Black families act as STEM incubators. Despite stereotypical representations that are often rooted in deficit framing, Black families provide their children access to STEM opportunities, resources, capital, ways of thinking, behaving, and sense-making Scholars have identified that Black parents influence the college-going and completion process through practices such as sharing information, developing expectations around school completion, positioning students as examples to younger siblings/family members, and by sharing advice on how to persist when faced with challenging situations. Building on this work, I will present some of my research on Black family life and the lineage Black contributions to STEM in order to provide evidence of the ways that Black families incubate STEM learning and aspirations. I have found that families – with emphasis on parents – leverage capital and establish family cultures values and practices that support STEM exploration and confidence. This talk will highlight some of my recent contributions along with implications for research on informal/family learning spaces Make sure to fill out the leadership event follow-up form for your leadership point: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jXuAfHB6djXjhhiYtyzMsw6PIr7HN5v7f03raSQTosk/edit