Stephanie Castillo
Welcome friends thank you for coming to another clubhouse chat for the science of SciComm. My name is Stephanie, and this is a room that my friend Amanda and I have started just to kind of exchange ideas about science communication, how we can just do it better. And so today I have my guests Maynard, who is also known as the Hip Hop MD. We're part of the Stem Success Team and a super excited just to have you as a friend, so welcome Maynard.
Maynard Okereke
What's up.
Stephanie
Maynard, can you give us a little bio about yourself?
Maynard
Yes. What's up everybody, my name is Maynard Okereke. Also known as Hip Hop MD as Stephanie said. I have platform called Hip Hop Science, I use music, entertainment, and comedy has tools to educate on a wide variety of scientific subjects. My background is in Civil Engineering University of Washington; Go Dogs! and have had experience in all sorts of areas in entertainment and music, and hip-hop science was really that perfect blend of all the things I'm passionate about, and I use it as a STEM outreach platform to really encourage more diverse involvement into STEM fields so excited to have our SciComm convo today.
Stephanie
Sweet. Awesome. And so kind of like the first question I always ask my guests is how did you get into science communication.
Maynard
Yeah, it's a good question. It's funny because I really, I really came into this but way round about perspective. I didn't really know science communication was a thing. Until really just a couple years ago, so I never started this platform with a goal of being a science communicator or even knowing that that was an option, which is, which I think is really what made this journey, really cool, you know, the hip hop science platform really started out as a sketch idea. I was doing some entertainment projects out here and just kind of filming my own projects, and I came up with this idea that was based off, you know what I do all the time which is drop random scientific facts in awkward situations for no reason.
Stephanie
Nice, nice.
Maynard
I'm just a science nerd and I just love I've always had the love for science but even in random discussions with friends and always be dropping different fun facts or wildlife facts or different things that I've learned, and it was just always cool to me. And so I came up with this character that was just as kind of quirky nerd that was also into music and all these different things and we just kind of dropped random science facts, and, and it kind of snowballed into this hip hop science platform. Once I started realizing that people actually learning a lot from the content that I was putting out, and I just continued to run with it and I really had a vision of really trying to find a way to introduce science, to people that don't normally look at science, from that perspective or don't normally use it within entertainment.
I wanted it to be just as palatable as talking about, you know, the latest album that just came out or the latest movie, you know, and, and so it really snowballed into this platform, and I started getting embraced into this community of other educators and science communicators and I started figuring out that the work that I was doing was actually a form of science communication. And, and so now I can actually call myself a science communicator, doing this work, which has been pretty cool. So it's definitely around about journey to get to this point.
Stephanie
Did you, did you start this when you were an undergrad during civil engineering or was this kind of like a post grad like what you're already doing kind of like your, your legit like adult job after graduating?
Maynard
This is way, this is way way out. This was after— This is because after I graduated that work I started working immediately with an engineering firm in Seattle, and I worked there for a few years and, and then resigned because I— Because, you know I was doing all this other stuff on the side right I was, I was doing acting projects I'll do music projects and became to a point where I was having so much— I love doing all that other stuff was passionate, I was passionate about it and the work that I was doing was so monotonous and I got in this crazy crossroads right [sc: yeah] I was in a great career I was making great money, but I wasn't fueling me. It wasn't giving me the energy that I needed. It was in my day to day was so with monotonous, meticulous, and I was working like 12–14 hours a day. And so I resigned, and I moved down to Los Angeles to pursue entertainment work. And it wasn't until, you know, I came down here in LA and I started doing projects that I came up with this idea and then started running from there.
Stephanie
Nice, nice. That's like, I think, I feel like a lot of people that go into science communication, always started because of that kind of personal adrenaline and personal, like satisfaction to go into it. And, okay, so you know you're wanting to go into entertainment, but was that like for you always wanting to be an entertainment like growing up like when did you when did you feel, yeah, when do you start getting into acting and sketch and comedy and all that.
Maynard
Yeah, no, that was something I've always done so even when I was in elementary school, junior high, high school, I was really more of a music artists, you know, all the way since junior high been working on music and performing, producing all sorts of stuff and so music was always a passion of mine. And then entertainment as well too. Definitely later on in high school and in college, did a lot of different small acting projects and then right after I graduated and I was working, I started doing a lot of commercial projects even while I was working professionally, and so entertainment have always been something that I loved, I always loved being in front of camera. Always loved making a fool of myself, always love producing and creating things I was just always a Creative at heart, so that was always in my wheelhouse. And so that's, I think that's what made this journey even kind of more profound was being able to kind of infuse everything that I grew up loving.
Stephanie
And was your first, and was your like developing your idea for doing Hip Hop MD just like what was your initial you said it was, you mentioned that it was like an initial sketch ideas like was it just for like a one time project or just something that came up that you're like, Oh, let me just try it out like what, what kind of what yeah I guess like what was your initial approach to starting to developing this character.
Maynard
Yeah, well it was like, cuz you know, out here in LA right he is you're pursuing entertainment projects. Yeah, it's one of those things where it's like you hurry up and wait right. You go out for auditions and, you know, you give your best shot and you hope to get booked for a project, but you get booked you know the bookings are far in between. Right, [sc: yeah], you're not guaranteed to land every audition you go to right. And so, kind of the thing out here is you have to be proactive. You have to at least, you know, create your own content, whether it's filming your own like short films, filming your own reels doing projects, and trying to make them, and bring stuff to light, whether it's through social media, whatever other platform you want to utilize. Because if you just sit and wait for yourself to get booked on a project or movie or whatever, you know, you wait.
Maynard
So that's really how that project started was just, it was just a random idea I was like okay let me shoot this content, I didn't know if it was gonna turn into a series or anything. [sc: Yeah.] But as I started filming it, putting it together, different ideas started popping up and so I started doing a different series of sketches, and then, like I said it just snowballed from there.
Stephanie
Did you already have, like, besides your acting and like your creative and kind of like, you know entertainment theater background or acting and yeah, acting and entertainment background, did you already have like technical skills when it came to filming and producing?
Maynard
Yeah, that is great as all of that, I learned on the fly, right. So it was just by, it was just by being out there and doing the work, right. Especially doing acting work, you kind of have to force yourself into that, you have to force yourself to learn how to utilize the tools. Right? because if you're going to shoot your own content, create your own content, you know, we didn't I didn't have money to go and hire a videographer or director to shoot stuff I just had to figure it out myself. I was lucky enough to have a lot of friends in the industry that been doing a lot of filming work. I have like three good friends of mine that are all directors that we didn't use video projects and stuff for, but it really started from me just being curious and really just putting myself out there.
So I used to go— I used to I remember early on when I started doing acting projects. I would go on like Craigslist for like bookings and, and I just and I just go and do behind the scenes work just to be in on set, you know, and kind of learn how to set worked in, you know what roles people were doing, and I did that for a long time just being curious and helping out behind the scenes, whether it was with lighting, whether it was moving stuff around. And so it was really just like practice and getting more familiar with the camera equipment and what people were using, and I just got this out everything I have now was self-taught so all my content I do now, I shoot myself. Long Form stuff I shoot myself and do all my editing myself. It really just stemmed from me just being curious and putting myself out there to learn more.
Stephanie
Nice, nice. And I feel like I feel I know, I feel like our whole stem success crew is pretty much just like self-starters and, like, on, you know, we're do whatever it takes just to get our shit out there so it's just awesome to see like, I don't know, I think that's why I love all of us together because we all kind of have the same approach the same mentality of like making, making the content that we're making and also like the mission that we have behind it.
Maynard
Exactly. And that's so key and I always tell people, like you have to be driven in that from that perspective right and what it helps you learn better, right, because you that that skill set is now ingrained within you because you went through the ups and downs to figure it out, right. And then you respect it a lot more because you know exactly what it took to learn all that, and then you're, you also have the opportunity to work with people that are way more knowledgeable than you.
And like you said you always got to be around people that know more than you, because that's how you grow, so yeah I think I think that's a huge skill that we all bring to the table because it helps us in our creative efforts and helps this ideate and then brainstorm, like way deeper, more complex ideas that could really branch off into something great
Stephanie
100% And I want to I want to tie it back to kind of like, you know your characters hip hop and Hip-Hop MD being like your approach and creating your content so like you're you know you're combining your comedy, hip hop and science all together to kind of, you know, use it as a tool to make something that's worthwhile and worth watching, with— and so I want to know, like why, why the combination of those. And like, how have you refined that, as you've continued to develop your content.
Maynard
Yeah. Well, I think the combination of it really. First and foremost was because those are two things I love. Growing up I was always a science nerd as well too. So I used to go out and explore. I used to go on like wildlife trips and, you know, catch frogs and snakes and salamanders like that was just something I just was ingrained within me. I think a lot of that stemmed from kind of having a worldly cultural perspective because I was you know I was raised in West Africa when I was younger, as well. So I had opportunity to travel and see different parts of the world. And so I always loved that and I was big NatGeo nerd I remember my mom bought me these like NatGeo like wildlife fact cards. I used to read these cards all day every day and I can, I can just drop random wildlife, knowledge, you know, for different, no reasons.
Maynard
So that was always like ingrained within me rights and then at the same time too. I was always into music, you know, I came from an underground circuit. So I used to fall on battle rap MC's, and I used to I used to be the battle circuit as well too early on and then and freestyle competitions and all sorts of stuff. And that was just like something I just loved that was a creative outlet for me. And so the fusion of the two was really easy, it was just two things that I love. But I think really at the end of the day. Like I said, with, especially within music and entertainment, those are things that we all digest on a regular basis, right, like we all have our favorite movie or favorite songs and albums, whether you like it or whatever you're playing on Amazon Music or Spotify or whatever you know you'd like. Those are things that culturally, we're connected to, right. You know we bond, off of favorite songs we bond off music in the club we bond off, you know, our favorite movies and a new movie that's out our favorite actors are entertainers.
And I really wanted to find a way to be able to make that same connection with science, where you can talk about different scientific subjects and talk about that with the same energy, and the same enlightenment that you would talk about your your favorites to the athlete or your favorite song or whatnot, you know, and that's really what I think makes that fusion special is just really trying to make that connection, and then by making that connection, it makes those scientific topics, a lot easier to connect with and understand, right, because now you can attribute them to something that you know something that you're familiar with. And then these, these scientific type of topics that may seem complex or may seem like they're over your head, you now have a way to now connect with them and understand fundamentally the meaning of them because you're associating it with something that you already know so I think that's what makes that fusion so special.
Stephanie
Yeah. And I also think I want to tie into the fact that like, Yeah, I think you're also bringing a bit of your like the I think the biggest key I like is that you're bringing a bit of yourself into it you know so it's like you're not trying to be someone that you're not, are trying to be, you know, your own your own stereotype of yourself when you're coming into this culture like these are two passions that you have and you're using them, and your fuse and you're fusing them, you know, so, so well, that you know when I make like when I first met you in person, you're like oh my god like this, like this is you, you know, it's just, it's just hilarious it's just hilarious, and I really love that and yeah and it's like and I, you do it so well, you know, and it hasn't been done before and I think that's what's really awesome, and I know, I know I just like, I don't know I'm just so proud of you. And just so happy that I got to meet you.
Maynard
I talk about this and do what I do keynote presentations, especially when I talk to older audiences especially college students and even high school students,111` is really like honing in on yourself. And I think that's one of the keys in SciComm, because we have so especially in this community we have so many different science communicators that have all sorts of different areas right. We have Science Bae that uses like makeup and beauty and stuff to describe it in science you have all the people that do it from so many different levels right and I think that intersectionality of combining it with something that you may know whether it's fashion and space like Astro Athens does or whoever you know like you can make these connections with things that you love doing, and then be able to tie science at them, makes that science makes that kind of love for science, to a next level right because now, I guess I always tell this to especially to high school students that you can do multiple things you can be multifaceted and I think a lot of us grew up with the kind of perception that we had to be one thing to pursue one career, or that if we liked having these other hobbies, we're not we couldn't do them because they either didn't make money or they weren't going to leave us with jobs, you had to focus on what was getting you money.
And so all these different things you get kind of pulled in different directions, and I really wanted to showcase that you can be your true authentic self, but still talk about all the different things you love and be able to fuse them all together, they don't have to be separate. And I struggle with that a lot. Early on in my career like I, even though I remember especially going to school while I was in school and I was studying engineering. I always hesitated tell people I was studying engineering right because I try to keep them supersonic right because I was a music artist. I'm like I can't be a rapper, I can't say I'm an engineer, people would look at me crazy, right. So I kept that like side of me, kind of, you know, hidden and kind of tucked away. So I was I was this nerd, I was doing engineering and all this stuff but I had this whole persona like hey I'm just a hip hop artist, I'm doing this, this is my music blah blah blah. My music was in, and for people that maybe it's kind of thinking like "oh maybe does he rap science?"
so that those music was a completely different fusion for me right like music topics were completely different than science so I'm not like you know I'm not I'm not, I'm not rapping about biology and stuff like that, like I was rapping about my life experiences and things and all sorts of different other topics right, and so I kept those two sides of me hidden, and I think I appreciate this hip hop science platform so much more as now I'm like fully involved within myself. I can bring my energy I can bring my weird humor to everything and my love for science and music, I can put them all together and not feel like I have to, you know, play, play Superman and switch capes here and there, you know,
Stephanie
yeah, no, I think, I think that's also important because I literally also had like a I talked to some high school students last year, or last week to have kind of like, you know, I wanted to be a photographer, and, but being told by my parents are like, oh I can't make money through that so I need to do something else. And it's just funny, like even pursuing science communication yeah like all of a sudden I find myself full circle of like, oh, now I'm incorporating like photography and like filmmaking into the science that I, that I've been doing and converge the two and I think I don't know I think it makes me excited to see kind of science communication grow in that aspect and and see be so like having, like, you know, the, the A and steam, you know, be so important and what drives the work that we're doing.
Maynard
Exactly. That's that's important cuz a lot of times yeah we talked about STEM labs because we're doing this stem word but yeah, it is at the end of the day it is steam because art. Art is really kind of ties in all of this together, right. In order to be able to express the love for STEM, you have to be able to utilize their social media, you have to utilize your creative expertise. You have to be able to brainstorm and network and build with other people and whether you're doing works like we do where it's using content and creating content, you have to have that artistic side to it, and so that art element is so important, and I was much of the same way as well too, like I was, I didn't always want to be an engineer actually came to school wanted to go into wildlife biology. I wanted to study. I went to school I was my plan was to be a wildlife specialist, and I have the same thing to everybody told me there's no money in wildlife biology is i What are you going to do as a wildlife biologist, you're going to be Steve Irwin,
Stephanie
You're like, what if I do, huh?!
Maynard
Yeah right? Everyone kept telling me that right. I was like well screw it then. Guess I'll go to where the money is and I kind of tried to find the perfect field, and still kind of have the scientific element of environmental studies and everything's I needed, but then have that technology aspect that I can kind of take on with me and be long standing and so Civil Environmental Engineering was kind of that, that kind of sacrifice, putting everything together, but the crazy thing. Everything full circle now, like most a lot of the content I put out is wildlife related contents, because that's something I've always loved and connected with so I naturally talk about wildlife sciences, and I'm on the freaking board, I'm on the board of directors for this rain forest conservation group, and I've got this platform now, and I'm talking about science. So it's like everything comes full circle, I always say if you love doing something you're passionate about it, pursue it, you'll find a way to make money regardless.
Stephanie
Facts. How do you want to—So who is your main audience? who you're trying, like who are you trying to target with the content that you're making?
Maynard
Yeah, it's interesting because... Originally, the goal was, was targeting kind of young professionals young adults, especially when I started out this this this sketch idea right it was gonna be targeted to an older audience, and that was just naturally the fit because, you know, it was, it was all kind of hip hop based right yeah. A lot of it had to kind of be a little more mature, adult audience, you know now still into hip hop and music and fashion, all that stuff. But the kind of crazy thing is now. I mean I do still touch that audience but a lot of content that I do now, has been appreciated and brought in by elementary school teachers that they use their stuff for their students.
Stephanie
Oh my gosh
Maynard
I have so many teachers that reach out to me all the time like oh my god I share your videos with my kids I show you videos with my class, we like studied this, this, amphibian class and we utilize your video for this project, and like, and so and then I, and then obviously I do a lot of presentations and assemblies for elementary school students. So like all last past couple weeks I did like four assemblies for like K through six students, okay. But at the end of day like I really I like the kind of reach is really unlimited which is really dope right because I have more mature content that's for older audiences. I have stuff I can present to younger audiences. You know I do keynote presentations for colleges and high schools, even for corporations on diversity in STEM and different things like that so like it's a really wide reaching the audience. But yeah, originally it was tailored to that young adult age but it's definitely form fitting for everybody.
Stephanie
Nice. And, and so what it can be like okay so you know some hip-hop songs are most hip hop songs are like pretty explicit. So, what is, what is your thought, or what is your, your creative process when it comes to like do you approach the subject matter in terms of like, Oh, I'm going to talk about this amphibian first and then try to find songs that fit that or like yeah. How does, what is your what is your thought process or creative process in forming like one of your videos?
Maynard
Yeah, so it changes every once in a while but kind of normally the format's really starts to me just listening to songs or watching music videos, right. Like, I may be playing a new song, I got a new playlist, and I might just be jamming out at the gym, and I just, and I think deep when I'm listening to songs right I'm not just jamming out and just like enjoying the music. I'm listening to the lyrics, and I'm listening to the contents right, and a lot of times some of my content stems to me just listening to a song, and they may have some reference to something, scientific or they drop a line that you know that's maybe kind of incorrect scientific fact or whatnot, that makes me guess or think twice like oh, that really happened, you know. That's, that's how my curious mind that's how my mind has always worked right always think way outside the box, right.
So somebody says something, I'll reach it off into some crazy analogy, it's just goes something way deeper that probably doesn't need to go that far. Thats how my brain thinks. So yeah listen to music, and our process that and a lot of times it's something like that or some question triggers my mind, or a statement triggers my mind I write it down. And then, later on, I'll start kind of digging about it you know it's like literally if if FBI came and saw my Google Search. Here guy like I got clear my history.
Stephanie
oh my gosh
Maynard
I've searched the most random obscure the most random obscure things and gone through the you know the YouTube depths of YouTube
Stephanie
Easiest rabbit holes to fall under
Maynard
My goodness seriously YouTube, YouTube was a huge radical especially when you start watching music videos. You can't just watch one music video video like you see that playlist, the next one you're like Oh this looks dope. This looks dope. And it's funny, even when I get those like creative droughts, that's really what I do, I literally just open youtube and I just started watching hella music videos. I'll watch hella music videos and then now I got like content for days. I'm like oh snap this video, this can be this can be turned to this or you can, this could be brought into an analogy with with physics or whatever, and I just start writing things down and have all my Google Docs, open for different ideas, and constant notetaker I just be writing stuff down every single time an idea pops in my head.
Stephanie
I feel like I can only imagine if I was like in your head like what the brain web, brain web will look like of just kind of like, just like you know literally just stacks on stacks or just like things just growing ever so much just of how I don't know, that's how I just envisioned do you gonna say that because easily, easily happens.
Maynard
Yeah, it's crazy like that my, I'm looking at my notes here over random stuff that I've written over the past couple of days of different things. And yeah, it's crazy that I make those connections I think a lot of that is stemmed from me now doing this work so so regularly. That those concepts just pop, pop into my head right because nothing is out of nothing is out of line or outlandish, you know.
There's always this crazy scientific connection that you can make to real life things right and I think that's the cool part about science and doing this kind of intersectionality of music and science and entertainment, is that you can make so many real life connections to things that are happening in the world and, and, you know, we see that already in science or things like biomimicry and stuff right realizing tools from nature to better humanity. They're all these there's all these connections that we can make that we can actually physically utilize and we could do that same thing when it comes to science communication work.
Stephanie
oh my god that just like, I just thought of your video. The biomimicry video and I was like the biggest shade biggest shade ever! If you haven't seen it you guys have to watch it. Literally it was about, I forgot like those like white women who like pretty much like blackface themselves to like be a part you know to get more clout or exposure, and you use that you use that as a comparison to like real, real wildlife, you know, animals that use biomimicry to fit into their environment and oh my god I thought that was just so clever. It's so clever!
Maynard
That's that's the direction, my mind goes right. Like especially with those that— I started this series for those that don't know, I started this series called Science mysteries right and the whole purpose of it is to dive into these different cultural phenomenons that happened that are like real life culture phenomenons or topics or questions that have occurred, and I try to find a scientific connection within them to kind of explain this mystery. So yeah the one that we that we just talked about was racial identity. We had like Rachel Dolezal was living their life as a black Women. Then come to find out that she was white and. And then there are other cases thats, I think you brought up a quick case two of those a Latina lady right,
Stephanie
yeah.
Maynard
That done something similar. And so it's like you had these different like phenomenons right that that had blown up in social media.
Stephanie
Well, it was Tom Hanks wife, or something like that. I forgot who it was but it was like, like a famous celebrities wife that actually was like, No, she's not black she's okay go ahead, go ahead, I'm sorry to cut you off.
Maynard
But you have these things that are happening right and day to day life in their day they blow up into these big social media phenomenons, and we talked about the news and all these different things, and they're kind of unexplained you're like why would somebody do this right. My thought process was really like try to understand this because there's a science behind that like there's a science within everything. And so to really understand that that psychological perspective is that physiology and why somebody would want to take on the persona of another race. It just immediately my mind immediately went to biomimicry and how organisms do this in the wild, right, and so that that connection was actually super easy for me it was just a way to show because we're humans right, humans are animals. Organisms in the wild do this all the time. And so that was a definitely easy connection to make but uh yeah but I break down all sorts of different cultural phenomenons.
I did one on Bobby schmurder's hat and try to figure out exactly what happened to Bobby Schmuder's hat and. And then the last the last recent one I did was kind of the science of melanin, breaking down, breaking down. You know what what melanin is first and foremost, and then connecting that to that a phenomenon that happened last year with with Saturn and Jupiter lighting so it was, it wasn't like a lot of a lot of crazy connections but there's science all around us and I think we think deeper, and we think into like the meaning of the fundamentals of stuff you can make a lot of unique connections with different things that happen in real life, with the natural world.
Stephanie
Yeah, I think that's an awesome talent to have because I honestly don't have like I like, I don't think about that I think just because I don't, I realized where I fit in with SciComm is like I like to feature the people behind the science and not the actual science and so sometimes I feel like a total imposter to call myself a science communicator because, like, yeah, I honestly, as much as I love science, I do not, I don't I don't Yeah I don't want to talk about it. I rather talk about like, you know, like I would love to make a video featuring you and about like you know your thought process and all of it and all of it and and why you're why you're spearheading this type of of work you know what I think that's where I find that that connection of like the humanity in terms of the science but I think what you have is like an awesome, it's just your brain is just so fascinating and I and I and I give you props for like pretty much writing. Yeah, just making making finding that niche, bringing your self into it and doing something that hasn't really been done before. Yeah.
Maynard
And though like I said, we have so many different science communicators utilizing their platforms for a wide variety of different things. So like the work that you do, highlighting voices that are doing that work and the highlight of the people behind the science, just as important because a lot of times, like especially scientists like spirit hardcore scientists, we don't do traditionally don't do a good job of spotlighting or highlighting ourselves. And I think that's kind of how science has kind of just kind of crept behind the scenes for so long, because you know we don't think of ourselves as superstars or icons or, you know people right like we've had people like Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse who are kind of a one offs in a way because you know those are famous scientists that you know you see them, they're kind of cultural, kind of mainstays because they've been doing stuff for a long time they've had platforms on TV and whatnot and so you grow up kind of knowing those voices, but those are few and far in between right like up there how many Bill Nye's are really out there how many Neil Degrass Tyson's are out there that are doing that work. And, and I think traditionally is because us as scientists, you know, we, we are so focused on the work right and doing the work, doing the studies and doing the research papers and works, and why it's important that you do what you do because you need to be able to bring those scientists that are doing amazing things you need to bring their work to the forefront to the table because now you can inspire other people, people that may be doing similar work that didn't know that they could utilize a platform to present themselves and now they feel empowered and emboldened to be able to do different things so you need to have those people that can uplift and bring that attention and bring awareness to the work that's being done so all those areas of importnat as well.
Stephanie
We're changing the game Maynard.
Maynard
A we out here. We all game changing, for sure.
Stephanie
Are you. Yeah. Are you okay so what is your what is your what is your dream with, are you like what is your dream with Hip Hop science.
Maynard
Yeah, the goal with this has always been to develop into a show. So even when I started with the sketch idea that whole kind of whole idea was to really build this out into a whole platform to develop into a show, and, and that's still the plan. So I think the cool thing about having so much content is, I'm able to have been able to do a lot did a lot of pitch meetings with different media companies. I'm in the development deal right now with a couple media companies to either do live action show, cartoon show, possibly a graphic novel, some other different things, but really the goal is to literally be the black Bill Nye. If I had my own Bill Nye Saves the World show, with the hip hop MD, like that would literally be the dream with this platform. And so all my content everything that I do is kind of fused around that, and really trying to showcase myself in that light to be that that you know that that Bill Nye type of figure you know where it can be that for that prominent science communicator in history to really be able to bring a new energy and a new face to the world of science,
Stephanie
yes manifesting it.
Maynard
Yes. Gotta speak it into existence.
Stephanie
No I yeah I can, I know, I just totally, I can see it happening, and, you know, just going to, I'm just, I'm just looking forward for when it does happen, and I you know I have a good feeling that it will happen soon. But yeah, but thank you Maynard. okay I'm going to open it up to the stage for anyone who wants to ask Maynard, Hip Hop MD, questions about his work or about himself. But there's no questions I can keep asking. Okay.
Maynard
This is my first time on clubhouse so we got, bring some questions in peeps.
Stephanie
Yeah, it's like, you know, slowly kind of dying off but I've been using, I mean me an Amanda, my friend Amanda have been using this as kind of like our, our podcast, in a sense, just to make it easier but okay so.
Stephanie
yeah cuz it's like you know it's a little while now with this theme that we're using club deck, I feel like it's gonna make it even like 10 times easier to do. So I don’t know, I'm excited for this. Okay, we have Arun is going to be is asking a question. I'm gonna invite him on stage.
Audience Member:
How's it going Maynard! It's, it's awesome he in your background, your story and I know there's one thing that you said earlier that you, you've never or you don't rap about biology or science but I do remember a praying mantis rap at one point. Thoroughly enjoyable. And I've shared that around so you know, I think there's definitely something there, it's a little bit like you know Baba Brinkman, you know the, who has like the rap guide to evolution and there there's some awesome stuff there and I love like hearing, hearing kind of your work because it's really like transdisciplinary right that you're creating something.
Stephanie
Oh Arun, I don't know. Did he cut off for you?
Maynard
Yeah, he's still there?
Audience Member:
and you're in the entertainment world and, you know SciComm is just like, it's totally new like really kind of like we're still trying to define what it is right like science communication and parts of it parts of the industry really are of that bridge of, you know of Hollywood in the entertainment industry, so I'd love to hear how you've kind of seen the comparisons between the two kind of the traditional maybe, you know, quote unquote Hollywood entertainment industry but also this like the kind of role that science communication has within this but also has its own kind of entertainment industry as itself.
Maynard
Yeah, yeah I know I appreciate that it is good to put a voice to— Man, I know we've been following each other and I love the work that you do as well too it's really dope. But yeah, no I think that it's really a unique connection and I think, especially over the past, like, two years for sure. I've been seeing a lot changing within the world of STEM and science as this kind of entertainment platform, and I think Stephanie could attest to this as well too with a lot of the work that we've been doing, you know with our with our STEM success committee, you're starting to see this wave of people now getting into the science communication realm, right, and really utilizing social media and the different tools around us to highlight a lot of the work that you do. A lot of it you know obviously based around you know diversity in STEM, the need for more people that look like us black and brown voices in STEM. And so that need and that understanding is now starting to become a lot more mainstream, and so you're starting to see a lot of things gravitating towards that type of programming.
Right so, you know, we've always loved you know shows like, like, you know, the BBC programming Planet and all that stuff you know like we've always gravitate to those shows, but now it's starting to go into this way where you're starting to highlight, more than people have even built you know even Bill Nye had his show that came back two years you know I think it was like two years ago Bill Nye Saves the world that came back. Neil deGrasse Tyson's doing this show but now you have other science communicators you have Emily Kelly and really doing her show on Netflix, and then you start to see a lot more like Netflix programming happening with National Geographic now starting to do a lot more connected work with different influencers and different things that that all kind of based within science, so you start to see this kind of cultural gravitation towards the science fields, especially within entertainment, because now we're, we're, we're, we're absorbing content from so many different places, I mean, everybody got Netflix and Hulu and, you know Stars, whatever app that you got you know we have we have hundreds of different platforms that are out there, and everybody's creating content, content is key at the end of the day, and you're starting to see a lot more involvement a lot more work happening within the science fields, and I think it's going to naturally continue to grow this cultural wave of more content that we're all seeking to really be able to touch different audiences and find different niches that can really appreciate that so I'm definitely seeing a lot more new connections and I'm seeing a lot more growth happening within the world of science and entertainment is seeing that fusion happening in a lot of different unique areas.
Audience Member:
Awesome, thank you so much and I can't wait to see Hip Hop MD and in the next Marvel movie.
Maynard
Hell yeah! That would be next level, that'd be next level for sure. But yeah, we get to that point that I mean that, I think that's really the trajectory, I think is really dope if we can get to that point where you look at, you know your favorite action movie stars to be the rock, you know, it could be you know your favorite athletes you're LeBron James, you know, the world's like really uplifting science communicators and scientists to that same kind of mainstream level would be so dope, you know like so you have those idols that people can look up to and be like you know yeah I want to be like a rock, but I want to be like this guy, too, and it happens to be me Hip Hop MD whatever like whoever you know gets in that position where it becomes kind of this mainstream phenomenon, because we all grew up having those idols but they've been so few and far between like to have those people in those positions for people to look up to in the future, and be cultural, social icons. So dope.
Stephanie
I think that's so that's so interesting because I think about that too in terms of like, you know, back in the day, like Einstein and Steve Hawkins like they were, they were kind of like celebrities in their own way for kind of like pushing the boundary of science, but then it slowly went back into having celebrities and actors being the voice for environmental movements or, you know, different types of, you know like, them being the face of a lot of like science. Science facing problems and so I wonder if there's a way you know if we are seeing that cultural shift of like having scientists again kind of like reclaiming their space and being and being prominent figures again. And, you know, I see the power in that but also see like is that going to be problematic in the future of like is this gonna help towards building trust or or whatnot so I don't know that's an interesting thing but yeah that's totally.
Maynard
That's definitely interesting. Yeah you're right, like we for the longest time we've been utilizing celebrity faces as kind of that kind of that voice of different things, whether it's like conservation or, you know, wildlife protection are different things that that right, you've been or climate change, you know, but you don't really have the scientists, you know with that same type of clout, or coverage, or kind of respect, socially, doing that work, and I think the more and more people that we can get doing that and the more people that can be recognized. You know, like we said we always talk about all the STEM collective I keep bringing it back to our group but I mean think about this, the social reach that we all have right like that's so important because you're building this community. People respect, get to know you, get to know the work you do, and we have all these different collaboration efforts, and I think if that kind of trend continues, you'll get more prominent people with social clout that also have that presence, to be able to inspire others and really be able to shift the movement,
Stephanie
100 percent, I am like yeah, I feel like we're, we're slowly seeing that I'm hoping to see it kind of continue to grow, and, and, you know, change, change the landscape a bit. Um, yeah I have, okay I have one more question Oh Sonya. Sonya Lee's is, is going to ask the question, thank you Arun for your question.
Hi, Sonya.
Maynard
Hey.
Audience Member:
Hi Stephanie Hi Maynard.
Hi. I am a science communicator I mostly work in the production and ocean communication spaces, and I have been working science communication for probably about, like, eight years but kind of on the background. So like I've never put myself as a public speaker, like facing scicommer, but I've supported and done a lot of side projects but I've always had this kind of conflict between like can I do more if I did more front facing stuff, Like, do you have any advice or like, I don't know some insight into like whether or not I should probably like maybe try moving into more of front facing or, like, stay in my comfort zone of being in the background.
Maynard
Yeah, yeah, no, that's a great question. I would say, at the day you know you have to do what works best for you right because everybody has their natural tendencies there I know plenty of people that aren't comfortable with maybe being in front of camera, you know, different things like that. But if you have a goal of wanting to be more front facing, you know, you can definitely take a lot of everybody does in different ways right and the end of the day, practice makes perfect if you end up wanting to go that face, that front facing route, whether it's creating content, you may have to put it out there but just recording yourself.
I used to do tips like this for people kind of coming into acting world and stuff like how do I get better on camera, how do I understand, like my mannerisms and how I'm coming off to other people on camera. I would just tell people just record yourself, you don't actually have to post it or anything like that, but just record yourself just sit there, put a camera on, turn it on. Look into the camera, talk about something. Have an idea or something and just maybe use it as like a diary or whatever. And then like, and then watch it, like the next day kind of see kind of how your presentation is see how your movements all these different things. I've known people that would have done that, that taking that advice and done that and, over time, they've kind of gotten more comfortable with knowing exactly the movements, seeing themselves, hearing their voice because even actors I've had that I've worked with actors that like, I don't know like I hate hearing my voice. My voice is weird, the more and more you get used to hearing yourself and seeing yourself, you start to kind of break through and get more comfort, being in front of camera. But my advice to you would definitely go with it, go with route feels that is going to give you that energy right if you have content that you want to put out there that people need your, your voice and your presence to be able to understand and make those kind of slow steps to start doing and putting your content out there. It doesn't have to be perfect.
Right off the bat like have I looked at I look back at some of my original content, and I look at that as like that counter with booty. Like how do I get it all slow like first like science, like you know my Science Friday's I do now, before like I used to kind of do this like YouTube series where I kind of break down like fact and fiction in different rap songs, and kind of break down that was, was true what was not. And like the pacing was so slow. It was awkward, and like the editing was weird the background like those, not those, there’s no production value to it, but you have to start from somewhere, right, and naturally over time you get to grow, you're going to continue to get better. And you're going to make content to be more of a shape you're going to get more creative, you're going to understand the tools that are accessible to you you're going to like utilize connections and resources, and it's going to naturally improve but it's going to you know that takes time and if you're willing to kind of invest in yourself and take and take that time, it's definitely well worth it.
But, um, but just like we mentioned, we have all these different science communicators that express science in so many different ways Stephanie's got this platform, where she's bringing in other people and highlighting the work that other people are doing. I'm in making this intersection of music and comedy, we have people doing fashion and space and all these different things. Figure out what is, what is it what is special to you and what's in what you embrace and what's natural for you, what you naturally connect with intersectionality with everything within like literally the most obscure thing that you can think of, there's an intersectionality that's in need and that's important for that so if you find something that connects with you. You don't even have to be that the visual face of it, but you can find a way to kind of bridge that gap and utilize your skill sets, utilize your resources to now put that into the forefront to grow into something that people can, that people can garner towards and appreciate so you got I think that the key identities, figure out what works best for you and what's authentic to you, and then starting from there.
Audience Member:
Thanks so much like it's that takes the pressure off a little bit I always feel the pressure to like, oh, maybe I should do this but maybe I'll just stay where I'm comfy.
Maynard
And that's the thing like people always think like when you have a social media means you have to push your face and stuff out there. You don't. I mean you could like people I've seen people that use infographics, you know some people that draw and are really skilled at drawing. You can find a unique way to like draw out different you know whatever topics that you want to talk about within science, you can sketch stuff. If you're more creative with like doing stuff on Photoshop and using images and photography and like and really piecing together like documents that you can now present as visuals for people to read and like enabled graphic format. There's so many different opportunities that you can utilize that doesn't necessarily have to be you being in front of camera talking about something like other people but I think at the end of the day, that makes it more special and you can find your own way of doing it something that's unique to you, and not just trying to follow the trend of what everybody else is doing so yeah I think my best advice is find what's unique to you find what you can do, and it's going to come off more naturally, and then it's also going to be more authentic because people are gonna realize that that's you at the end of the day.
Audience Member:
Thank you so much.
Stephanie
Thank you, Sonya for your question. Alright, we have a Teresa. So I'm gonna invite her on to the stage.
Maynard
My plant scientist in the building!
Audience Member:
Yeah. So I'm doing plant science in Trinidad. At the University of the West Indies. I can go straight into my question, but this is one of something that I asked Stephanie some time ago, over another conversation you're having on Science of SciComm. It's based on dialect. And how much that can make or break a connection with a general audience. So like any Caribbean region I have never seen anybody or when, during my upbringing, coming up as a youth interested in science, I've never really connected with somebody specifically on TV or on radio or anything like that I didn't even know who Bill Nye was until I actually came to the States. And so, in this region itself is sort of focus a lot more on entertainment, music, that kind of thing. So, I was asking Stephanie this, especially with your accent.
Even something like accent is something I think about sometimes because sometimes people kind of connect with that. Or they don't understand what she's saying and because of my experiences, moving from Trinidad going to the States. I even had some jobs where people were like, What are you saying, Can you translate? I'm speaking English. Are you trying to communicate your science with our general audience or if I should stick to my target which is Caribbean region, however, is not just to talk it, you know, I would like to talk about the science that we do in Caribbean region but it also has a global impact, so I don't want it to just be Caribbean youth or STEM professionals who will have you on. I want people, all of us to be able to connect with it. I think so far what I do. I don't speak greatly. I'm kind of like in the baby stages, and this means I put up images and things like that and people like it they connect with it because it's plants. So you know and it's caption, but I think. Do you have any tips or advice or your opinions on how to go about how should I say "kill the accent," or be myself.
Maynard
No, that's a great question and what. And actually I appreciate, I appreciate you, acknowledging my accent. So weird right I think it really depends on what groups, I'm talking to some people could detect an accent in me. Some people were like no you don't have an accent and like maybe certain words that I say that my accent comes out but yeah I mean I'm half Cameroonian half Nigerian right and I was raised in Cameroon when I was younger, and you know my, my you know my parents, you know, my parents, my mom speaks from the Pidgin and but my dad EBO and, and I know Pidgin as well too and so it's like, so I have that I have that ingrained within me but I feel like I've been here so long it so that's always kind of an accent there's a shout out to the fellow accents, out there in the world. But no, no zero that. Don't, don't kill the accident, f all that right at the end of the day, you're exactly right, you, you want to think more globally with the work that you're doing right and it's and just because you have an accent, doesn't mean that your content is only limited to the Trinidad community. I think that what's really important, especially with the work that I've been doing keynote presentations and talking to schools and talking to students, you know, we're in a we're in a way more diverse world. Even here in the US than we were, 10, 15, 20 years ago right. You're starting to see people coming to US from all sorts of different countries where you know, African countries, South American countries, yeah, we're a melting pot of so many different people, and these people end up in so many different places. I mean my parents came here from West Africa and we ended up in Vancouver, Washington, of all places, right, I mean, I went, I went to like an all like Mormon high school, you know, and it's like, you have all these different contrasts in people that come from different backgrounds that end up in so many different places that you may never even think admit ever even understand how they ended up there right and not just ending up in the main suburbs, you know, they're not just ending up in the big cities like LA and New York they ending up in some of these small towns, somewhere, so we're getting this kind of more globally diverse audience. And with that, that means they're starting to get a lot more kids that come from different backgrounds, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds that don't see people like them doing a lot of that work or see people like them period at all or maybe just be their family, right, you can have somebody from the Caribbean, that's in some small town in Ohio, I don't know, and they they don't see any other Caribbean people. They're the only ones, they may think they're weird because they're the only ones that their parents that have accents and nobody else in their school talks like that and so they may feel inferior and may feel like, Oh, weird I'm not I don't belong. I don't fit in, and I'm seeing this with a lot of students, especially, especially kind of that early, like junior high, kind of like sixth grade, kind of range, where they're starting to get a better understanding of themselves and kind of where they fit in and different things like that, and that representation is so important to be able to have that cultural perspective and see people that come from different backgrounds, people that speak differently than them right and then that how many be even language plays like Trinidad and Tobago, like you don't you don't, you're just naturally see, I see trainees everywhere like moving around right and so they become special becomes something now that's that stands out and you bring something unique to the table. So whether you're speaking to a group of students, there could be one student in there, that note that either that either comes from that same background, or maybe if they're not the exact same background, they may feel kind of isolated, or by themselves or alone because nobody else speaks like they do and they see somebody else that's different, and speaks with an accent doing incredible work within STEM. And that's can be a source of inspiration to them. So I think at the end of the day, you have to embrace who you are. You have to embrace what you bring to the table, because what you bring to the table can have a way more far reaching effect than what you think. And, yeah, of course it's always going to be people, they're going to judge or bring you down or say stuff about your accents and that's happened to me earlier on to or your color skin whatever they're always going to do, they're going to Outcast you for whatever, but that representation of what you bring to the table culturally and physically with the personality, everything is so needed because there's gonna be voices there that you're reaching that could connect with that because they may be feeling in that same space as well too. So I say embrace it utilize it and project it and bring it to the table and talk about it, break down the science of dialects and accents if you have to like really reinforce it even to the T, because now that's something that helps separate you and something that makes the work that you do even more special.
Stephanie
Yeah, cuz it's like at the end of the day there's always going to be fucking racist people that are going to be, you know, calling out calling out but that's just them projecting. That's just them, projecting on onto you and not anything about your ability, and to communicate science and they think, yeah, like Teresa, your work is bomb your photography is bomb, the science that you're communicating is bomb and and and if you and I know you're interested in filmmaking, and so I feel like, you know. Yeah, don't, don't let don't let, Don't let these, you know, don't let the prejudice or anything like that just keep you from from from that space because the more that you continue to create content of you being yourself. And, you know, bringing all that you're with, you know, with your accent like that's going to continue to differentiate, differentiate the work that you're doing compared to other people and and be, you know, be that representation that's needed in that space.
Audience Member:
Thank you and I would say just when I saw your content may not have made me actually think about introducing because cultural and in terms of music. Soca we do dances and things like that, Soca Music is not really well known, so I think people sort of connect more with their actual culture and so we associate science a lot with like the America. It would be nice to see when I saw your content, I was like, oh, maybe we should incorporate like Soca Music into something that has to do with science so maybe people could connect without. Thank you for showing your content with Hip Hop.
Maynard
yeah I know that you said that intersectionality is so important. I love me I love me some Soca and Dancehall music all day. I love that as well too. And that and that's so dope, especially with the work that you do, you know, it's all about like, shoot, I have a I did a, one of my presentations I did last week I talked about having a connection with music and plants. There it is we're talking about how plants can actually grow through vibrations and stuff to grab right so they'd have these different studies, play music and different vibrations and rhythms whatnot for plants, but they're also having unique connections that you can make, you know, within musical elements and within sites right and like I say, there's, there's, there's endless amounts of content of different things that you can bridge that gap to really make some unique connections with it. so yeah 100% I'm, I wish— I've been following your content too. For a while now and it's super dope, and you got to embrace, where you come from and let people know you know shout that at the rooftops, you know, Because it's so important, it's so needed we're way more diverse space right now and there are people that are looking up to people that come from different backgrounds because you don't see them in a lot of spaces doing that work. So, you would have your voice, and that representation is so key.
Audience Member:
Thank you. Thank you. thank you, Stephanie Maynard Thank you.
Maynard
Of course.
Stephanie
All right, well thank you for your questions Teresa. Alright so we're coming up on the hour, Maynard I usually ask our guests to kind of like leave people with some kind of, you know, like what would be, what would you want people to leave this conversation with you know whether that be tips or just like one solid piece of advice or whatnot. So in terms of like the work that you're doing and bringing culture, your authentic self, and and bridging and bridging, you know, bridging different types of aspects together to do your science communication work like what can be a solid piece of advice you want people to walk away with this conversation.
Maynard
Yeah, well, my, my, my life, and that I end all my, my video contents and presentations with his curiosity is nature's PhD right never stopped asking, and, and that that's something that that's, that's something that always live by right because I think we've all done this to ourselves, whether it's kind of having imposter syndrome or feeling like you're not validated in different areas or to deal with, or don't have the credentials to speak on different things. We're in a space now where you can learn so much just by asking questions and connecting with people and utilizing resources and doing research yourself, right, like I don't have a PhD, I'm not a doctor, I don't have masters. But, and I know that I didn't focus on you know while I haven't gone to school for wildlife biology or different things like that, but I'm able to get into these different spaces and do a lot of this this kind of wide ranging size communication we're talking about so many different areas, because I'm invested that time by being curious and asking questions and wanting to know more, and working with experts or seeking advice from experts, or doing the research myself, you know, that all those different things give you that so validation that you need and that knowledge that you need now to be able to be an influential playmaker in this space. And so there's something that you want to do, and it's something that you love doing and maybe you don't feel like you have credentials or whatnot, like, keep diving in, keep learning more keep doing the research, find, you know, programs, find other resources, find things that you can get involved in with your time physically to be able to now make those connections and do that work because by asking more questions and staying curious and wanting to know more, you will be able to now absorb this wide breadth of knowledge in so many different areas. So that's my biggest advice and I think it ties in with everything by you asking questions and wanting to know more, you'll be able to dive into areas that you never even thought possible never thought existed. I never came in this not thinking that I was going to be a science communicator and make these different unique connections with science and intersectionality and diversity in STEM and all these different topics, but I wanted to learn more I wanted to be involved, I wanted to be invested in it so that's why I asked questions and I kept trying new things, and got out of my comfort zone and explored, and that's how I was able to get to the space to be able to do so many different things. So if that's you and you feel like you want to do more, and you want to try to get into different spaces and utilize your voice, utilize your talents, be able to do something dope, like dive into it, headfirst. And don't be afraid to make those mistakes along the way, and eventually it's gonna snowball into something that's gonna be great for you,
Stephanie
Solid advice. Thank you so much, Maynard, for taking time because I know you are a multifaceted man, that's super busy so. So just thank you for taking the time to hang out with me, and join me in this chat. All right, Well, thank you everyone else for coming. This conversation was recorded so you can share this conversation with your friends, and look out for the next conversation that we'll be hosting for the sciences of SciComm but everyone have a great weekend and thank you again Maynard, for your time.
Maynard
Of course. Bye everyone.
Stephanie
Bye.
