Before every interview, there’s a quiet moment most listeners never see.
It’s the moment where I ask myself: Why this person? Why now? What story am I really trying to understand?
When I invited Anna Beata Kalisz Hedegaard onto Women in Quantum, I knew she was impressive on paper. CEO. Physicist. Entrepreneur. International career. Awards. Global network. All the things that signal “success.”
But that’s not why I invited her.
I invited her because every time I read something she wrote, I felt a sense of curiosity. Not performance. Not branding. Curiosity. And in deep tech, that matters more than people realize.
I wanted to understand how someone builds confidence in a field that constantly reminds you how much you don’t know.
I wanted to hear what doesn’t show up on LinkedIn.
So we sat down. We checked our microphones. We laughed about names. We closed distracting windows. And slowly, a real conversation unfolded.
Why I Invited Her
On this podcast, I’m not looking for “perfect resumes.”
I’m looking for people who stayed curious when it would have been easier to shrink.
Anna grew up immersed in logic and learning. Her mother was a mathematician. Curiosity was encouraged. But so was caution. So was the idea that maybe the world wouldn’t always understand her.
That tension fascinated me.
How do you grow up loving complexity and still learn to trust yourself in spaces that aren’t built for you?
That’s what I wanted to explore.
What Surprised Me
What surprised me most wasn’t her technical background.
It was her honesty about doubt.
We tend to assume that confidence grows in a straight line. Study. Succeed. Lead. Repeat.
But Anna described something very different.
She talked about being fearless as a child. About wanting to be on stage even when she wasn’t “naturally talented.” About believing effort mattered more than permission.
And then, over time, that fearlessness faded.
Not because she failed.
Because she learned to question herself.
Because voices from the outside slowly became voices on the inside.
That stopped me.
We rarely talk about how confidence is something you can lose before you learn how to rebuild it.
What Moved Me
The moment that stayed with me most was when she talked about trying to “find her six-year-old self again.”
That child who didn’t overthink.
Who didn’t ask if she belonged.
Who just tried.
As women, especially in technical fields, we’re often taught to be careful before we’re taught to be bold.
Be prepared.
Be perfect.
Be ready.
Anna named something I think many of us feel but rarely articulate: that confidence isn’t arrogance. It’s permission to learn in public.
To be unfinished.
To be visible while growing.
That’s powerful.
What Stayed With Me
Long after we stopped recording, I kept thinking about something she said about difficulty.
Her colleagues would say, “This is hard. I’ll read it again.”
She would think, “This is hard. Something must be wrong with me.”
That difference is everything.
It’s the difference between persistence and self-doubt.
Between growth and burnout.
Between staying in the room and quietly leaving.
How many brilliant women have left technical fields not because they lacked ability, but because they misinterpreted difficulty as inadequacy?
Probably more than we’ll ever know.
How This Changed My View of Confidence
Before this conversation, I thought of confidence mostly as experience plus competence.
Now I see it differently.
Confidence is emotional literacy.
It’s knowing which voices in your head belong to you and which ones were handed to you.
It’s learning to say:
“This is hard.”
“Others find this hard too.”
“I’m allowed to take time.”
“I still belong here.”
Confidence isn’t loud.
It’s steady.
Why “Behind the Interview” Matters
This is why I believe so deeply in sharing the process.
Not just the highlight reel.
Not just the episode link.
Not just the accomplishments.
People don’t connect to perfection.
They connect to reflection.
They connect to moments of recognition.
They connect to honesty.
When listeners hear Anna talk about doubt, persistence, curiosity, and rebuilding herself, they don’t just learn about quantum.
They learn about themselves.
That’s the real work.
The Bigger Picture
This conversation reminded me why I started Women in Quantum in the first place.
Not to explain physics.
To expand possibility.
To show that there is no single “type” of woman who belongs in deep tech.
There are thinkers.
Explorers.
Late bloomers.
Career switchers.
Artists who fell in love with algorithms.
Mothers who rediscovered math at thirty.
Marketers who followed curiosity into quantum.
All of us belong.
Final Thought
When the titles fade, when the bios are shortened, when the metrics change, what stays is impact.
Anna wants people to feel welcomed.
To feel seen.
To feel capable.
After this conversation, I can say she’s already doing that.
And she did it by being honest.
By being human.
By reminding me, and all of us, that confidence isn’t something you’re born with.
It’s something you choose to rebuild.
Again and again.
And that might be the most powerful technology of all.
The full interview is here: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/40bc0116-c180-493a-865f-319684f595e5/
