Adama from The Catalyst In Me has been a great supporter of our blog for a while now, having published career profiles for each of us (which you can check out here), so we thought it was high time we had a chat with her about what motivates her to keep going in science, and the lack of diversity in STEM. Read on to hear her thoughts!

Firstly, could you tell us about the inspiration behind the title of your blog, and what it means to you?

‘The Catalyst In Me’ stemmed from a friend giving me the name, in all honesty. She suggested ‘My Catalytic Life’ but I knew I wanted my blog to be more than my personal experience. The term ‘catalyst’ is used in all the sciences, but the chemistry definition is the one that stuck with me; ‘a substance that speeds up the rate of a reaction while remaining unchanged’. Catalyst is also used to describe something that causes a series of other things.  After putting it all together I can say ‘The Catalyst In Me’ represents the burning passion everyone has within to succeed.

My blog is more than a passion project. Through it I want to be able help change the narrative that to study a science, you have to only be academically ‘smart’ – to one of passion and hard work. I also want to help shed a light on the issues of diversity within science but through representation via my career interviews. It’s the social media age and I also want people to know science graduates do not have to fit any stereotype. Being yourself and passionate is the message I want my blog to deliver.

Tell us about your background and how you got into science

I am from Sierra Leone (a small country in west Africa that many people don’t know about). In school the message was that most people who study science become doctors or engineers, so for a considerable amount of time I wanted to be a doctor. While my environment moulded my decisions from early on, as cliché as it sounds, I have always been a science girl – taking biology, chemistry, physics and maths from GCSE to A levels and now being in the final year of my medical physiology degree. I picked a biology degree due to my fascination with disease. Watching shows I had always wanted to be the doctor or the person in the lab, but most importantly the person putting things together with a crazy amount of knowledge. My drive to learn is what has kept me in science.

What motivated you to start blogging?

I saw a gap in the science career bracket while searching for potential jobs. There were many sites, but they felt too factual. I think people find motivation and see things being achievable when success stories are closer to home. I was also disheartened by the lack of diversity of scientists I was presented so I thought I could change it.  Through my interviews I wanted to show the world that anyone with that burning passion of desire could become a scientist. I also wanted to explain things I found interesting to a wider audience and a blog seemed to be the perfect fit.

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You’re passionate about sharing career advice and highlighting the variety of careers science students can go in to, have you found it difficult to get this sort of advice from school and university?

I wouldn’t say my university made it particularly hard to find information, but the careers advertised were always very skewed and didn’t represent the vast range of roles a life science graduate could actually get into. The information towards life science careers is always very skewed to either becoming a full blown academic or doctor. The methods used by universities are dated and every story didn’t seem achievable to me.

What are your goals for The Catalyst In Me for the next year?

As I hopefully graduate this year, I do expect the first half of the year to be relatively slow. So, my goal for the first half is to build connections with organisations and students so I can find the best way to communicate information that people want and not just my ideas. In the second half of the year, I would love to hold a workshop or work collaboratively with organisations and schools to help explain the many options available to students interested in life sciences and get people thinking about their careers earlier.

adama.jpgAdama is a third-year medical physiology student. The curator behind thecatalystinme, a life science and careers blog aimed at encouraging and providing a source of information for biology enthusiasts of all ages. The catalyst In Me provides guidance and representation in various life science fields through Adama’s own personal journey and Interviews with other biologists at various stages in their careers. You can follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.