Equivalent Too

This weeks guest is a Yeast geneticist, and during the lockdown, she wanted to teach herself how to mathematically model yeast?!?!  Despite not coming from 'sciencey' parents, she has always been someone that has needed to understand things and ask questions.  Science, for this reason was perfect for her. Despite doing was she is passionate about, she almost quit over a bad mentor, who just wouldn...

This week's guest is overwhelmingly determined and focussed on fulfilling her fullest potential.  She was originally inspired by a doctor who had been treating her father and knew that if she was to have the same impact, then she would have to work really hard to get there. My guest has always had to prove herself because she is African American and therefore a minority within her medical field.  ...

My guest this week, an electrical engineer confessed that working in McDonalds taught her what she really needed to know about dealing with people.  We discuss the difference between introverts and extroverts and how the strength and encouragement of her mum was more inspiring than her electrical engineering Dad.   She was never raised to be stereotypical and as a result, has an attitude that the...

My guest this week was originally an electrical engineer, but then followed geology because that is where her passion truly was.  She combined all her skills and knowledge to create a very unusual job for herself, but to get there, she had to work in the local sandwich shop, just to pay bills.  Now she operates highly technical instruments in a lab.   She admits that choosing what she loves does n...

My guest this week discusses how focussing on what other people think of you can lead to depression and anxiety.  Instead, you have to do what makes you happy.  There was a lot of family pressure to go into medicine, but now my guest has found what she loves.  Find out how this week's Woman in STEM, a molecular biologist pulled herself out of a rut.  

In this weeks episode of Scilence, my guest dispels a few myths about COVID.  She was originally told that she shouldn't go into medicine, probably because she is of ethnic minority.  In STEM women of colour have very few role models, s that don't help with their levels of confidence and feelings of self-worth and self-esteem.   My guest's sister was her biggest inspiration, but she also doesn't d...

This week on Scilence, my guest seems to have had all the privileges of going into science.  Her parents are both neuroscientists and their parents were teachers, but it was only until she messed up one of her classes that she accidentally studied oceanography, leading her towards her passion of studying fisheries science.   She discusses how her she balances herself emotionally, by not relying to...

This week, my guest admits to having been a B-average student.  With only half an A-Level in Physics, she switched her degree to Physics because she loved it.  It has been tough for her to be a minority within a minority as a young black female, but her passion for the subject has seen her through.  She was inspired by TV and films and had a pushy mother that needed her to get an education, now sh...

My guest this week wants to dispel the myth that you have to be a brainbox to be in science.  She wasn’t good in maths, but always knew she wanted to work with ocean and environmental matters.  Her parents never pushed her into the job she is doing now - what was driving her was the potential impact she could have on peoples lives.   Her work place is incredibly gender balanced and her mum was als...

My guest this week takes suggestions from others, but she doesn't compare herself to anyone else.  She has faith in what she believes in and is driven by her gut instinct.  Ever since her mother had cancer, she was determined to find solution in cancer research - and despite a lot of struggle, she is now thriving in her career; whilst also juggling two kids and a husband.  It hasn't been easy spin...

My guest this week is self-isolating, like the rest of us, but is really using the time to reset.  Usually, she resets during her commute to work.  But, whatever the situation may be, she does need that time to take stock of what she is doing and get organised.  During  quarantine, she wants to learn to code!  Why not!?!? She feels that failing and messing up are essential for learning.  She has h...

My guest this week takes all failures and adversity in her stride.  She always puts efforts into learning from her mistakes and finding the silver lining in every cloud.  She talks about the dangerous tipping point between too much and too little self-doubt.  Self doubt is good and useful, up until a point, at which it can then become detrimental.   STM education needs to start early, which includ...

This week on Scilence, my guest  expert in physics, talks about how she fell into the subject.  She followed her instincts and was guided by a very wise and independent mother, who raised her to believe that she could do anything she put her mind to.  In following her passions and interests she ended up putting her mind to physics.  And through hard work and determination, she is now a world-leadi...

My guest this week has always been a builder and video games and computers got her into STEM - despite her dad saying that computers would never catch on.   She acknowledges that something strange happens to the confidence of girls in STEM in high school, and she herself has experienced challenges in being female at work.  Despite experiencing all this herself and fighting against stereotypes and...

This week my guest talks about her new found freedom having newly qualified with her PhD in evolutionary biology.  She knows that reputation is everything and is trying not to define herself by her qualifications.  This will be a long journey of self-discovery.  She has been passionate about studying animals and loves the messiness of biology, although enjoys trying to make sense of chaos.  She ta...

This week my guest is in STEM education and has seen positive change over the last couple of decades.  Despite incremental improvements in gender parity, it is still so important for role models, women in STEM to make themselves known.   Girls have traditionally been discouraged into STEM.  Maths and physics are seen as subjects for boys and it has been assumed that girls would find these subjects...

This week's podcast is short and sweet, but we still manage to delve into the nitty gritty of how my guest became so successful so soon, in health tech.  She now runs a start-up, after attending one of the most technical colleges in the world.  She admits to reaching a rock bottom of mental health which helped her to put into perspective the things that are a priority in life, including maintainin...

This week, my guest, a woman in tech came from extreme under privilege, where women in her neighbourhood had three choices; sell drugs, strip or prostitute themselves for a living.  Thankfully, her struggle to climb out of this poverty came from her insatiable desire to learn and self-educate.  She has always been a fighter and that has helped her so much as a successful woman in tech.  She no lon...

My guest this week, a biomedical engineer spent a year getting to know herself by spending time alone.  She got comfortable with hanging with herself and it taught her so much about who she is.  She chose biomedical engineering after suffering from an injury and now loves being able to help others through creative and medical means.  Her class is 40% women and she feels that it is necessary to fin...

My guest this week has been in technology for over 20 years, and as a result has seen a lot of change, panic and progress over the years - Y2K being an example of this.  Her career has changed largely because hardware has evolved too.  Despite championing the positive impacts of technology, my guest hopes that it doesn't take over our lives. Back in her day, women were not in STEM subjects, there...

My railway engineer knew she wanted to go into STEM from an early age, which meant she should follow a career in medicine.  But she fell into engineering by accident instead, which was actually better suited for her.  She first realised that she was not easily accepted in engineering, when it was assumed that she was the secretary when at a conference.  Standing up for your rights requires you to...

My guests this week seems to take chemical engineering in her stride.  Having gone to an all girls school, she had many female friends and family that ended up in STEM and they were her inspirations and role models.  For her, it seems like the most impactful experience was doing a placement in a chemicals company.  It was here that she realised the value of working in diverse and inclusive teams a...

My guest, a science writer, this week always wanted to try and understand things from their roots.  She is obsessed with understanding systems, but in order to do that successfully, one has to understand the smaller cogs - hence where her mathematical background came into good use.    She is very values driven, needing to understanding how science fits into the greater context of politics, philoso...

My guest this week admits the mistakes she's made and lessons learned in juggling motherhood and career.  She is now trying to get her career back on track after taking time out to raise her two boys.  She like many other women was good at the sciences, but didn’t want to do medicine and ended up in civil engineering instead - she always enjoyed being a bit different anyway.  much to her dismay, s...

This weak on Scilence, my guest is in logistics, but more importantly struggles with the fact that she deals with three ethnicities.  She discusses not giving her energy away by caring what people think. She has the humility to understand her own shortcomings. She has been in the middle of discrimination, but dealt with it.  We discuss how some men find it threatening that women want to build thei...