Gifted Underachieving Females - Hudak and Zimmerman

Gifted educators Brianne Hudak M.Ed. and Jessica Zimmerman join us to talk about gifted/2e females who slide under the radar, disguising their giftedness. Both educators are dynamic, high-energy advocates with a wide range of experience in the classroom and leadership.
Jessica discusses the 9 types of underachievers, the proportion of underachievement among boys and girls (roughly 20-30%, some studies finding up to 50%), and Brianne talked about the causes of underachievement in girls. These fears of failure, avoiding taking risks, relinquishing our passions in order to mask (not stand out like a sore thumb) and fear of rejection can have long-term implications for a young woman's life trajectory, lasting into early career, marriage and starting a business.
We also talked about parenting styles (permissive, authoritative and authoritarian) and how that can affect underachievement as well as the importance of modeling behaviors at home.
The final few minutes were very dynamic discussions about why Brianne and Jessica have both become educational entrepreneurs - starting a new independent school for the gifted (Brianne) and providing online -- and financially accessible! -- gifted professional development for teachers (Jessica).