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Our Ruined Lives with Hip Hop M.D. - Ep 52
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In this episode, we are excited to chat with Maynard Okereke, who goes by the Science Communicator persona: Hip Hop M.D. Maynard is a Science Communicator, Entrepreneur, Engineer, and Digital Media Producer who tells us about his undergraduate journey at the University of Washington, his post-college career, and what inspired him to create Hip Hop Science.
Maynard is passionate about Science Communication and uses his knowledge of science to help inspire minorities and youth by bridging the gap between music, entertainment, and science - encouraging more diverse involvement in the S.T.E.M. fields.
Hip Hop Science website: https://www.hiphopscienceshow.com/
Instagram: @hiphopscienceshow
YouTube: Hip Hop Science
Contact
- Email: alifeinruinspodcast@gmail.com
- Instagram: @alifeinruinspodcast
- Facebook: @alifeinruinspodcast
- Twitter: @alifeinruinspod
- Website: www.alifeinruins.com
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Transcript
Introduction of Hosts and Guest
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network.
00:00:13
Speaker
Welcome to episode 52 of the Life in Ruins podcast, where we investigate the careers of those living life in ruins. I'm your host Carlton Gover, and tonight I am joined by David Ian Howe. Connor's not feeling so hot, so he will not be joining us this evening. Here we are again with another edition of Our Ruin Lives. Our guest tonight is Maynard Okereke, AKA Hip Hop M.D. He is an award-winning science communicator who created his show, Hip Hop Science, with the goal of encouraging historically underrepresented groups in STEM,
00:00:42
Speaker
and the up and coming generation to pursue more advanced career paths in science. We are super excited to have such a popular science communicator on the show. Welcome. How are you doing this evening, Maynard? Awesome. Awesome.
Maynard Okereke's Science Communication Journey
00:00:54
Speaker
I'm doing fantastic. Thank you both for having me. I'm excited to be on here.
00:00:57
Speaker
Yeah, man. I came across you on Instagram. I forget like who threw someone sent you to me. And I was like, wow, this dude is animated. He is really good at what he's doing. And like all your content is like, you're like Bill Nye, dude. And like, that's kind of what I wanted to be as a kid. This guy's like living it. So yeah, I wanted to get you on here. How you doing today?
00:01:21
Speaker
Good, good. It's funny because that's a tagline that I got coined was Black Bill Nye or Bill Nye meets Worldstar hip hop. I ended up adding that in my bio because I was like, that actually is the embodiment of kind of what it is that I do. It is kind of a ratchet version of Bill Nye in a way.
00:01:40
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. I laughed pretty hard when I read your Instagram profile when I read that and I just said, world star. Yeah. Also heads that know like the origins of world star, right? When world starters used to be all like fight videos, like videos, combo slice, all that good stuff. Yeah. Yeah, man.
00:02:05
Speaker
So what first made you fall in love with science? What started this journey to being such a prolific science communicator? Man, it was crazy. I was always a science nerd at heart, even when I was really, really young. And I think it really stems from kind of a really multicultural upbringing that I had, right? So I was born in Texas, but my dad's side is from Nigeria. My mom's side is from Cameroon.
00:02:29
Speaker
So when they had me, they were still in school. And so they sent me back home to Cameroon. My aunt raised me for five years. And then I came back to Texas and then ended up in the Northwest in Vancouver, Washington area. So like I bounced around to these very contrasting areas. It's like from Austin, Texas to Cameroon and then to Vancouver, Washington in the middle of like nowhere or whatever. But I just had this like love for like wildlife and environments. And I used to, I remember even as a kid, I used to explore
00:02:58
Speaker
in our local pond and I just used to love being outdoors and catching snakes and frogs and salamanders like that was just the thing I loved doing I just loved environments and I also grew up on like Nat Geo and Animal Planet and Bill Nye I was just always fascinated about just just wildlife and science in general and I remember my mom used to my mom had bought me these wildlife fact cards
00:03:23
Speaker
And it was like these little flip cards that had like different fun animal facts on them. And I just used to be enamored by it. I collected, I have a whole binder full of these like fat cards. And all of those like crazy fat just like stuck with me from when I was like five, six years old. I could just spew random facts about organisms. And I just used to do it in middle of conversations or other topics. And people always like, well, how do you know that? And it was like, I don't know. I just, I just know this stuff.
00:03:49
Speaker
That was just always me. I just always was entranced into science and wanting to learn more and just in love with ecosystems and the planet in general. And I think it really stemmed from being in really different places and being exposed to a lot of different things when I was really young.
00:04:06
Speaker
I know exactly what you're talking about with those animal cards and those binders. My brother had those growing up because you used to get them in the mail once a month and had different animals and everything on it. And yeah, I remember when the animal fair came around that we had to do in third grade, everyone was trying to find their flip card and people were trading them back and forth to get ready for their little third grade. Yeah. Yup. Old school, old school back in there when you used to get milk, get stuff in the mail.
00:04:34
Speaker
No internet, no Google searches, just straight hard facts in the mail. Yeah, and we had those little encyclopedia books. I remember that. I would go outside, same thing, catch little bugs and salamanders and kinda like Pokemon. I'd try to classify them with the Pokedex or whatever. But yeah, I think every science kid is kinda, or someone that does science now is that same kid, which is really cool to hear.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah. What's it like growing up in, as you said, Cameroon? Cameroon. Yeah. Cameroon is awesome. I've had the pleasure of being back recently as an adult. And you know, it's Cameroon's country in West Africa. It's right next to Nigeria, right there in the little nook of Africa, just south of Ghana.
00:05:20
Speaker
But it was great, man. I mean, that's my roots. I still have a lot of family back there. And I remember even last time that I went there, it was it was just another kind of reawakening into a unique ecosystem because my family, we lived like in the village, right? Like you obviously have like the main cities and stuff.
00:05:35
Speaker
there as well too but we lived way outside the city in the village you know no like running water it's like you're getting fetching your own rain water taking baths with rain water and you have to like you know create a whole little irrigation system in our local streams and rivers i mean we were literally in in the village and so it's a unique experience
00:05:55
Speaker
using these pretty much like clay porta-potties basically out in the backyard you dig out a hole and create a little bathroom in the back so it was really it was roughing it at its finest but that was kind of life growing up and that was just what we're accustomed to and so it's one of those things too like you get a better understanding about the world right and I think even the last time I went there and coming back was such an amazing experience because I
00:06:20
Speaker
I really realized how privileged I was to have so many different things, right? And I remember the last time I was there was maybe about eight years ago. And after that, I stopped complaining about basic things, right? Like worrying about shoes or worrying about little things they didn't have. You realize how happy people can be with the very, very bare minimum. And I think that's something that's always sadden me as well too.
00:06:46
Speaker
Yeah, it puts things in a perspective, I guess, huh? Mm hmm. Definitely. Yeah. Is that like you said, like with the irrigation and like having to do that kind of stuff, is that what kind of sparked your interest in engineering or was it something else that led to that? Yeah, I couldn't really trace
Academic and Career Path in Engineering
00:07:02
Speaker
it back to that specifically because I know me even going into school, I didn't actually go into school wanting to be an engineer. I actually wanted to be a wildlife specialist.
00:07:11
Speaker
That's what I actually went into college with a plan of being. And then I got to college. I remember talking to people and they're like, what do you want to do? And I'm like, I want to be, I want to be a wildlife specialist. I want to do wildlife science. And everybody was like, there's no money in wildlife science. What are you going to do as a wildlife scientist?
00:07:27
Speaker
when you're just going to get to sit in the jungles and do research. And so many people top me out of it. Right. And I saw I was listening to all my peers and you're going to college and you're at that point, you're really you're really trying to focus in on really what it is you're trying to do because you don't want to be sitting there wasting money as you're going through each semester and whatnot. So.
00:07:46
Speaker
Early on, I had to really come to inclusion, like, what is it that I'm going to do? And I started connecting with a lot of different peers. And a lot of the people that I was hanging out with were older classmates. And they were all involved in, like, National Society of Black Engineers. It's called NSBE. And I started getting affiliated with that. And we had these, like, NSBE events that we go to. And so all these people are meeting. We're all, like, engineers.
00:08:06
Speaker
And they're all doing cool things and they're all cool people. And I was like, okay, engineering. Then I started thinking about environmental engineering because they had a really good environmental engineering program at UW. And I was like, okay, I could still incorporate, you know, some studies about the environment, you know, while also going to engineering around because everybody's like, there's money in engineering. That's the field to go to. That's where you're going to get a guaranteed job. That's where the market's at.
00:08:28
Speaker
And so that's how I ended up actually getting into engineering. And it's kind of funny because now I've kind of gone full circle because a lot of the work I do now is actually towards the natural sciences. I do a lot of like wildlife discoveries and wildlife breakdowns and stuff like that. So I always tell students, especially when I do my speaking engagements and whatnot, I always tell students early on like, stick with what you're passionate about doing. You know, you're always going to get told to go left or right.
00:08:53
Speaker
into so many different areas, stick with what it is that you love doing because I'm a firm believer now that if you truly are passionate about something, you will find a way to make money and be successful in it, right? There isn't just a guaranteed field that's going to bring you success because at the end of the day, you might fall out of love with it or you may not have an interest in it. And if you're not interested in what you're doing, you're not going to live it up to the fullest and make the most out of it. But if you really are passionate about this particular field of studying,
00:09:20
Speaker
you're going to do everything you can to find a way to be successful and build a legitimate career out of it. So I wish I would have stuck with wildlife specialists, but you know, you can go back. And I think having all those experiences really led to where I am right now. Absolutely. And that was really
00:09:37
Speaker
Really well said. When you mean UW, you're talking about University of Wisconsin, University of Wyoming, or University of Washington? No, University of Washington. The real UW. The real UW. Huskies all day. Go Dubs. We got our master's degree at the University of Wyoming, so most of our crowd knows UW as University of Wyoming.
00:09:59
Speaker
That's true. I always forget to clarify, right? Because I think everybody in your own region, right, you know, your own UW as your own UW, but you're right. You have a University of Wisconsin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Wyoming. And then even when I say Huskies, people are like, Oh, you're, you're Yukon? I'm like, No, no, no, the other Huskies in Washington. So yes, I'll be more specific. University of Washington. Go Dawgs, Seattle, baby.
00:10:22
Speaker
Absolutely. So engineering degrees, they're intense. Like they're well known for being one of the more demanding undergraduate degrees. You got to be smart.
00:10:33
Speaker
Yeah. You can't just play around with an engineering degree. So how long did it take you? So you got there originally going to pursue wildlife management or wildlife studies, then you switched to engineering. So how long did it end up taking you? Yeah. My undergraduate took me five years. I didn't buy a five-year program because how they had it set up at UW is you had to
00:10:52
Speaker
do all your prerequisites, and then you had to apply to get into the engineering department. And so prerequisites were pretty intense. You had to do a lot of math. I pretty much did math every single quarter that I was in school from the time I got to school to when I graduated. I was in some form of math class. But yeah, you had to do all your prerequisites. And so if you don't know exactly, if you're not on top of it early on, it's hard to get into. And then also if you, you almost have to overwork yourself in a way in order to
00:11:21
Speaker
build your prerequisites enough within those first two years to then apply to your program, and then spend the next two years in your program if you're trying to do a four year degree. So for me, I wanted to at least, you know, I wanted to enjoy myself and not be stuck inside the study hall 24 seven so I try to spread my schedule out.
00:11:39
Speaker
So I wasn't just overbearing with too many prerequisite courses. And so it took me a little bit of time to actually apply into my engineering department. So I did three years before actually applying into the department. And then once I was in the department, it was another two years to finally graduate. Gotcha. Um, yeah, that's cool. I hadn't really heard of having to do a five.
00:12:02
Speaker
thing like that. But that makes a lot of sense too, because especially if you want to weed out people who might not want to do engineering at some point, you know? Yep, exactly. Yeah. And that's really what it was too, was a weed out process because the prerequisite programs were pretty intense. And so if you weren't really about that life, you weren't going to make it all the way through to get into the engineering part. And then you had to have obviously good grades in those prerequisite courses as well too. So you had to show that you were really about it. And so
00:12:30
Speaker
But yeah, it definitely took time and I'm glad I spread it out because I think it enabled me to one, have a little bit more fun in school. I was able to do other things other than just completely stuck in work and then be able to spread that out and be able to focus in. And there were a couple of classes I had to redo, especially once I got into the department. Some classes I had to retake, you know, and so even once I was in the department, you know, at that two years, I really did a full load of courses.
00:12:56
Speaker
But yeah, you're right. The engineering is really demanding. I did civil environmental engineering, but all the other engineers that I taught to, mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, like we're all in the same area and we did a lot of similar courses, but it was definitely an intense program for sure.
00:13:12
Speaker
Yeah. I bet. And what'd you end up doing after you graduated? So right after I graduated, I started working immediately. The cool thing that I was able to do was I did a lot of internships while I was an undergraduate. So my first internship that I did after my sophomore year
00:13:29
Speaker
I worked with the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, and I did a lot of air quality work. So I was responsible for mapping different indexes as far as air quality in the Northwest area. They had a big initiative at the time of really understanding exactly or finding ways to improve air quality.
00:13:47
Speaker
So I was in the Air Quality Division. That was really cool. Got to have a really hands-on perspective. That was a really office perspective of the work I was doing because EPA, you know, it is a government agency. So there wasn't a lot of field work. It was really me stuck in the office and looking at maps and calling people and having discussions. And it was more governmental-based. The next summer, I did a really cool internship.
00:14:11
Speaker
over in Bremerton, Washington for those that kind of know the layout of Seattle. Bremerton is kind of a little island right there in the peninsula area and I worked at the Naval Shipyard. So there's a huge naval base in Seattle right offshore there in Bremerton and I worked at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. It was a nuclear engineering internship and so I worked on all the nuclear submarines and I was on a team that was like responsible for coming up with these tools
00:14:36
Speaker
like innovating these tools that they're going to use to cut through the halls of the submarines. So whenever time a ship would come back, they would actually do a whole like hall analysis to do like a structural analysis of the ships to make sure they're still in good shape, see their make sure they're in good condition, kind of see how the wear and tear on the steel is affecting the subs. And so I got to spend my time on nuclear submarines for a summer and that was pretty dope.
00:15:02
Speaker
Right after I finished that, I was kind of on the fence. I was either going to end up working with that Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, or I had this opportunity that came up because I knew a lot of people in the construction world. And I got an offer from Turner Construction, which was a huge engineering firm. They did a lot of stadium projects, high rises, condominiums. And so it was pretty much debating between Turner or working at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
00:15:26
Speaker
And I ended up going with Turner. They gave me a better offer, basically. And I also didn't really want to be stuck on Bremerton on the military base forever. So I felt Turner was going to give me a more global ability to kind of travel and do a lot of other things. So I ended up working with Turner Construction right after I graduated, like literally a week after I graduated. So there's no downtime. I started working right away. And they actually sent me out to the middle of nowhere. I went to
00:15:50
Speaker
Quincy and I worked on the data center for Microsoft. That was my very first engineering project that I did. What kind of clearance did you need to work on the nuclear sub base? It was high profile for sure. You're on the base, so you had to have all your credentials every time you came in. I had to take the ferry out there because it was on the island, so every morning I had to leave for my apartment.
00:16:13
Speaker
It was like an hour and a half commute. I had to drive to the ferry, hop on the ferry, get over there to the shipyard, do all the clearances and everything. And then even when you're inside the shipyard, even within the buildings, you have to have certain clearances to go on different levels and stuff. So it's pretty complex. But I was actually able to see some really, really, really cool things. Met a lot of cool people that were doing some amazing work. And for a few weeks, I went down to their sister shipyard in San Diego and did some work down there at the San Diego Naval Base.
00:16:42
Speaker
as well too, but that was a really interesting internship. I always kind of think about what my trajectory would have been if I ended up staying with them after school, but it was a cool experience for sure. Well, absolutely. And with that, we're going to go ahead and close out segment one. We'll be right back with segment two of episode 52, right after these messages.
00:17:01
Speaker
All right. Welcome back to episode 52 of a life in ruins podcast. And we're here with Maynard Okerike and we're about to chat about what he does for his living currently. And you said you are in sunny Los Angeles, right? Yes. Yes. Sunny, sunny Los Angeles. Except for the past couple of days, it's been raining. But yeah, we've been in the good seventies here during the winter time. So not, not a bad, not a bad place to be. Yeah.
00:17:25
Speaker
I'm familiar with Southern California, but I've been there quite a bit, but what's the North Hollywood area like? Is that like a cool vibe? Yeah, North Hollywood's pretty cool. For people that aren't familiar with LA, the thing that's most surprising about LA is that it's super spread out, right? When I first moved out here from Seattle, I thought LA, I thought LA, everything was in LA, right? I thought Hollywood, Compton, Long Beach,
00:17:49
Speaker
I've been listening to Dre and Snoop all the time. I'm like, oh, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Compton. It's all the same place. And then you get out to LA and you realize like Long Beach is a whole different city. That's an hour away. Hollywood is another hour away. If you want to go to Glendale, Pasadena, that's another 30 minutes away. Santa Monica is another hour away. Like everything's super spread out in Los Angeles. And North Hollywood is technically the valley area. And you know, you always have that kind of
00:18:15
Speaker
thought process, yo, you go, you listen to like Valley girls or whatever. And you're like, you think, okay, this Valley is like, you know, we're all the rich people are or something like that. And the Valley is completely opposite of that. If you're on that climate, you could go out to Beverly Hills and whatnot.
00:18:28
Speaker
The valley is really cool. It's always like 10 to 15 degrees hotter because you go through the hills and now we're in the hot zone and you get to the valley. But yeah, that's the crazy thing about LA. It's super spread out, but the North Hollywood area is pretty cool. You can still get to where you want to get to pretty easily for the most part. Yeah. When there's not, you know, that ridiculous traffic offset in quite a bit of traffic in California. It's pretty. Yeah. So what do you currently do out there?
00:18:57
Speaker
So
Entrepreneurial Ventures: Hip Hop Science and Jada Brands
00:18:58
Speaker
I got my hands in so many random things right now. So I work obviously as a science communicator with my platform, Hip Hop Science. But I'm also an entrepreneur. I have a food business called Jada Brands. We have a line of vegan seasonings and a line of plant-based chicken.
00:19:14
Speaker
And I've been doing this business now for about four years with my business partner that I actually went to school with. And he grew up in Australia where chicken salt is hugely popular. And he had the idea of like, we should introduce chicken salt to the US and make a vegan version of it. And so that's what we did. We created this vegan seasoning and it's an all-purpose seasoning, but it's called chicken salt in Australia. It's a huge phenomenon. Like you go into any restaurant and bar, any establishment, they ask for salt, pepper, or chicken salt. Like it's a cultural phenomenon over there.
00:19:43
Speaker
And so we're like, let's introduce to the US, make it like try to make it a household name. And that's how we started. And we started singing these seasonings, and things started taking off. And we're doing like a lot of vegan festivals, we had some opportunities that opened up some really famous chef that talked about our seasoning on our show on the Food Network that kind of blew up some sales, and we started going from there and
00:20:05
Speaker
All led up to this past November, we were on Shark Tank and decided to deal with Barbara on Shark Tank this past November on this current season 12 of Shark Tank. And so the past few months have been pretty much a whirlwind that we've been scaling the business. And we introduced this new line of plant-based chicken, which is like this dry mix where all you have to add is like water and oil. And you could create basically any chicken shape you want. You could form it into nuggets.
00:20:31
Speaker
You can form it into patties and then you'll cook it up and it tastes just like real chicken. And so we've been working on that product and expanding that line. And so I am splitting my time between that and doing my hip hop science platform, which as you mentioned at the beginning is really just an educational platform, really with the goal of encouraging more minority and youth involvement into the STEM fields. So I do a lot of speaking engagements. I do a lot of creative work on social media. I work with organizations and companies. I work with students.
00:20:59
Speaker
K through 12 young professionals, all with the focus of making STEM exciting and really introducing people to new cool elements in the world of science. And so those are kind of my two main things that I'm doing at the moment. You are a legitimate Renaissance man. That is insane.
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'm totally like my, my reaction to this entrepreneurship is genuine. Like that's not anywhere on your website for what I can tell when we were doing, like doing our research, like, whoa, we're into vegan seasonings. That's, that's intense shark tank. We've had guys from a loan on, but never shark tank. All right. Excellent. So when you're doing science communication, right? Both through
From Lyrics to Science: Evolution of a Platform
00:21:42
Speaker
social media and these other talks that you do, you know, what are some of the,
00:21:47
Speaker
you know, more memorable stories or moments of doing science communication. I think for me it's been really building this community, right? And I think that's the cool thing that I've been able to identify because I've been doing this hip-hop science platform for a while now, right? It's like, how I like the past like four or five years, it really started out as a sketch idea.
00:22:07
Speaker
When I moved out to LA and I was doing entertainment work out here, I was doing a lot of random production work and doing a lot of acting and commercial work. It started out as this random sketch idea because, like I said earlier, I'd always just randomly drop science facts in day-to-day conversations.
00:22:24
Speaker
make these really outlandish comparisons between music and science. And so I created this hip-hop MD character that'll just really pop up and have like random scientific facts that either completed in time with what was going on in the moment or completely super nerdy or had these different hip-hop element breakdowns. And the first kind of episodes were really just me fact-checking different rap songs.
00:22:49
Speaker
So I'd have a Rick Ross song that he might be talking about money or shoes. I think the very first video or the very first time I thought about this concept when I was listening to a Rick Ross song, he had a line talking about he had a house next to Oprah's. And I started thinking about Oprah's net worth. I was like, OK, Oprah's a billionaire. And I started thinking about how much money Rick Ross makes.
00:23:10
Speaker
and how much money could he have made to actually get a place next to Oprah's house, right? And so I started breaking down his potential net worth and how much he would actually have to have in order to buy a house next to Oprah's. And so I started doing this map breakdown and fact-checking these songs. And that's really how it kind of started. And then it's kind of snowballed into this hip-hop science platform because I started realizing people were actually learning stuff from this. And I was able to make a lot of different science discussions relatable and fun.
00:23:38
Speaker
And for me, I always listen to songs, not just to listen to and have a good time, but I can actually listen to the lyrics, right? Growing up as an artist and doing music work, like I was always about the lyrics, right? And really having something to say. And so, you know, especially now in music, there's endless content of just people saying ridiculous stuff, right? And it was just fun for me to be able to make this weird contrast between outlandish lyrics and like actual factual science. And that's really how the platform started.
00:24:05
Speaker
And so really just kind of growing this community over the past few years and finding that there are people that love science as much as I do and make all these different science connections. I mean, you guys got you guys with your podcast, you know what I'm saying? Like you grew up sometimes you don't think like who am I going to find that's going to care about this area, right? Like you guys focus on archaeology and all these different things and you find these people within this community that have the passion and do so many different unique things within that field.
00:24:32
Speaker
And I think that's been the coolest part is finding all these unique people that do amazing things within the science fields. It could be talking to herpetologists, or I have a friend that's an astro-future biologist. And it's like you have these weird, crazy, unique fields that tie in all these elements that you don't normally think about that are very non-traditional. And I think for me, that's been the coolest part is learning about the opportunities out there and then being able to be kind of embraced within this unique STEM community.
00:25:01
Speaker
I think like one, yeah, that's really well said, but like Instagram and just social media in general, and I guess just putting content out there is like, it's a game changer for people, I guess, like us. Cause you like 20 years ago, you'd have to get like, you know, signed with a TV company or like, you know, a production company to, to do this kind of stuff. But now you can just put it out there.
00:25:27
Speaker
and then you can just DM slide somebody like you know you and I'm just like hey man what's up and like you can make all these connections it's pretty cool and then you all help each other grow like I think you're right on the money like it's it's really neat. Definitely yeah and that and that's a good it's a good and bad thing about space we're in right now right like you have access to so much information right but that access also you know you you do have to worry about people that
00:25:52
Speaker
put too much out there or improperly use social media. But at the end of the day, having that ability to be able to directly connect with people and then to be able to find a niche, you know? And I think a lot of times we get caught up in this social media realm in a lot of negative ways. And I think we've all been guilty for it, right? Like even with my own like personal social media pages, you know, you start to see like other people that have huge followings and you're like,
00:26:17
Speaker
How can I build my following? How can I get there and do it? And I think for the long time, I was so entranced by that. Like what are other people doing that I'm not doing? Like I'm bringing dope things to the table. Why is like my platform not growing or whatever? Sometimes you just have to get away from that noise, right? Because people put so much chatter out there.
00:26:35
Speaker
Sometimes you just have to separate yourself from that noise and then just focus in on what it is that you do. And I think for me, even with my platform, once I stopped putting my initial hip hop science work on my own personal page and started this own kind of separate hip hop science page where I was only talking science
00:26:50
Speaker
no other personal stuff and I was only connecting with people within the science realm, that community really just started to grow from there and flourish from there. And I think it was because I stopped kind of listening to that chatter and seeing that buzz I was going out there and focusing on what it is that I did best and then focusing on people that I enjoyed watching what they were doing as well too. And then you start to be able to connect with those people and then eventually leads to collaborations or opportunities to get on podcasts or whatever. And it's just because you honed into what it is that you do and
00:27:18
Speaker
I think anytime you hone in up to what you are good at, you will develop a community and you'll have amazing people just kind of pop up surprisingly all around you. And I think that's been the great part about really having this platform and growing this platform.
00:27:31
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I think what you've touched on, that sense of community and sense of focusing on yourself and what your current followership, followership, yeah, your current followership wants from you, right? And we've seen that like, you know, we're very
00:27:50
Speaker
focused in on, it's an archaeology-based podcast. We talk about anthropology, which sometimes leads to primatology. But we're fundamentally really concerned with science communication, which is why we reached out to you because we thoroughly enjoy your content because it's entertaining and educational that we've touched on, especially in that first segment. Not really from our perspective, but
00:28:14
Speaker
Getting to see some of these other archaeologists who are also passionate about science communication and get to meet them early on and have a group chat with a bunch of people from across the world and share ideas and share opportunities has just been absolutely fascinating. Through your content, how do you inspire younger folks who might not be targeted for science education?
00:28:36
Speaker
Yeah, I
Engaging Diverse Audiences with Science and Music
00:28:37
Speaker
think for me, it's really about making that connection, right? And there's a big discussion about intersectionality, and that's kind of where this been tossed a lot around a lot more frequently, especially within science communication. And particularly when we have these talks about, you know, diversity and encouraging more minority involvement and are highlighting, you know, diverse voices in science, especially over this past year. When you talk about this term of intersectionality,
00:29:02
Speaker
which is really the merger of contrasting areas, right? And that's kind of where my hip hop science platform fits in, right? You don't usually would think hip hop music and science would be mutually exclusive, right? They're not in the same realm. You don't necessarily think of scientists as listening to hip hop music or vice versa. And I think
00:29:22
Speaker
really starting to blend those and creating blurry lines within areas like that is where you start to build a lot of momentum, right? Because we grow up so many times feeling like you could only either be in one box or you're characterized into one box by either what your perception, what people think of you when they look at you, or what the climate kind of showcases, right?
00:29:43
Speaker
And if you don't see representation in a lot of different fields, you don't see people that look like you. It could be women in science. It could be black people in science, indigenous people, whoever. If you don't see those voices and those faces that look like you, you start to feel like that field isn't for you. It doesn't talk to you. And you feel like even if you have an intrinsic passion about it, you feel like you are separated from that area, right? And that stems down to the day-to-day things that we love. And I think that's where intersectionality is important because
00:30:12
Speaker
You don't have to, because you're a scientist, that doesn't mean that you're stuck in a lab with a lab coat and all you do is read books and you have no social skills and can't talk to people. No, like you're showcasing this new voice of scientists and breaking away from this traditional norm. You can have discussions about cool scientific detailed analytical facts, but still at the same time be really into a new movie that came out. You can be a Marvel nerd, you can be a music nerd.
00:30:39
Speaker
You can be into fashion, you know what I'm saying? You can have all these different likes because these are things that are happening in our day-to-day lives around us and you don't have to separate them. And I think that to me is what I try to showcase with my platform is this whole breaking this stereotype of what a scientist looks like or what a scientist should be.
00:30:57
Speaker
and showcasing to younger audiences that you can have interest in all these multiple different fields, but still also have a real love for science. Still be a nerd and be okay being a nerd, right? And I think a lot of that was shaped early on, you know, kind of growing up. We all watched, you know, movies and the nerd was always one being thrown in the trash can or bullied or all these different things, right? And so we kind of grew up with this
00:31:19
Speaker
perception that I can't voice these things. You know, if I like science or whatever, I can't tell people I like science. I'm going to be called a nerd or I can't showcase how smart I am. So what I always try to do with kids, I challenge them to always express yourself, express the things that you love doing, show people how smart you are. Drop those random facts that you think nobody's going to care about. Drop those because you will
00:31:41
Speaker
now start to build a community, you'll start to now feel more empowered and feel like you can be your authentic true self and you can have these multi interests and it's okay. And I think that's where the intersectionality is so important. And that's really what I try to showcase, especially to young audiences through my platform.
00:31:57
Speaker
Absolutely. And just like hitting that point, like I was a huge history buff as a kid. And I remember I got in like one of my football buddies, he was, we were talking about, it was like, dude, you're such a dork. I'm like, bro, you know, all the stats behind the running back of the Philadelphia Eagles. And to me, that's just ridiculous. Cause what real world application does that actually have? And they're like,
00:32:19
Speaker
Oh yeah, that is kind of dorky. I'm like, yeah, dude. And so yeah, bridging those, bridging those gaps of like what constitutes like people fundamentally have that one thing they love and they want to know everything about it. They shouldn't be dissuaded from enjoying that, whether it be science, history, athletics, whatever, just absolutely.
00:32:37
Speaker
absolutely go for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You bring up a really good point. And that's one thing too, that I always stress and extend that. And that's a really great example when you talk about the sports world, right? I mean, you think about it, everybody enjoys some, for the most part, everybody enjoys some aspect of sports, right? You can debate about which, whatever sport it is that you'd like, but we all know everybody from different backgrounds, different works, different professions. Sports is something that brings everybody together, right? You could go to a sporting event. You have so many different cultures. You have so many different races, ethnicities,
00:33:07
Speaker
professional backgrounds, all sorts of things, cheering for your local team, right? And so I bring this up in a lot of times when I talk to kids, because especially within our community, right? You get kind of pushed down these different lanes. Like if you don't really like school, you know, okay, I can have success going to the NBA or going to the NFL, right? And just like you mentioned with that example of bringing up random sports facts, right? That
00:33:31
Speaker
There's a whole analytics division now in sports, right? And that's all nerds that know numbers and know details around sports, right? That developed from having all these nerds that maybe couldn't play basketball, but they knew all these numbers and they enjoyed all breaking down all these statistics about sports, right? That's a science in itself.
00:33:50
Speaker
And so you can create these different scientific passions and by connecting these different things that you love. And I try to showcase to people that it's okay. Those are all elements and it's okay to be you. If you know all those facts, showcase that, you know what I'm saying? You will find an ability to be able to develop
00:34:06
Speaker
a career out of it, opportunities out of it, and build something for yourself. And even if you love playing sports, you know, like if you're super good at basketball, I always kind of showcase, you know, there's elements of science in basketball. You know how the movements of your muscles when you're doing a certain shift on the court, right? You have like an ESPN, I'm sure you guys have seen like sports science on ESPN, like they have the sports science episodes where they break down, like there was one that broke down like Klay Thompson's jumper.
00:34:35
Speaker
Right. And they then they talked about how after a while he shoots so much that is now kind of intrinsically set in his brain. And so the way they did was they had him in this facility and they shut off all the lights and they had him continue shooting these jumpers even with the lights off. And he was just as efficient making these three pointers with the lights off as he was. That's why it's like it's it's all it's all memory and motor motion. Right. You start to know this and your body understands
00:35:03
Speaker
the distance of the hoop and all these different things of that, that's all elements of science. And so it's really cool just to showcase these different elements in areas that you wouldn't normally associate with scientific elements, you know? And that is an excellent point to end segment two of episode 52. It'll be right back here with hip hop science.
00:35:23
Speaker
And we are back with segment three of episode 52 of a life ruins podcast. We are here with Maynard. Okay. Okay. Uh, hip hop MD and you know, moving on from our last conversation, kind of talking about like,
00:35:39
Speaker
some of the benefits or good feelings you have from inspiring the next generation of scientists, right? Would you be able to
The Craft of Science Content Creation
00:35:46
Speaker
share with us like some of the difficulties you have in communicating complex subjects? Because even like your YouTube channel, you cover a wide,
00:35:55
Speaker
and vast variety of different sciences. What are the difficulties that you have in having to research from the ground up some of these other scientific bases?
00:36:11
Speaker
as a content creator, which I kind of turn myself up. I never, people always kind of like the influencer thing. I never really like influences debatable, right? So I don't consider myself, you know, I create content. If my content influences somebody that was so big.
00:36:27
Speaker
But I think in this content creation realm, I think sometimes a lot of people lose sight of how really difficult it is to put these things on. And even with podcasts, and you guys get a test of this now. Yeah, everybody has a podcast of some thing. But to get to that point of actually putting out a podcast and really figuring out what topics you're going to discuss, who you're going to bring on, what kind of vein of discussions you're going to have, what's going to separate yours and others that are out there.
00:36:56
Speaker
There's a building process, right? There's a development process that takes time to grow and nurture and really find your lane and your voice and all these different things. And it's the same thing too with science communication work, especially creating content. It takes so much time, right? And I wish people could actually see the amount of time it takes to sit in. First of all, research everything that I'm doing. You know, like we were talking earlier about the biomimicry video that I did that compared to, you know, biomimicry with people's perceived notions of race, really a contrasting subject
00:37:26
Speaker
But that took a ton of research and a lot of fact checking. It stemmed off of my knowledge of biomimicry from things I've studied and worked on. But I still had to dive into the nitty gritty as far as the different types of biomimicry, what was out there, make sure I was explaining the right subjects and doing the right comparative analysis and all these different things. Took days and days of research even to put that together and then script my material. And then I shoot all my content myself.
00:37:54
Speaker
It's literally me with all my equipment, I go out, you know, I have to find it, right? Filming locations and I'm doing everything from top to bottom and then after that I'm editing it, you know what I'm saying? So I'm editing all my content and putting it out there. So there's a whole process and it takes time to really do all that and then do it right and then still be true to what it is that you do. And I don't just like to mimic what other people do, I like to kind of do it in my own special way. So even like on some of my videos, I'll have like an unboxing video
00:38:21
Speaker
But I don't just do like a regular tech unboxing. I'll try to do it in the hip hop science way where I'll break down cool different facts of stuff going on while I'm doing this. You know, so I try to like keep stuff true to what it is that I do. And I think for me, that's the difficult part. And a lot of people don't see is like there's a lot of work behind the scenes. And then even then you still have to, you know, you have to prove to people to that you're not just
00:38:44
Speaker
some random voice that just dropping facts and people don't believe it. You have to, you also have to make sure that everything you're saying at all times, whether it's in your comments or if you leave a comment in some other video that you were consistent on around all platforms because people will look for you to slip up. And I think
00:39:01
Speaker
especially when you're communicating science right now in this world that we're in right now with the pandemic and people not believing in masks and all these different things, people will find whatever reason to judge or critique you or be like, oh, you don't know what you're talking about or blah, blah, blah. And I think even with our community, that was a hesitation I even had
00:39:18
Speaker
on myself just as a black creator in the science field and not seeing a lot of people that look like me doing this work to make sure that I'm believed first and foremost and that my scientific ability that I bring to the table isn't ignored or overlooked, you know, because I've had that happen in my career at different times, you know, even working as an engineer.
00:39:37
Speaker
people not believing that I was an engineer in charge for certain projects, just because I'd never seen somebody that looked like me that was young, that was working in that profession, you know what I'm saying? So I've had all that at different points in my career. So being able to overcome that and then be able to still be consistent with my messaging and be able to still put consistent and correct scientific knowledge out there in the space for people to consume, that's probably the difficult part and the part that a lot of people probably don't think about when you're developing this content.
00:40:05
Speaker
Yeah. And just today, actually, I mean, that's an excellent point because I'm making a video on like anthropology 101 for my YouTube. And I sent it to Carlton to, you know, just check it over to make sure some of the stuff that I just, cause sometimes you add lib and you go off script and what you say might just.
00:40:22
Speaker
be one you know word off from like correct and then as soon as you post that your comments are going to be like actually and like they like fry you for it and like you have to be like it's so vigilant about it but I mean I guess same thing like I don't call myself an influencer in any way but you do have
00:40:42
Speaker
influence with what you're saying and you want to make sure you wield that power correctly and you want to be factual. It's tough, man. You got to do all the research and then on top of it, you're an actor, you got to have the character and then you have to keep it consistent.
00:41:01
Speaker
It's a lot. So I got none but respect for people that do it well. Yeah, especially in social media. Like you always got to be you always walk in a fine line because people are always ready to attack. Even though I'm a science communicator and I'm here happy go lucky. We don't know if again like I could turn it up if I need to like sometimes I sometimes have that trigger finger and I have to watch myself because I'm ready to go back and somebody and I'll be in the middle of typing and I'd be like, okay, hold up.
00:41:24
Speaker
I don't have to respond to everything. Let me just ignore this comment or whatever. I've had so many different comments that I've just taken the high road and my inside of me just wants to just go in and be careful about that too, right? Because people will see that and they see me going in on somebody else.
00:41:45
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? And then everything else that I'm doing could get judged. So I just let a lot of things go. I posted a video the other day, kind of like how I do my Science Friday videos about blood and your blood actually not being blue, right? This is kind of a misconception that your blood is blue, but it's like, no, the hemoglobin, your blood is always red, whether it's inside your body or outside. And there's somebody like going off like, no, I've read this and like, I was like, I just gave this whole video explaining this. I don't know why you're still combating this topic.
00:42:15
Speaker
but I'm not going to go back and forth with you. So I'll just, I'll just let it be. So yeah, you always got to be careful with that too. Yeah. We learned that the hard way when we first started doing more of a social media presence, not responding back to everyone and like calming down, especially there's like three of us who run like the same email, the same social media. And then like, of course, if one of us gets upset, the other two get defensive and oftentimes like from the same account, like different things are being replied back to. And it just becomes really confusing really quick and
00:42:45
Speaker
Yeah, it took us, it took me personally a bit to like, not, you know, not do what they do, right? Which is just to comment to respond when you're supposed to try to have a dialogue, right? That's the whole point of it. And people that you pick up really quick anywhere, right? If they're trying to engage with you meaningfully, or if they just want to say their piece. Yeah, you can all yeah, you can always tell those people right off the bat that are just trying to
00:43:11
Speaker
elicit a response from you. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know those people right off the bat. And once I see it, it took me a while to really get it. And once I started getting it, I just ignored. So there'll be some posts you'll see me respond to all sorts of different comments. And the selected people I would choose not to respond to because I know it's not going to go any good direction.
00:43:29
Speaker
So yeah, that's something you have to learn along the way. And that's part of the communication process and something you have to deal with within social media. If you decide to go into this space and put the content out there and put yourself out there, you have to also accept criticism and you have to accept people that don't buy what you're saying or are going to think completely different from you. And it is what it is. And you got to find ways to take the high road and move forward. That's what it is.
00:43:54
Speaker
So Maynard, if you were to get your Emmy or your Oscar and you had a speech at the end of that, you know, when you get your award, what is the one thing you want to tell the world about your, you know, your career and your communication and, you know, just your passion for science? Like, what would be your message?
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah, I always have this quote that I always go by, which is when you find your passion, it becomes your purpose and you can no longer be passive. And that's always a quote that's stuck by me. And I think for me, it really embodies kind of the journey that I've gone through with so many different things in my life, right? I've
00:44:29
Speaker
I've started so many different careers, completely did 180, switched back, did a 360 from there, did another 180, and touched into so many different areas. And it's really been because I've always been curious about the world around me and wanting to explore different things and wanting to know more and be involved.
00:44:48
Speaker
And I just always had this innate curiosity and things may not ever develop into what I hope they would develop, but I know everything happens for a reason, right? And the whole journey is part of the process, right? Journeying and learning what you don't like is just as important as journeying and finding what you do like, you know? And so even if you go through those difficult roads and you end up somewhere
00:45:09
Speaker
where you're in a horrible situation, you learn just as much as if you go through that crazy road and you find what you like. And so even if you have to do a 180 and turn back around, however long it takes for you to get there, it all happens for a reason. It builds you into knowing what it is that you're passionate about. And once you get there, then that's when the gates open and that's when you can really be responsive and really go hard at what it is you love because you find your voice, you find your lane. And that would be something that would always stress to people is like,
00:45:39
Speaker
take that time, everything happens for a reason. And whatever journey that you're on, you're meant to be at that stage in your life. And eventually that's going to lead you in the direction you need to go. That's pretty profound. Yeah. Yeah. So how do we stress that to the kids? I'm at a loss for that, I guess. I mean, I'd try my best, but.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's tough. I mean, I think by leading by example is, you know, one thing that I try to do. And, you know, we talked about earlier about representation, right? And showcasing people within these different areas, because if you don't see voices that sound like yours or see faces that look like yours in these different areas,
00:46:19
Speaker
you may never be exposed to them, you know? And that goes for any field and that goes for any type of person, right? Like you want to see examples of people doing cool things, right? Because if you don't see that, how else are you going to shape your world or how else are you going to shape your own journey if you don't have the other things to emulate? And so I think, you know, especially for our youth coming up, I think it's important for
00:46:44
Speaker
us. And then also for the ones that are right behind us to know that you're always going to be in a mentorship position. You're always going to be in a position where people are going to be looking towards what you're doing. I'm sure there are people that follow you guys as podcasts that look at what you guys are doing. And they're like, this is really cool. They've shaped a unique niche. They've tapped into an area of science that maybe a lot of people don't talk about. You know, we all know archeology, but you know, you probably only think about the history channel or whatever, but you may not think about
00:47:10
Speaker
unique elements within it and unique fields within it or unique areas of study within it, you know, because you learn so much about archaeology, about people in general, about civilizations from archaeology, right? And it's not just bones and fossils and all that, like you learn about cultures, you learn about civilizations grow and fall and
00:47:30
Speaker
all these different things from a historical perspective. And sometimes people may not know about those elements. They may just see the surface level areas. And I think the more and more that we can show examples of that and the more and more that we can put our youth in positions to see those and have representation in those areas and be able to highlight those unique areas, I think that goes a long way in really helping them define their own paths as they start to now see that and then spark their own curiosity from there.
The Value of Diverse Perspectives in Science
00:47:59
Speaker
Yeah, science itself has been dominated by white men predominantly for the majority of history. And in a sense, really the sixties and the fifties too, we really kind of started seeing the growth of people that weren't white men, right? And especially within the last 20 years,
00:48:22
Speaker
The different perspectives that other people bring to the table have really grown science all throughout the field, right? Like in archaeology, we have a sampling bias, right? When you just have white men looking at the archaeological record, they're going to think predominantly they're male dominated.
00:48:38
Speaker
because they're coming with that mindset. And we've seen like with women even getting involved or people who aren't white, like indigenous people bringing in their own ontologies, their own perspectives to reevaluate the archeological record. It only just makes science better. And that for those that might be, like you said, having people that role models that you can look to that look like you make it easier for new, new groups of people to get involved. Right. And, you know, people had to lead the way.
00:49:08
Speaker
It was hard for sure. I have a couple role models in indigenous archaeology who I look up to all the time, and they're still around. I can see that they're getting tired, and it's been cool to see a bunch of other indigenous people or white passing indigenous like myself to get more involved and become more vocal.
00:49:27
Speaker
And I really like sincerely your content and what you're doing, because it's unique in a very informative and entertaining way. So I really just want to thank you for what you do with the science communication. Usually when someone who's not an anthropologist talks about racial identity,
00:49:50
Speaker
It can get really weird really quick, but bringing in that video is seriously, I'm going to use it to teach students now, like have them watch it because that was a completely different perspective that was just on point that I'd never seen before. And he did it so well. Like I could tell you did your research and it was fantastic. So yeah, man, keep it up. And like, we're going to be following you for a long time. And I'm really looking forward to see like,
00:50:16
Speaker
where you end up, whether it be with, you know, the next big vegan breakthrough and seasoning engineering or, you know, hopefully he might get a huge deal being the next Bill Nye, man. Yeah. That part excites me is, you know, not knowing exactly where that trajectory is going to go. You know, you go either way, right? And I love, I love the unpredictableness of the future. That's what keeps me excited. And
00:50:41
Speaker
wanting to wake up every day to try something new just because you never know what's going to take off and where life is going to lead you. So no, I really appreciate that. It's on that's that's me. That's the greatest benefit of the word that I do is when I make the content, I put the time in between not just
00:50:57
Speaker
not just so people can like it and but i feel the most most benefited when i see people learning and having a real life change you know and whether that's people messaging me back in my other video that i did where i broke down signs behind bobby schmurders hat and i was kinda crazy cuz i.
00:51:17
Speaker
I'd put the video out a few months back, but then it didn't really start taking off over until the past couple of weeks when Bobby Schmurda actually got released from jail. And so a lot of people were like Googling him and stuff and coming across the video. And I like people commenting there like I've learned more in this video than I have in the past 12 years of school. And that was like, and stuff like that is cool to me, right? When people can take away a life lesson or take away a piece of knowledge that's really profound that impacts them in a certain way. And that's,
00:51:46
Speaker
really what I'm here to do is regardless of whether it's on the entrepreneurial side or on the science communication side is I want to make an impact. I want to be able to leave a lasting emotion here and leave a lasting legacy based on people seeing whatever I put down in that space and having their life changed or affected in a positive way from it. So thank you. I really appreciate that support. It means a lot.
00:52:10
Speaker
Thanks again for being on here. Like I said, I kind of got a man crush now. You are a Renaissance man and this is really cool to talk to you. We both question because I don't talk enough about archeology on my platform, but it is an area I love. You know, I'm a history nerd too. I love, I, you know, I love watching just, just read, especially like, especially like history, like mysteries, right? Just of theological mysteries. That just fascinates me all the time. And it doesn't matter whether it's like, you know, it could be about,
00:52:37
Speaker
Aztecs or what happened in the mines to just recent history in the past couple hundred years of stuff. That stuff always blows my mind. So I appreciate the work you guys are doing as well. Hey, man, if you need sources or people to review your script, we're here.
Further Recommendations and Career Reflections
00:52:53
Speaker
We'll get back to you real quick. We got you. So before we end the show, Maynard, what are a couple sources, maybe other content creators?
00:53:03
Speaker
or articles, books, that you would recommend for anyone interested in science, engineering. Shark tanking it. Shark tank, vegan cuisine. What you got for us? Yeah. Man, so much good content out there. Like I said, we have a huge community now that's doing so many amazing things.
00:53:22
Speaker
I always give a shout out to my, our STEM Avengers, call ourselves the STEM Avengers group, but it's like myself and like seven other science communicators. We started this, uh, annual event called the STEM success summit. We really, which is just a platform to be able to bring more diverse voices together. We could get peers, other people within the space, within the STEM fields, connected opportunities for jobs. We provide them mentorships and it's really just a platform for us to really embrace.
00:53:48
Speaker
how dope STEM is, right? And be able to showcase a unique look in STEM. And it's all, we're all like super high energy. It's like a turn up STEM event, right? Like we turn up, we play music, we get high, do all these different things, but it's, it's been really great, especially for like young working professionals to see others that are out there that look like them. So, you know, you don't feel like you're alone in this space and that's been really cool. And all of them really put a lot of great content out there. I mean, we got an event that we will be planning later on this year called the STEM success summit.
00:54:17
Speaker
But yeah, they're all really good content creators, science communicators in their own rights. As far as like books and stuff, actually that actually reminds me. I have this book sitting up here. This book is pretty dope. It's by my guy, Rob Nelson. He has a platform, Untamed Science, a YouTube platform. But this is his new book, Mother Nature is Not Trying to Kill You.
00:54:40
Speaker
About halfway through this, I still got some reading to do. I'm gonna try to finish it up this week once I go on a low nature exploration. But it's really cool. It's got a lot of picture images and stuff. Different, basically different scenarios of you being out in the wild, how to interact with organisms and overcoming different stereotypes about organisms and stuff. Stuff like that is always really cool to me.
00:55:02
Speaker
Nice. That's really awesome. And then I have a really good friend of mine, Kevin J. DeBru, and he's a former NASA rocket scientist. And he has his book, The Space and Beyond. He has a really unique story of him, you know, pursuing being a rocket scientist and then getting a job at NASA.
00:55:18
Speaker
and then leaving to just become a science communicator and just work with kids and help communicate space sciences to kids. So all sorts of different amazing things out there and for those that follow my platform you'll see me sharing all sorts of dynamic voices doing a lot of cool things.
00:55:34
Speaker
there must be something about Avengers groups. Cause like me, David Connor are part of the archeology Avengers professionals and archeology and science communicators and content creators. And we have our own little group. Oh, I was, I was, I was geeking on the inside when you're like, yeah, stem Avengers. And I was like, Oh boy, here we go. Excellent, man. That's good to hear. So
00:55:56
Speaker
Like you said, if you want to find your niche, your community, you have those voices and it's dope, because when you find that, you feel like the Avengers. You join forces and you know all these people that do so many dope things, and then you're just even better collectively. Exactly. So yeah, every organization, every professional field, if you have people that are as dedicated as you are within it, yeah, form your own Avengers group and make that happen. Exactly.
00:56:23
Speaker
So at the end of every episode, we always ask our guests, like, if you had the chance, would you choose to live a life ruins? Now you have a different kind of background, but, you know, if you had the chance again, would you still live a life of being hip hop science MD? Oh, yeah, most definitely.
00:56:38
Speaker
I mean, it's funny because like I said, there was never a straight trajectory towards what I'm doing right now. I had to go through a whole crazy cycle to get to where I'm at. I think that's what made this road even more fun was the fact that there wasn't a straight path towards what I'm doing. I had to go through so many roundabout loops. So if I had to do it again to go through this crazy roundabout loop of a journey, 100%, because I don't think I would have gained the knowledge and the experiences that would have helped shape the work that I do now.
00:57:07
Speaker
Awesome, man. And where can our listeners find you?
00:57:10
Speaker
Yeah, you can find me on all social platforms at hip hop science show. You can't miss me. I'm usually in my lab coat. I'm dressed down today as casual Monday. And you always have awesome sneakers on. Got my lab coat, got my headphones. But like I said, basically Bill Nye meets World Star. I'm on Instagram where I do a lot of content on their Facebook and then I have my YouTube channel and then my website, hip hop science show. I have a weekly blog as I put up and I'm always having some
00:57:39
Speaker
crazy scientific fact or video or some other creative content within the STEM space. So yeah, they can easily find me on all those platforms. Excellent. Well, everyone, we just interviewed Maynard Okereke. You can find him on Instagram, YouTube, as well as his website, hip-hop-science-show.com. And by the same name on Instagram and YouTube, hip-hop-science-show.
00:58:01
Speaker
and please be sure to rate and review the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you're listening, YouTube, I don't know, just write it in stone somewhere around sand. All right, thanks Maynard, we're out. Awesome, thank you guys.
00:58:22
Speaker
Thanks for listening to a life in ruins podcast. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at a life in ruins podcast. And you can also email us at a life in ruins podcast at gmail.com. And remember, make sure to bring your archaeologists in from the cold and feed them beer.
00:58:49
Speaker
This episode was produced by Chris Webster from his RV Traveling America, Tristan Boyle in Scotland, and the Archaeology Podcast Network, and was edited by Rachel Rodin. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.