Interview: Vivienne Ming, USA

So this is definitely one of my most interesting videos yet. Just an amazing conversation with Vivienne Ming, author, inventor, and leader from Socos. I could have happily listened for hours to her stories, ideas, and philosophies.

Vivienne on Wikipedia, Twitter, Linkedin, and her talk on the rise of good robots.

This one is truly inspirational and well worth a listen.

A few highlights from me;

• How did you get into science and tech: ‘A series of Sundays watching PBS, UK imports, Nature, Cosmos, then Blackadder, Monty Python and Doctor Who”
• ‘With science, I used to love getting lost in the possibilities’
• Sci-fi nerd — Trick: Imagine the world you want to be true to write the story. Now think, what must have happened?
• Went to uni, flunked out, was homeless and in one night worked it out. ‘It’s not about me, it’s not about my happiness. It’s about whether I have a purpose which is bigger than me.’
• Wanted to do undergraduate in a single year, flipped a coin between economics and neuroscience.. came up heads… neuroscience of course.
• Studied cyborgs for PHD
• Note to self: Look up the mushroom chronicles
• Transitioned from a man to a woman.
• Lost role at Stanford due to ‘losing your edge’.
• Founded 6 companies and invented 100 new products — education technology, brain implants, diabetes tools for her son that she gave away for free.
• There is a tax on being different. You pay the cost and succeed the impact is bigger. Plus you work harder and are stronger

Enjoy. I know you will.

Huge thanks to Vivienne for supporting She’s Building A Robot — a book to inspire a million girls into STEM and technology.