Mansi Srivastava is a John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University. This year, she was awarded the Elizabeth D. Hay New Investigator Award by the Society of Developmental Biology, which recognizes new group leaders who have performed outstanding research in developmental biology during the early stages of their independent career. Mansi's research focusses on investigating wound response and stem cell biology during regeneration in an evolutionary context. We talked to Mansi to discover how she feels about receiving this award, and about her career and her activities outside of the lab.