for success: we can choose to sit on the sidelines, a casual observer of the game of life or we can jump in with both feet and courageously fly.