Every so often, a science grad student or early-career communicator reaches out to ask how I got into my line of work. I’m always happy to share — and honestly, I remember being on the other side of that conversation not too long ago.
Most people tend to have similar questions, so I figured I’d write up some answers here to share what’s worked for me as I ventured along my winding science communication career path. Of course, if you’ve got follow-up questions not answered here, I’m always happy to chat.
I conducted a handful of these so-called “informational interviews” myself, when I was a graduate student trying to figure out my own career path. Everyone I spoke with was terribly nice and helpful and encouraging.
Three of these experiences stand out in my memory, all from about 2017. One person I reached out to worked at Science, one was a writer who’d just published an awesome article on cacti in Atlas Obscura, and the last was Ed Yong. (I confess: I did not quite grasp how big of a deal he was at the time.) Alas, Ed did not agree to an interview, but he did send a thoughtful reply and linked me to this great post on his career path. (Bonus: That post sparked an amazing comment thread that now lives on at The Open Notebook.)
Fast forward a few years and I’m already doing informational interviews from the other side, which feels insane, but here we are!
Here goes nothing:
Tell me about your path leading up to your career as a science communicator.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and thought I wanted to be an ecologist, so I went to grad school. It was a drag. (Understatement. It was traumatic.) It took me years to realize it wasn’t science I disliked — it was doing science. The isolation, the nebulous timelines, and the total lack of structure just weren’t a good fit for me.
Meanwhile, I still adored science — I just didn’t want to do science. But I found I had a real knack for talking about it. I loved talking about my science, other people’s science, any science. I considered going into teaching, or science policy, or any other science communication field you can think of, and I applied to every fellowship and internship and job I could find (even some non-academic science ones). I got exactly one: The AAAS Mass Media Fellowship. Luckily, it was a perfect fit, and I’ve been writing ever since.
What did you do in grad school that prepared you for your career?
As a graduate student, I never really sought out “career-building” activities per se. But since I really, really liked science communication, I naturally gravitated toward relevant activities. I taught intro biology to non-majors (a gen ed requirement at my school; most students did not want to be there), I started a blog to write about science (which turned mostly into a blog about grad school), I volunteered at career days and science festivals, things like that. I didn’t really think of any of it as “science communication.” It was more like, “I will do these things to stay afloat while my research attempts to destroy my soul.”
What do you wish you’d done differently in grad school to better prepare for your career?
Honestly, I think I did pretty well for myself, given how things turned out. I always felt pressure to do more #scicomm, in particular to do more outreach about my own work, especially on social media. Which, as far as I knew at the time, meant growing my Twitter following with threads of fun facts and pictures about prairies (my research subject) and talking to schoolchildren about milkweed or something. But I didn’t have the energy for that, and it turned out, it was fine to not do. If you’re forcing yourself to do some activity as a grad student and not enjoying it, you probably don’t want to end up with that as your career, anyway.
Are you glad you finished grad school once you knew you wouldn’t stay in research?
Ah, yes. This used to be a question I asked myself regularly — I think, at the time, I mostly finished my program out of stubbornness and inertia and spite. I had already put so much time in, I only had so much left, I’d said I’d do it, I suspected I’d regret not finishing, etc. etc. Some days I leaned toward no, I wasn’t glad I stuck it out (especially toward the end). But looking back, yes, I’m glad I finished what I started.
That said, if you’re an unhappy science grad student, you need to do what’s right for you. Don’t sacrifice your health, for instance, for a diploma. (Quick aside: If your health is suffering, talk to your doctor. I wish I’d gone on anti-anxiety or anti-depressant meds years earlier — but I told myself my symptoms would magically disappear after I defended. They didn’t.)
Are you glad you went to grad school at all?
Yes, actually! I am very, very thankful that I have such a strong science background to hold up my science communication efforts. Personally, I think it’d be much harder to pick up science after working as a writer and/or journalist and/or marketing professional than it is the other way around. Perhaps this isn’t generalizable to others — it’s possible I have a bit of “natural” writing ability (eye roll, sorry) but it took me years to fully grasp science. Maybe for other people it’s the other way around?
Not to mention all the connections I made in grad school, both professionally and socially. I met my husband. I met my best best lifelong friends. I got to live in a new state for a few years. My time in grad school changed my life in many ways, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Do you feel like you’re “using your degree”?
Yes, I do. Am I using my explicit knowledge about the community assembly of native and non-native plants in restored prairies? Very rarely, but I get a lot of joy when I can contribute to those conversations!
Much more valuable has been my general understanding of how science works — the process, the grants, the labs, the publications, how to read a paper critically, and more. What makes scientists tick. I think you could pick this up with enough exposure, but I lived it. I think it makes me a way, way, way better science communicator.
Do you recommend journalism school? I see some schools have Masters in Science Journalism programs.
That really depends. For some people, these programs are really valuable. But I think I wouldn’t recommend journalism school as a Plan A for someone leaving science, especially science grad school, for journalism. I would get your feet wet with general blogging or other writing opportunities, and try to just jump in first — apply to fellowships like the AAAS MMF I mentioned, internships, or any other entry-level opportunities. J school costs money, and I’d hate for anyone to spend thousands on tuition for something not needed.
That said, journalism school can be a game-changer if you feel like you need help breaking into the field. Especially if it’s possible your writing needs work and could benefit from some serious, consistent feedback from mentors who are paid to teach you how to write. A degree program can also get you a load of new connections, so if you’re not snagging the fellowships or internships that might get your foot in doors, school can be another solid route.
Your first gig after grad school was your AAAS Mass Media Fellowship where you were stationed at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. What was that fellowship and newspaper like?
Dude, it was amazing. AAAS taught me EVERYTHING about journalism in like 36 hours of orientation (OK certainly not everything, but everything they could’ve possibly crammed into 36 hours). It was incredible. When I applied to the fellowship, I had hoped to get assigned to a Big Name™ outlet, like NPR or National Geographic, and admittedly I was a little sad to get “stuck with” a local paper. That is, until I had my interview — most sites don’t even do interviews — with my soon-to-be editor. It was incredible, and the MJS picked me, and I loved them with my whole heart. I would’ve stayed on after my fellowship was over if they had had a spot for a science writer, but alas, they did not. Milwaukee is an incredible place and felt very much like home (I’m from Chicago), and working in that newsroom was a dream.
What was your job there?
The MJS lovingly called me the “science intern” — “AAAS mass media fellow” just didn’t fit. I had both an assigned editor and a “mentor,” another reporter who kept me on track. It was pretty open-ended. I was welcome to pitch as many ideas as I wanted and they’d pick out the good ones, and they’d assign me plenty of ideas of their own. I just wrote as fast as I could, honestly, writing one story after the other. I think I wrote about two stories each week. I even had a couple of front-pagers, which felt amazing. It was, I cannot emphasize this enough, so much fun.
Any advice for applying to the AAAS fellowship?
Yes, in fact, I wrote a whole post on it: What I had on my (successful) AAAS Mass Media Fellowship application. Apps are due in January, put it on your calendar.
How did you get your job at Discover?
I was very, very lucky. #Blessed. When the summer was something like halfway over, another reporter at the paper stopped by my desk one day and said something along the lines of, “I don’t mean to be presumptuous, and I don’t know if you like what you’re doing or what your plans are for after the summer is over, but I just talked to [the editor-in-chief at Discover] and talked you up, and she’s hiring, and if you’re interested you should send her your resume right now. She’s expecting you.”
Ummm……….. Yeah that was probably the nicest and most life-changing single tiny thing any person has ever done for me. Sorry that this doesn’t help you snag a job at Discover, or anywhere for that matter! Maybe the takeaway is: Surround yourself with kind people. Honestly, that’s probably good advice for life in general.
What was your job at Discover like?
I started as assistant editor and was promoted after about a year to associate. At first, it was seriously a dream job. For maybe six months I’d show up to the office, sit at my desk in my office with my name on the door, and just be totally in awe that this was, indeed, my job. I not only had a career in science communication — a feat that seemed unachievable just six months earlier — but I was an editor at Discover holy crap!!!!!!11
I did a lot of writing at first, and slowly ramped up my editing. I had never been an editor before, but it was plenty to just be good at writing and have experience editing in general, for instance all the papers and applications that my friends and colleagues wrote all through grad school. My editing role involved a lot of assigning stories, editing them, thinking about what sorts of images would go with them, coordinating fact checks and designers, and more. I did a bunch of other fun stuff too, like making YouTube videos, appearing on NPR radio shows, and picking book excerpts to run in the magazine.
Why did you decide to leave a staff job to freelance?
Like I said, I was in heaven for about six months, maybe a year. Then a lot of downsizing and layoffs and staff turnover really got me down, and really changed not only the vibe but also my actual work and workload. Meanwhile, I started to really notice what we were paying freelancers, and what other freelancers were saying they were making, and it seemed like significantly more than I was making as a staff member. I thought about leaving for a while, and when my husband was offered a job in another state, I left.
What do you like most and least about your job now, as a freelancer?
I know I said I hated the lack of structure of grad school, but now I love the flexibility of freelancing. It doesn’t have that same floundering vibe as grad school, mostly since close deadlines make it much easier to get out of bed and get your work done in a timely fashion! It also allows for a much more varied workload — you can be working on one project one day, and something totally different the next. I love that I can now do not only journalism, but also throw in things like content marketing, working for nonprofits, and working for scientists directly.
What I like least? Probably that it’s a lot harder to take sick time or vacations. At least, I haven’t quite mastered it yet. There’s obviously no paid leave, so any time you’re not working, no matter the reason, you’re just not going to get paid. It seems like any time I have time off planned, a client asks for something and I think, well, I don’t want to let this opportunity go by! Or maybe I didn’t quite finish my pre-vacation project and still have to wrap it up.
What’s content marketing?
Content marketing is a lot like science journalism — except instead of writing for a media outlet, you’re writing for an organization or company. Think blog posts, newsletters, or social media content that helps people discover and engage with a mission or product.
It took me a second to get used to it, like, morally, because I had assumed it was something shadier than it actually is. I had always learned, essentially, that everything on the internet is a lie unless it comes from a credible source, and especially to not trust anything that comes from someone who’s trying to sell you something. But now that that “anything” is something I wrote, I have a more nuanced perspective. These people just want you to make your way to their website (where, yes, they may be selling something) — but these days the standard way to achieve that is to have good content.
Plus, most companies and organizations in the science sector have a greater mission and vision beyond their product, too — they not only want you to buy (or buy into) their thing, they really do want you to read their stuff and learn about their topic! It’s really fun. So, sure, the internet can be a hell-hole, but there are a lot of people out there doing good work in places you might not expect. It also helps that I haven’t run into any clients with even the remotest interest of “fudging” any texts in their favor. I’m sure those bad guys are out there, but I haven’t met them, and if I did, I’d kindly take my services elsewhere.
Any other advice for me?
You’ll be great. And I do encourage you to reach out to more people for informational interviews! Just maybe not the most famous science writer you can think of. He’s busy.
Got more questions? I’m always happy to help — or at least point you in the right direction. Drop me an email.