I wonder how different my intellectual and political life would be if I'd read the Parable novels at a younger age; I didn't find them until about 40 (!). The same goes for Le Guin. In retrospect, the dominant and very male early SF (Asimov, Clarke, etc) were too narrow a diet for a growing brain.
I was lucky that I followed UKLG from Earthsea to her other novels & randomly found Butler and Delany to widen my view before getting out of high school. The SF I first fully imprinted on was Known Space and Dune, but those others were right behind em. I found Heinlein creepy & Asimov boring
I know the younger me wasn't ready for Butler when I first discovered her. I was torn on a purchase of a new paperback, Kindred, or Niven's Ringworld Engineers. Larry won out that day. I cut my teeth on Asimov and Clarke, but also Silverberg and Andre Norton.
Probably what made the way for me was pursuing a Degree in Literature, and finding CJ Cherryh and Margaret Atwood while in college.