As a current teen, Autumn Greco has received research funding, modeled in major print and commercial modeling campaigns, acted as co-host for TedYouth 2015, and is on the verge of publishing clinical research. She is a rising star and inspiration to girls and women alike, and is well on her way to making 2016 the biggest year yet.

Born and raised in New York City, Greco was a child who knew what she wanted. When she was 8 years old she begged her mom to take her to modeling agencies in New York City, and after convincing her to send photos, she received a call from Wilhelmina, one of the top agencies in the world. Greco signed with Wilhelmina at age 9 with dreams of modeling and acting, and landed print jobs with Microsoft, Samsung, Bloomingdales, Nutella, H&M, Nordstrom, and Claire’s, to name a few. With commercial credits including Barbie, Bank of America, and Microsoft, and an appearance on “24 Hour Catwalk” with Alexa Chung under her belt all before becoming a teenager, Greco was making her dreams a reality.

In 8th grade Greco was given the choice to continue attending public school in NYC or switch to online school and move to Los Angeles to pursue acting. Greco weighed her love of fashion and entertainment with her love of science and math and decided to stay in New York and focus on her studies.

Scistrut combines Greco’s love of fashion and science, and encourages girls across the globe to participate in STEM careers – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Scistrut reaches over 60 countries, and features a STEM spotlight series where she interviews women in STEM careers.

In the summer of 2015 Greco landed a research opportunity at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY. She spent seven weeks, 40 hours a week, in the lab studying acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer with a poor prognosis due to its common resistance to chemotherapy. Greco researched autophagy inhibition to enhance chemotherapeutic response in human acute myeloid leukemia, a promising therapy for AML. Greco received a grant award from the National Cancer Institute to conduct the research and a sponsorship from L’Oreal USA. Shortly after concluding the program in Buffalo, L’Oreal flew Greco to Wisconsin to meet a L’Oreal Fellow working with neonatal infections. During the program, Greco developed biochemistry research techniques and shared her experience on L’Oreal’s social media accounts.

Not one to stand still, Greco launched into a new research topic in the fall of 2015, studying retina diseases, and plans to publish her findings in 2016. Most recently, Greco was recruited to work as a data scientist at FORTË Fit, a start-up that allows users to stream live and on-demand fitness classes while tracking their performance utilizing wearable technology.

This fall Greco will be attending Stanford University with the intent to major in Science, Technology, and Society.