For senior Mary Bellakbira, her work with hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals all started with a residual stain left behind on her pageantry outfit — one that made her question the chemicals hidden in everyday clothing and laundry detergent.
“Before one of my pageants in Virginia, I remember washing my clothes and noticing stains on my skin and the clothes themselves,” Bellakbira said. “I was really young at the time, but that was when I started to question what chemicals are in our fabrics and the detergent we use.”
Bellakbira’s journey into science research began at 14, when she won a science competition by studying bacterial contamination in dipping snack chips — which opened the door for her to conduct university-level research at a very young age.
“It was life-changing,” Bellakbira said. “At 16, I was published for work that helped develop a product to identify the structures of proteins that are used in labs across the country.”
Now, Bellakbira was named Glamour Magazine's College Women of the Year on Sept. 25. She told The Sun that science and fashion have been intertwined in her mind since her pageantry days. She explained how the “guts” it takes to perform on the stage of a pageant parallel the confidence she has in her current research about hormones and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Hormones are chemical messengers that coordinate the function of different organs and cells via transport in the bloodstream and are crucial for essential processes such as growth, mood, metabolism and reproduction. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals interfere with the body’s production of hormones and, according to the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, can be found in certain plastics, cosmetics and fabrics — which is where Bellakbira’s love for fashion and science come together.
“Fashion to me is about how you feel,” Bellakbira said. “How you feel is directly linked to your hormones and the way those two affect each other has been the subject of my research.”
At Cornell, she is a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences pursuing a student-made interdisciplinary major with a primary concentration in biotechnology and secondary focus in bioengineering.
She explained that the major has been a “game changer” because it provided her with the flexibility to work with professors she finds interesting and tailor her classes to her niche interests.
“My advisor has been wonderful with helping me still build a solid science foundation with the main engineering program and the gen[eral] chem[istry] and bio[logy] classes, up to classes about virology,” Bellakbira said as she described the interdisciplinary major curriculum. “But I can take courses about anything that aligns with my goals, interests or research.”
Bellakbira has conducted research at Harvard, Columbia and Stanford to better understand how endocrine-disrupting chemicals function. She also is the founder of the company Hormolize, which offers simple hormone tests from cortisol levels to ovulation tracking.
Additionally, the company focuses on boosting education and access to hormone health, with over 14,000 ovulation tests donated to 11 different countries.
Bellakbira said that she watched some of her family members "silently struggle” with polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis and diabetes, which ultimately inspired her to start the company. She also expressed how important it was to her to “give quality mentorship to young girls” in the STEM space.
She hopes to inspire young women to pursue STEM fields and has two pieces of advice — persistence and honoring your interests.
“Girls and women can’t be put in a box,” Bellakbira said. “You are allowed to be multifaceted and pursue a degree or club that honors all your interests.”
Zeinab Faraj is a member of the class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is the features editor on the 143rd Editorial Board and was the assistant sports editor of the 143rd Editorial Board. You can reach her at zfaraj@cornellsun.com.
