This Halloween week calls for a horror icon. No, not Frankenstein…the woman who invented him. In 1816, Mary Shelley was stuck in a mansion during a storm when she was dared to write a ghost story. She dreamt of a scientist who created life and instantly regretted it. That dream became Frankenstein, the first-ever science fiction novel, written long before women could vote or were seen as intellectual equals. While writing her horror story, Mary raised questions we’re still debating today, from AI to bioengineering to the ethics of creating life through technology. She explored responsibility, abandonment, and what happens when human ambition goes too far. 

Scholars believe her experiences with loss, including the death of her mother 11 days after she was born, shaped the novel’s themes of creation and rejection. Many insisted a woman couldn’t have written something so groundbreaking. Publishers removed her name and readers credited the work to her husband, Percy Shelley. For years, people assumed she couldn't possibly have written it or that he “cleaned it up.” Mary’s handwritten drafts proved the truth: the vision was entirely hers. She conceived the idea at 18, wrote it by 19, and published it at 20. 

Her imagination transformed literature and created an entirely new genre. Today, she is widely recognized as the “mother of science fiction,” and Frankenstein has inspired nearly 500 feature-length films, plus hundreds of short films and TV series. More than 200 years later, as AI reshapes how we work, create, and live, it’s clear just how ahead of her time Shelley was in imagining a world where humans create something powerful they can no longer control.

🚨Spoiler alert 🚨 (Can it still be a spoiler after two centuries?) Frankenstein follows ambitious young scientist Victor Frankenstein, who builds a creature from “scrap” body parts. When it comes to life, Victor is horrified by his creation and abandons it. Left alone, the creature learns to speak, read, and write, but is repeatedly rejected and attacked by society. Despite his best intentions, that rejection turns destructive, with devastating consequences. When he finally goes to confront Victor, he winds up wreaking havoc and murdering his brother and new wife. Victor eventually dies…cold and alone. His own creation became his downfall. Pretty heavy stuff for a teenager in the 19th century, right?

The novel’s full title is Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a reference that warns of the dangers of humans playing God. What makes Shelley’s work so fascinating is how relevant her warning remains in real life, as well as through fiction, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Terminator and Her. In Jurassic Park, Dr. Ian Malcolm echoes Shelley when he says, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” That tension sits at the heart of scientific progress. Innovation can make life easier and save lives, but it can also create ethical dilemmas.

Goldman Sachs estimates global investment in AI will exceed $1 trillion this year. AI has rapidly become part of how businesses operate, but our ability to govern it hasn’t necessarily kept pace. With no global standard for AI governance and accountability, who is responsible when something goes wrong? The programmer, the organization, or the executive? Experts argue that ethics and safeguards need to be built into systems from the beginning.

AI is created by people, and people have flaws and biases. Without careful intervention, those biases can become part of the technology. One AI-powered recruiting tool, for example, was found to penalize applicants whose resumes included the word “women” or referenced a women’s college because it had been trained on a decade of applications dominated by men. Women remain vastly underrepresented in shaping AI itself, accounting for just 26% of hires into AI roles in the U.S. and 13% of leadership roles at AI companies across 27 countries. Tech’s lack of women in leadership isn’t a new story, but alongside unequal access to AI training and career opportunities, we risk carrying an old problem into a new technology.

In Frankenstein, Shelley asks, “What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?” More than two centuries later, the answer still lies with us. As we develop increasingly powerful technology, we have to bring to the table the one thing AI cannot replicate: our shared humanity.

Strength comes in many forms, and the women of All Elite Wrestling embody that every day. At The Female Quotient’s Health Summit, AEW star Harley Cameron talked about resilience and what it takes to prioritize well-being while navigating pressure and pursuing big goals. AEW’s Arkady Aura and Madison Rayne teamed up with Investigation Discovery’s No Excuse for Abuse for an interactive session focused on personal safety and building awareness. Taking care of yourself means knowing how to stay safe, advocating for your needs, and prioritizing your well-being.

Watch AEW Dynamite Wednesdays at 8 PM ET on TBS and AEW Collision Saturdays at 8 PM ET on TNT, streaming on HBO Max. Follow @AEWonTV on social for more from the women of AEW.

Amelia Greene and Kylie Wittl saw a gap in the chemical industry and decided to help close it. They co-founded Women in Chemicals, a nonprofit creating opportunities for women in the industry. Today, women make up just 34% of the STEM workforce and only 25% of the chemicals industry. And they’re doing it all while working full-time. Amelia is Senior Director of Commercial Strategy at Brenntag, while Kylie is Sourcing Taste and Regulatory Manager at General Mills. Together, they’re making room for more women to enter, grow, and lead in an industry where they remain vastly underrepresented.

What’s the worst career advice you’ve gotten?

KW: It's not something that I've been told by one person, but it’s ingrained in high performers to say “yes” to every opportunity. I latched on to that advice in my early career, and even still today. With Women in Chemicals, we’ve learned that’s a fast track to burnout. We really question what is going to be valuable to us and our business instead of a universal “yes.”

AG: Whenever I entered a new role, I’d tell my manager where I wanted to go next and ask them to help me identify the skill gaps to get there. I’ve been told to just be patient and that the next promotion will come, but I’ve never wanted to wait for “eventually.” I want to be an active participant in my career, always growing and finding ways to positively affect change.

What’s the best piece of non-obvious career advice you’ve gotten?

KW: When prepping for your next position, take ownership. Ask your leaders directly, “How can I help you vouch for me in this next step?” I learned to hand feed them my accomplishments and impact so that they are fully equipped to speak on my behalf in the rooms where those decisions are made.

AG: When I moved to the Netherlands, I was dropped into a very different working culture. I remember telling a mentor that I found the Dutch communication style abrasive. He told me that if I operated in an echo chamber, I’d never see my blind spots and risk making bad decisions. That was a huge unlock for me. When people question me or challenge my assumptions, they’re helping me arrive at better decisions. Now, in any high-impact discussion, I actively look for the outlier opinions.

What was a heartbeat moment for you in your career?

KW: Because Women in Chemicals is a nonprofit, a lot of the behind-the-scenes roles are volunteer and we only have one paid employee. Our leadership team is juggling full-time day jobs in addition to running Women in Chemicals. Amelia and I never could have imagined that in 5 years, we would have such an incredible network, programs, events, and geographical reach. Three years ago, we launched our inaugural Women in Chemicals conference to aid in personal and professional development. We had the honor of kicking it off, and before we stepped on that stage, I had a heartbeat moment. For the first time, we saw and felt everyone’s excitement in person and at scale.

AG: About 6 months before we started Women in Chemicals, we met with a potential advisor who told us it was too time consuming to create an organization. It was a heartbeat moment for me to reject that. We created Women in Chemicals to solve our own problem: we didn’t have a peer network within the industry or enough access to female leaders. I didn't want any other woman who joined the industry to feel like there was not a place for her.

Who is one person you’d love to give flowers to from your career that influenced your journey? What advice or lesson did you learn from them?

KW: I would give flowers to my mom, Mari Wittl, who’s influenced so much of who I am today. She has served as an anchor for our family. She makes everything happen, she brings us all together, and remembers everything. Her reliability and accountability is something that I aspire to.

AG: I would give flowers to Michelle Valenzuela at Dow. We were in a brainstorming meeting with her and a volunteer from Women in Chemicals. In my mind, the volunteer was there to listen and learn, but at the end of the call, Michelle asked for her thoughts. It was a profound reminder for me to make space for everybody. Sometimes the best ideas come from people you're not expecting. It was an example of true leadership. I reached out to our volunteer and told her that this had been a blind spot for me, and I would hold myself accountable because diversity of thought is important.

Where have you caused some good trouble in your career?

KW: Women in Chemicals causes good trouble every day. We challenge the status quo in a stagnant part of the industry by providing visibility and opportunity to women and our allies. We are unafraid to ask tough questions, share difficult facts about the state of the industry, and do something about it.

AG: I believe that the goal of a leader is to be a steward of the development of everyone around you. My way of doing that is by placing people in situations they might not believe they're ready for, be it public speaking or opportunities to represent the organization. I have witnessed individuals realize their capabilities, and it’s been incredible watching the confidence it builds. One of our values is to rise with purpose and lift with intention: one arm up for yourself, and one arm down to lift the next person.

Want to nominate a leader you admire? You can do so here.

Savannah Llewellyn of The Female Quotient weighs in:

Giving constructive feedback to your manager or “managing up” can feel intimidating. Try to reframe it as something you’re solving together. The goal is to make the relationship, the work, or the outcome better. Here are a few things to try:

Most importantly, know your audience. If your manager has a history of reacting defensively, be strategic. Start with smaller, lower-risk suggestions and build trust over time. If an issue is seriously affecting your work, document important conversations and consider seeking guidance from a mentor or HR. At the end of the day, managing up is about building the kind of relationship where you can respectfully say what needs to be said, and both do better work because of it.

P.S. Got a burning career question? Serve it up here to Dear FQ to score advice from a powerhouse leader in our network.

Oh no. Everything was going so smoothly at work…and then something goes wrong. Your stomach drops and your brain immediately goes: “Wait, am I going to get blamed for this?” When things go off the rails, our instinct can be to panic, react, or start pointing fingers. But 60% of our community does something smarter: they take a step back and reassess.

Mistakes are inevitable. Great leadership isn’t about avoiding them; it’s about creating the space to understand what happened, learn from it, and move forward with clarity. Top performing teams are built on psychological safety, where people can raise problems instead of hiding them and focus their energy on solving them. You can’t always control what goes wrong, but you can control what happens next.

200 years later, and we’re still asking Mary Shelley’s question: What could possibly go wrong? 💀 Happy Halloween!

Xo,

The FQ

Don’t forget to let us know what you think of The FQ Newsletter here.