So you want to be a scientist — this is wisdom you can only learn from a veteran.
Hi, a little bit about me to start! I’m Catelyn and I’ve been helping STEMedia for a few months now with engagement and marketing on this small but spunky team’s needs for reaching its audience. I love stories and the humanities but as a big fan of diy, tinkering with the inner mechanics of technology has proven itself to be an avenue I may have a future in. That said, I’m majoring in computer engineering (minor and concentration undecided). I’m looking forward to doing some hands-on work as an undergrad and applying my education to theory as well as real life.
After organizing some of the online statements and attending virtual workshops for our recent 2022 Stem Success Summit, here’s the wisdom I took away from one of the most notable speakers, Erica Douglas, as a pre-college student.
The idea of “getting into research and academia” is daunting for me. I just survived the covid and now I’m being shoved into college (this fall) - so the pressure to figure out my life is on. Even though science gets a reputation for being intimidating and irrelevant, the truth is every modern convenience, was made possible by entrepreneurs who harnessed science into a business.
Erica Douglas, who endearingly goes by “Sister Scientist”, was a day 1 keynote speaker at our 2022 Stem Success Summit. Douglas is a founding partner and CEO of the mSEED group, where she and her team help Black independent cosmetic brands scale up their businesses. From research and development to production and marketing — she knows how to do it all.
She likes to give credit to her love for engaging with others for jumpstarting her current career. Since starting Sister Scientist in 2013, while completing her MBA in Marketing & Strategy at Northwestern University, Douglas [has been] guiding future stem professionals on how to become an entrepreneur at skill-building conventions like ours.
As an aspiring researcher and academic myself, seeing relatable examples of women who have successfully transitioned through different niches in R&D inspires me to believe I can do this too.
Sister Scientist says, “Embrace what makes you unique. Don’t let the bald men scare you!”
For Erica, cosmetic science was something she stumbled upon. As a Black woman, she could relate to what the Black community needed in their hair products, while the ‘bald men’ most prevalent in her industry could not. Truthfully, knowing that the field I’m interested in has a similar lack of representation for FGLI and diverse communities is worrying at first, but Douglas really highlights the importance of personal branding. I’m one of those students who are interested in too many different things, but I learned from her talk that being able to frame it cohesively can help you show others what you’re all about. She was able to show what she was about through her blog and make her services accessible to people who needed her skills.
Embracing your uniqueness is showing “This is what I do and this is how I can help.”
Believe in your vision
As unreal as it sounds, believing that you will be able to do something will help you get to where you want to be. When my imposter syndrome feels overwhelming, I know that the person who will always be there to support me is me. One way Douglas tells us to support ourselves is by promoting our expertise, what we can contribute, and what we want to be known for. Even if you’ve heard this a million times before, build up your knowledge and become an expert in your field so you can believe in yourself even when others inevitably don’t.
“Show them proof so they have no excuse but to invest in you”
Work together to get to the other side
Especially in our very competitive academic and professional environment, doing everything by yourself is unhealthily promoted, not to mention unrealistic. Douglas is an entrepreneur, and she stresses that along her journey, asking for help doesn’t make her weak. She needed people in her network to mentor her, be her lawyer, accountant, business partners, and friends. She fully gives credit to her support for helping her accomplish her vision, together.
The same goes for students. The people and friends you surround yourself with are the ones who will make or break you, so “Make sure that you have the right people around you so when you’re weary and ready to give up, those are the people who will hold you up and get you across the finish line.”
Getting ready to start something new is scary. The possibilities of everything that could go wrong are always there, but thinking about everything that could go right is the light at the end of the tunnel. Even though I’ve barely fallen into this rabbit hole so far, preparing myself and preserving my mental health for the academic and life challenges that will come could never start too early.
Check out the full keynote here: https://tv.stemedia.com/programs/sss?cid=2894863&permalink=keynote-speaker_sister-scientist-b50b8f