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00:00All right, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage our moderator, Zynga Blake.
00:07Is this on? Is this mic on? All right. Hey, everybody.
00:12Are you all ready to meet some incredible women in STEAM?
00:19Okay, who knows what STEAM is?
00:23Oh, no, I can't hear you. What?
00:25I have an A.
00:28Yeah, but there's an A.
00:30There we go. Okay, okay. We got some blurreds in the building.
00:34I'm an honorary blurd myself, so thank you again.
00:38Hello and welcome to On the Red Carpet Storyteller Spotlight.
00:41Today, I'm honored to bring to our stage three National Geographic women in STEAM to the stage
00:48to share their stories of how they've blended exploration, entertainment, inclusivity, and visibility in their fields.
00:56So, without further ado, please welcome marine biologist, science communicator, and National Geographic explorer, Aaliyah Griffith.
01:04Come on out, Aaliyah.
01:05Next, say hello to marine biologist and sea turtle scientist featured in National Geographic's Shark Fest last year, Carly Jackson-Bunahannan.
01:14And finally, you may see her in the National Geographic documentary film, Science Fair.
01:20Please welcome educator, mentor, and newly awarded National Geographic explorer, Dr. Serena McCullough.
01:28Welcome, ladies.
01:29I have an extra mic.
01:31Do you need one?
01:32There you go.
01:32All right.
01:34Well, how are you ladies doing?
01:36Good.
01:37Yeah?
01:38Are you excited to be at Essence Fest?
01:41Absolutely.
01:41Oh, my gosh.
01:42And we get to talk about STEAM, which is like one of my favorite subjects.
01:46So, let's get started.
01:49I want to hear from all of you, okay?
01:50But first, let's have the audience get to know each of you ladies a little better.
01:55Aaliyah, you're National Geographic explorer and marine biologist.
01:58So, tell us more about your work as a biologist and your role as a Nat Geo explorer.
02:03That's, I mean, have we seen us as Nat Geo explorers?
02:09Exactly.
02:10So, this is pure magic on the stage.
02:13Right?
02:14Right?
02:15So, tell us.
02:16Tell us about everything.
02:19Hi.
02:20So, I'm Aaliyah Griffith.
02:21I'm a PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill.
02:24And my work is concentrated in coral reef management and specifically looking at reefs in Barbados.
02:30Oh, wow.
02:31Do you hail from the Caribbean?
02:33Yes.
02:33So, my family's from Barbados.
02:34All right.
02:35Give it up for Barbados.
02:37The diaspora in full effect.
02:39And so, Disney's live action remake of The Little Mermaid.
02:42Who's seen The Little Mermaid?
02:45Right?
02:46Okay.
02:46So, it released this year.
02:48Of course, we've all seen it.
02:49And you had the chance to actually sit down with Hallie Bailey in a special interview with National Geographic Media.
02:55So, what was that like?
02:57It was honestly amazing.
02:58Hallie is so sweet, very determined, and is going to get what she wants when she needs to.
03:04But she is such a sweetheart.
03:05And just us being able to chat and bond about our connections with the ocean and all the training that she had to do.
03:12And she was like, I didn't realize how much went into scuba diving and went into swimming.
03:16And so, us just bonding about kind of the nature around being a mermaid was absolutely amazing.
03:23Do we have a clip?
03:24Oh, I think we might.
03:26I think we have a clip.
03:27Do y'all want to see it?
03:28Yeah.
03:28All right.
03:28Let's roll it.
03:29Do you believe that there could be mermaids?
03:33Because I honestly do.
03:36We've only explored about 5% of our oceans.
03:39There are even certain parts of the ocean where we're just touching the bottom.
03:43They just found the bottom end blue hole, the big blue hole in Belize.
03:47So, we don't know.
03:49It could be.
03:49They're still, you know, identifying new species every day.
03:52Fun fact, when sailors were out to sea and they were out for a long period of time, they're usually tired and dehydrated, they would then mistake other animals for a mermaid.
04:03It's a mermaid!
04:04A mermaid?
04:05Use your eyes!
04:11Wow, that was beautiful!
04:14So, you can say that you're a real-life mermaid, huh?
04:17Yeah, technically.
04:19Okay, well, actually, tell us a bit more about your amazing nonprofit you founded, Mahogany Mermaids.
04:24Yes, so my nonprofit, Mahogany Mermaids, is geared toward getting children of color, specifically black, involved in the aquatic sciences.
04:32And so, I established it in about 2016 after doing an internship that was a Pathways to PhD program.
04:39And so, I realized just how much opportunity we really have out there and how I didn't know until I was an undergrad.
04:48And so, I thought it would be absolutely amazing to expose younger children of color, specifically black, to those opportunities, to those spaces, so that they knew that they belong.
04:57They knew that there were people there to guide them, to lead them, and to show them into a whole new world.
05:04No pun intended.
05:05Another Disney.
05:07That is amazing.
05:09You know, that they say, if she can see it, she can be it.
05:13And that's the thing.
05:13Absolutely.
05:13It's like being able to see yourself and feeling like you can be included in that space.
05:18That's great.
05:18And you also recently wrote a children's book, My Secret Mermaid.
05:22Give her another round of applause.
05:25She deserves it.
05:26What was that process like?
05:28Tiring.
05:29Long.
05:30But very rewarding in the end, just being able to kind of curate the idea of what careers are there, especially when linked to aquariums.
05:40And so, that's where a lot of my inspiration and kind of origin stories surrounded around with going to aquariums with my mom and being able to do those interactive dolphin encounters that I also went to with my dad.
05:52And so, trying to show, or I guess having people read about in a book, all the different careers that actually rely in the aquarium and seeing how they expand outside of that.
06:03That's incredible.
06:05Congratulations.
06:05What an inspiration you are.
06:07And, yes, please give it up for her, Leah.
06:09That's wonderful.
06:10And now, while we're on the topic of marine biology, let's hear a little more from our next guest, a shark and sea turtle scientist.
06:18We've got Carly Jackson, Bohan, and Carly.
06:21You also, yes, give it up.
06:23Yes, Carly.
06:26You also co-founded an organization that's been very collaborative with National Geographic, Shark Fest.
06:32Are you all down with Shark Fest?
06:33Y'all need to be, because it's amazing, right?
06:35And so, tell us about how, tell us about MISS, your organization, and how did it get started, and what are your goals for this organization?
06:44Yeah, so MISS, we, you know, minorities in shark sciences, we love calling ourselves MISS, and we started in 2020, so three years ago, and we started after, kind of during a lot of the civil unrest that was happening in our country at that time, and specifically there was an event where, you know, Chris Cooper,
07:03he had this white lady called the cops on him while he was birdwatching, and now he has his own show with National Geographic.
07:09Whoop, whoop!
07:10Yes.
07:11Thanks, Karen.
07:12No.
07:13Thank you, Karen.
07:14Yes.
07:14Give it up on Karen!
07:16Give me a love with there, y'all!
07:17Yes, thank you, Karen.
07:17One of our senior executives at National Geographic.
07:20Yeah, so from that, there was a movement on Twitter called hashtag black in nature, so it was to break the stereotype that black people don't like to go outside, black people don't like to swim, things like that.
07:33So I joined in on the hashtag, I posted pictures of myself with sharks and sea turtles, and I was like, oh yeah, like just being a black girl out here loving nature, and under that post, another, one of the other co-founders for MISS,
07:46she commented under and was like, oh my gosh, another black girl in shark science, and I was like, you know that Spider-Man meme where they're just like, what?
07:53That's exactly how I was because I had never in my life seen another black girl in shark science, and I had never met another one throughout my entire career, so it was kind of like that, oh my gosh, I am not alone.
08:04So the other two co-founders, Amani and Jada, they also came in on the tweet at some point, and then we all got in a group chat, and we were like, we just have to meet each other, because we were just like, we have never, you know, had community like this, so after we met, we were just like, we've got to start something.
08:22So we decided to start Minorities in Shark Science, and kind of create a community of women of color, of black women, to just feel safe in the field of shark science, because it is very white male dominated, yeah.
08:37And it's also not very well represented in TV, that's actually how we got our partnership with Nat Geo, we kind of called them out a little bit, and was like, you need more representation,
08:46because you're not going to get more diversity in shark science if people can't see themselves in this field, so they called us and was like, you're right, you're right.
08:55Well, that's why it's important to also have us in spaces of leadership, so this is incredible. Now, you also have a clip for us?
09:03Yes, we do, with some of my favorite sharks.
09:06Oh gosh, let's take a look.
09:08Carly and Eli are soon surrounded by more nurse sharks than they can count.
09:12But are any of them willing to take the leap up, onto land?
09:26These sharks slowly started creeping towards the steps where that squid was.
09:42Oh, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming.
09:56Look at him, look at him, look at him, look at him coming out, these guys.
10:00Look at that.
10:01Oh, wow.
10:03That is so damn cool, man.
10:06Look at that.
10:06Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.
10:08As soon as that first nurse shark launched itself out of the water onto the step, it was just so bizarre.
10:16They have these really large pectoral fins, so they use that to push themselves out of the water and prop themselves up on those steps.
10:27Wow.
10:28I mean, wow.
10:34So wait.
10:35My husband calls me crazy.
10:36You have some splaining to do, as they say.
10:39So please, tell me, you said seeing the nurse sharks were bizarre.
10:43First of all, I don't even know what a nurse shark is.
10:45But what is interesting?
10:46Can you tell us a little bit about them and what was so interesting about this experience?
10:49Yeah, so nurse sharks, if you could see, they don't really look like your typical sharks, like those, like, sharky sharks that are scary looking.
10:58I think they're very cute, actually.
11:01But, and I know y'all looking at me crazy, but nurse sharks, they are bottom dwellers, so they stay at the bottom.
11:06We call those benthic feeders, so they eat, like, crab and shrimp and things like that.
11:13But they also have this special breathing technique where they can use their cheek muscles to suck in water, and they actually don't need to keep swimming in order to breathe.
11:23So I know a lot of us probably have heard that sharks have to keep swimming to breathe.
11:28Most shark species do.
11:29They're called ram ventilators, so they have to swim and let the water pass through their gills so they can get that oxygen.
11:36Nurse sharks, they can just lay on the ground, just sleep under some rocks, and just kind of move that water themselves.
11:42And they have very powerful jaws, so nurse sharks are actually one of the worst sharks to get bitten by, because they can just suck on and just not let go.
11:50And I was in the water with them.
11:51That's so cool that you're also dispelling the myths that sharks are like, you know, you were standing right there with them.
11:56Exactly, yeah.
11:57So what's been the coolest moment working with these sharks?
12:01There's so many cool moments.
12:03It's just hard for me to, like, pinpoint one.
12:06But one of my favorite moments was when I was doing my master's research.
12:09I was doing it in Belize.
12:10I stayed there for two months looking at nurse sharks and how the provisioning tourism, so feeding tourism, how that was affecting them.
12:17And I was in the water with all these nurse sharks.
12:20We're in, like, five feet of water, super chill.
12:23Then all of a sudden, someone on one of the boats is like, there's a hammerhead.
12:27And I was like, what?
12:29And they point that way, and I swim towards where they're pointing.
12:32Yes, because I'm that person.
12:33But I'm swimming towards, like, the group who's seeing the hammerhead, and the hammerhead kind of, like, cuts me off from the group.
12:41And I just, like, lock eyes with this hammerhead.
12:43And it is just one of the craziest moments because I just felt like a little shrimp.
12:47I was like, oh, my gosh.
12:49I'm just this little shrimp in this big ocean.
12:51But also it was just so, like, I appreciated the animal more because she was just checking us out.
12:57Like, she just came around, kind of just was like, what's up?
13:00Did a little circle and then left.
13:01So it was just, like, a very beautiful moment to share with that animal in the ocean.
13:06That is beautiful.
13:07You know, like, we pride ourselves on, you know, producing content for, like, underrepresented people.
13:13Like, I feel like sharks are so misrepresented.
13:16So thank you.
13:16That's beautiful work.
13:18So give it up, y'all.
13:20You know, this Carly is incredible.
13:23All right.
13:23Now, well, now, Ali and Carly, so both of you work on encouraging and educating young people of color, right?
13:28And your feels that another woman here with us today is shaping the minds of our youth to become the next Nobel Prize winners.
13:39Well, actually, actually, wait.
13:40You are a Nobel Prize winner.
13:41No.
13:41Okay.
13:42I'm a National Geographic explorer.
13:43Okay.
13:44All right.
13:44I'm also an explorer.
13:45Okay.
13:46No.
13:46Oh, so you're shaping the youth to become the next Nobel Prize winners.
13:49Okay.
13:49I wanted to make sure that I got that right.
13:51Not yet.
13:52Anyway.
13:52So talk to Serena McCullough.
13:54You were just, you just won an award.
13:55I was just named the Wayfinder, which is now making me also a National Geographic explorer.
14:01See, another one.
14:02So you got two.
14:02Woo!
14:03Yes!
14:03So now all three of you are National Geographic explorers.
14:06This is great.
14:06So how does that make you feel?
14:09It's pretty surreal.
14:10Like, I've definitely had some serious imposter syndrome.
14:13Like, what?
14:14You know, I grew up in Queens, and I'm like, we don't get to become explorers.
14:18I was looking at the National Geographic magazine when I was a kid, thinking about, ooh, these
14:24people are amazing.
14:25Yeah.
14:25And that one won.
14:27You're won.
14:28Yes.
14:29You are.
14:29And you are amazing.
14:31Huh?
14:32So you're also featured in the hit National Geographic documentary, Science Fair, and will
14:38be in the upcoming show, Science Fair, the series.
14:40Yes.
14:41Really?
14:41Okay.
14:41So what was your experience filming those two projects?
14:44Okay, so real talk.
14:47The first documentary, I thought it was a teaching tool.
14:50My students do extremely well in science and research.
14:53We've won probably upwards of $10 million in scholarships and prizes over the last 15 years.
14:59Congratulations.
15:01So I just thought that they were coming, because I'm pretty good at what I do, and I thought
15:06that they would come in to kind of make a teaching film, because I want to help more
15:09teachers do what I do so that more kids can win the money, you know?
15:12Especially people who look like us, because we don't even know these competitions exist,
15:17but just this year, I think we probably won over a half a million dollars.
15:21Wow.
15:22Yeah.
15:23Congratulations.
15:24So when they came to tape it, I thought it was really a teaching tool, and then we won
15:28an Emmy.
15:29Oh, wow.
15:31And then I'm like, oh, really?
15:32This is a movie.
15:33It's a real film.
15:33Okay.
15:34And then it did pretty well on Disney Plus for the last few years, and then I guess they
15:40were like, this did really well.
15:41Let's make a series.
15:42So we have a series coming out at the end of the year.
15:45And you have a clip for us, too.
15:47We do have a clip.
15:47I haven't seen it.
15:48Oh, well, well, here we go.
15:50Here's your exclusive sneak peek.
15:52Oh, yeah.
15:54Here we are at the Regeneron ISIF Grand Award Ceremony.
15:58You have persevered with your studies and research and shown tremendous grit in the face of insurmountable
16:10odds.
16:12Ladies and gentlemen, honored guests and finalists, the time has come.
16:1830 million students, 78 countries, $8 million in cash and prizes.
16:31Top prize is $75,000.
16:33Second prize, $50,000.
16:35Straight cash.
16:36I want to win something.
16:38I don't want to pay for college.
16:41If someone thinks that high school science fairs are just about volcanoes, they've never
16:47been to a science fair.
16:48They're doing real research.
16:55I have kids who are literally, I knew about the lipid coating that we used for the COVID-19
17:03vaccine about 10 years before it came out.
17:06So everyone thought it was brand new science.
17:08It wasn't brand new science.
17:09We have been studying it for almost a decade.
17:12My kids are doing science that is truly going to change how we look at cancer.
17:17Earth science, astronomy, how we travel, it's groundbreaking.
17:22It's life-changing.
17:23Life-changing.
17:23That's why I truly believe one of them will get a Nobel Prize.
17:26I don't doubt it at all.
17:28Thank you for what you're doing.
17:30That's a major contribution to just humanity at large because you're shaping our leaders.
17:34This is amazing.
17:35So you're also a founder of an organization.
17:38Yes.
17:38Tell us about that work.
17:39So that's funny.
17:41I used to go to competitions with my students, and then I would see kids who didn't have someone
17:46like me helping them, and I would go help those kids.
17:49And my students were like, how are you helping them to beat us?
17:52And I said, well, if they can beat you with the hour that I spend with them, then they
17:56should win.
17:57And they were like, ooh, okay.
17:59So they were like, so she's not, so I keep doing it.
18:02I go to all the competitions, and I help other kids, along with my students, of course,
18:05but I help other kids.
18:06And they were like, she's not going to stop.
18:08So they helped me set up my website and build my company, which is called iResearch Corporation.
18:13And with their help, I started running a summer camp, and then COVID hit, and then now we
18:19do it all digitally because that's where science is going anyway.
18:23Exactly.
18:24Exactly.
18:24And so all three of you have fascinating stories, and I'm going to throw out some questions that
18:30all of you can answer and want this to be encouraging, and I need you to be frank and engaging in this
18:38conversation, right?
18:39So can you talk a little bit about how you fell under the spell of science?
18:46Because that's all I can think about while I hear you all speak.
18:48Like, how, what was that moment that you knew that this is what you wanted to pursue?
18:56Yeah, I guess I can start.
18:58Yeah.
18:59I definitely always had a connection with the water, just from my family being from an island
19:03and me living on the coast most of my life.
19:07But I think the big kind of aha moment was once I went to the Baltimore Aquarium, and this had been
19:14after, you know, a few SeaWorld trips and seeing a couple other aquariums.
19:18But I ran up to a dolphin trainer, and I was like, well, what are you called?
19:22What's your job?
19:23And I was probably like eight, eight-ish years old.
19:25And she's like, well, I'm a dolphin trainer.
19:26I'm like, no, no, I know you have an official, like, title.
19:29Like, what's the real title?
19:30She's like, I'm a marine biologist.
19:32And so I was like, that's what I'm going to do.
19:33So I know people thought I was crazy because I was like eight years old.
19:36Like, I want to be a marine biologist.
19:37And they were like, why do you know what that is?
19:39What is that?
19:39Please explain.
19:41But I, you know, stuck to it, tried a few other things.
19:45I worked in a veterinary hospital, worked in a nature center just to make sure
19:48that it wasn't just I loved animals in general, but that I really loved marine life
19:53and then got a shadowing opportunity at the Georgia Aquarium
19:56and got to see otters jumping over each other and help with water quality
20:02and almost got to swim with the beluga.
20:05And it was just such an amazing and eye-opening experience,
20:09and I just continued on that path.
20:11I love that you just stayed committed since you were eight.
20:14Yeah.
20:15I was very determined.
20:17Yes, yes, absolutely.
20:17As my mom can attest to.
20:19If you start science early, you'll stick with it forever.
20:23Yeah.
20:24We need to get kids in science as early as possible.
20:27I agree with her.
20:28My first experience with science was National Geographic magazines
20:31because I lived in a city.
20:32I was urban jungle.
20:33And I didn't see, you know, green tree frogs and these mountains in Mount Sinai
20:40except through the magazine.
20:42And in that magazine, I said, I'm going to go there one day.
20:45And the other sad part, we were talking about this too,
20:47is that when we see science, a lot of us, we see it as physicians.
20:51We don't see it as marine biologists, astronomy.
20:54You know, we can go into astronomy.
20:56We can go, I'm a geneticist.
20:57We saw medicine as the only route into science,
21:00and we need to change that narrative too.
21:04Yeah.
21:06Yes.
21:07Clap.
21:09Yeah, similar to what Dr. Serena said when reading books,
21:13I was actually about six, maybe five or six years old.
21:17I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan, so far from any ocean.
21:20Yes, shout out to the D.
21:22We have the Great Lakes, but there's no sharks there.
21:25But so I read a book on sharks,
21:28and I think I remember seeing it at a book fair.
21:31There was a picture of a shark,
21:32and I told my mom, I want to read that book.
21:35And she was like, okay, it's weird, but got it for me.
21:38I read the book and just fell in love with sharks.
21:42I just thought they were the coolest animals they had.
21:44There were so many different types of sharks.
21:46There's over 500 different species of sharks.
21:48And I was just like, there's what?
21:51There's different colors.
21:52They do all these cool things.
21:53And since then, it just was my complete focus was on sharks.
21:58I was like, I want to be a shark scientist.
21:59And then my parents were like, my mom's a musician.
22:02My dad's a lawyer.
22:03And they were just like, oh, what?
22:05Okay, I guess we're going to try and figure out
22:07how to get you to where you want to be, I guess.
22:10But so I do appreciate their support and everything.
22:14And it was like Dr. McCall was saying,
22:16it starts at a young age.
22:18And I see that when we're doing a lot of our programs.
22:21Like Miss, we just did our second summer camp this year
22:24with middle school and high school kids.
22:26And a lot of them, they come in interested in marine science
22:30and just wanting to learn more.
22:31And once they actually are doing that stuff hands-on,
22:34you can see the spark in their eyes.
22:35And they're just like, oh.
22:37And then we teach them about the different jobs
22:39that they can do.
22:40And they're just like, oh.
22:41Because marine science is a big field.
22:43Like there's so many different aspects of marine science
22:45that you can get into.
22:47And it's just really cool to see that
22:49from the younger generation.
22:51And just sparking that passion in them is so important.
22:54It's just you all really bring the magic into this space.
22:59So what would you say has been your greatest triumph thus far?
23:04There's like a certain discovery.
23:07Like what has been that?
23:08I had a boy who was in my class.
23:10And he joined my class because his friends were in my class.
23:13And he was like, I don't really want to do research.
23:15I just want to hang out with my friends.
23:16So it's an elective.
23:18So he stayed in the class.
23:20He ended up becoming one of my best students in the class.
23:23So much so that he got accepted to Princeton.
23:26He got accepted to Stanford.
23:27But he ended up going to Wash U.
23:29Because as a freshman, this is unheard of.
23:31You guys can attest to it.
23:33They don't pay undergraduates to do research.
23:36The mentor that he worked with while he was in high school
23:38paid him as a freshman to work in the lab, $25,000 a year,
23:42and got a scholarship for him to go to Wash U.
23:46For the next four years, he got paid $25,000 a year.
23:49And his discovery is, and this is ridiculous,
23:53he identified a gene that literally will shut down like blood vessels
23:58to feed cancers.
24:00He will be my first Nobel laureate.
24:04Yes.
24:05That, yes.
24:07I believe that.
24:08What about you?
24:11They're out there.
24:12We just have to tackle it.
24:14There's no one paying attention to these kids.
24:16Like, these kids can do it.
24:18They're doing, that's just one story.
24:20I have a thousand.
24:21But just to think about, like, I mean, just to piggyback off of that,
24:25it's like because cancer rates are so high in our community,
24:28so to have that.
24:29In 20 years, we will silence it.
24:32We'll find a drug that will actually turn off that gene.
24:35Wow.
24:37That's great.
24:39Yeah, that's amazing.
24:40No, that's just absolutely amazing.
24:42So I, there's just so many different categories of triumphs, I would say.
24:47So just trying to pick one.
24:48But I would say one of my greatest stories of just impacting others is
24:54I was on National Geographic, you know, with the Nurse Sharks
24:58and doing the Shark Fest show, and after all of that aired,
25:01I started getting an influx of emails and, like, tweets and everything
25:05of little black girls, like, dyeing their hair blue,
25:08dyeing their hair purple, and just being like, oh, my gosh,
25:11like, I saw you on Shark Fest, and I want to be like you.
25:14Like, I want to do this.
25:15And I was just like, I never had that growing up.
25:17And it was just so cool to see that and just say, like,
25:21this is exactly what they needed.
25:23This is, you know, what I wish I had, but what I'm so grateful to
25:28is be that voice and be that representation.
25:31And I have a little girl who I've been Zooming with her, like,
25:35one to two times, like, every other month, just, like, checking in
25:39because she just wanted to, she just was like, I want to be like you
25:42when I grow up, and I just want to, I want you to be my mentor.
25:44That's exactly what she said, and she's like 10.
25:47That's beautiful.
25:48Yeah, so it's just, it's really awesome to see.
25:50Well done.
25:51Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
25:55I feel like my experience is probably almost exactly like Carly's.
25:59I had very few role models, especially black women in our field
26:05when it came to marine science, and so I actually ended up becoming
26:08the first African American to receive a degree from my department
26:12at UNC in marine science.
26:14Congratulations.
26:15Congratulations.
26:17And so it kind of, like, I knew when I got my master's last year,
26:21I was like, cool, great, I did it.
26:23And then it kind of got out, and then it was, like, Black Enterprise,
26:27and then I was, like, on a podcast or something.
26:29Like, someone, like, mentioned me on a podcast, and I had my cousin
26:31sending me, like, girl, I heard you on the radio.
26:34And then it was the influx of, oh, my goodness, this is so inspiring.
26:40Like, I know this couldn't have been easy.
26:42And just having people who sometimes I didn't even know
26:46finally kind of see and understand, like, what do you mean you're the first
26:50in 2022, like, how is that even possible?
26:54And then getting stories from, like, young black men saying how, oh,
26:59I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was younger,
27:01but somewhere along the way someone told me not to do it
27:04or said, like, it wasn't what we do and kind of the stigma around it.
27:09And that also had me thinking, and I'm like, okay, well,
27:11how can we impact, you know, young black men and get them comfortable
27:14enough to go into their dreams and their desires,
27:17as well as in those little black girls because with The Little Mermaid
27:21then came out, same influx.
27:22Oh, my goodness, I want to be a mermaid.
27:24Teach me how to swim.
27:25So, yeah, the swimming and the diving now is at a,
27:30or at least it seems like it's at an all-time high because now they're
27:32inspired.
27:33And I also love the videos of the girls in the blankets,
27:36like, flopping down the stairs.
27:38Oh, my goodness.
27:39But, yeah, so just that overwhelming sense of love and community that you
27:46end up getting and realizing that's there when you're feeling so isolated
27:50sometimes in these spaces.
27:52I think that was very loving and very fulfilling to immense degrees.
28:00Wow.
28:00This has been such a heartfelt conversation to all you young girls and boys
28:04out there who are into STEM.
28:06You're not alone.
28:07This is, this is what's possible.
28:10So, please give a round of applause to our black girl magic girls in STEM.
28:18Thank you, National Geographic, for all that you do.
28:22Thank you, Karen Greenfield.
28:24We love you.
28:25Seriously, this is amazing.
28:27So, thank you for joining us today.
28:28I'm so sorry we're out of time.
28:30But please, again, give a round of applause, ladies.
28:32And thank you for everything that you're doing.
28:35Keep being an inspiration to all of us.
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