The Distiller

The Distiller


#37 – Myra Ballentine Fights Discrimination with Virtual Reality

May 31, 2019

Myra Ballentine is familiar with discrimination.

VECTRE Co-Founder Myra Ballentine

Born and raised in Pakistan, Myra Ballentine knows first-hand the thousands of micro-aggressions a woman or a person of color experiences every day. But through them she sees the opportunity for her most meaningful work.

Growing up as the daughter of a doctor, she felt the pains of the oppressed deeply. Myra knew she wanted to do something to help women fight discrimination. She just thought it would be in her home country of Pakistan. At boarding school and university in Thailand, through graduate school at Harvard, she always thought her work would take her back home.

But circumstances often have their way with our plans. Myra fell in love and married an American. Instead of working with women in Pakistan she found herself in the Midwest United States. After college she started doing consulting work for companies on diversity and inclusion. Myra tried to stay close to her area of passion but inside she mourned, wondering where her dream had gone.

Episode 37: Myra Ballentine / VECTRE – Links & Information

* VECTRE.xyz* Perspctivr.com – VECTRE’s new diversity & inclusion training site* Facebook: /vectre.xyz/* Instagram: @vectre-xyz* Twitter: @vectrexyz* LinkedIn: /vectre-xyz/* See VECTRE on Vimeo* Join VECTRE’s STEAM community* SidewinderCoffee.com* Facebook: /Sidewinder-Coffee-41594594089/* Instagram: @sidewindercoffee* Twitter: @SidewinderCoffe

Finding The Work Of Your Dreams, Virtually

But things also often have a way of working out in the long run. When her husband lost his job as a VR developer Michael and Myra Ballentine decided to start their own company. That company is VECTRE — focusing on virtual and augmented reality experiences. Initially they built training environments for welding companies.