Welcome back to yet another interview! We have been overwhelmed with the encouragement and support over the last week or so and just wanted to thank each and everyone one of you for helping us start out our magazine/blog! Today's interview is from Sam Leggett and we hope it inspires all of you out there reading this to follow your dreams! Without further ado, Sam Leggett!
Cellfie: What is your job?
Sam: I’m a PhD student in archaeological science – I use the bones
and teeth of people from the past to find out what they ate and
if they migrated during their lives.
Cellfie: That sounds soooo interesting! What an incredible field - definitely something we want to look into for a blog post!
When did you first realize you wanted to do STEM?
Sam: Probably when I was about 5 years old. I got the choice
between a birthday party at home with my friends, lots of cake,
games… the whole nine yards… OR a trip with my family to the
Australian Museum which had an epic dinosaur and megafauna
exhibition… guess which one I chose? Everything else really
STEMmed from that (sorry had to do the pun).
Cellfie: Don't worry, we are pun-central! :) Hands down we would go for the Australian Museum- that sounds epic!
Who were your role models growing up?
Sam: Definitely my mum and my grandmother. They’re both such
strong amazing women. My mum is a food biologist by training
(she works for a children’s charity now) and had her old
textbooks and microscope at home which definitely got me
interested science. She always encouraged my sister and I to
read, play and use our imaginations. She is such an inspiration,
moving a long way from her home for university and following
a STEM career, and later changing careers to work in childhood
early intervention. She’s so compassionate and interested in
the world, always supporting us to be whatever we wanted to
be.
Her mum, my Nanny, was definitely a huge influence too, she
was a teacher and loved learning and travel. Nanny’s amazing
travel stories and house full of books really set a blueprint for
my life.
Later in high school I had so many great role models in my
teachers, especially our (female) head of science Dr Walters,
who introduced me to amazing STEM superstars like Rosalind
Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin – who I followed to Newnham
College in Cambridge where I’ve met so many other inspiring
women. Living the dream.
Cellfie: Wow! You are so lucky to have had so many strong, inspirational women in your life! Mums and grandmas are definitely some of the strongest people we have ever met. Newnham College Cambrdige is gorgeous and some of our founders have the ambition to go to Cambridge too!
Did you ever want to do anything else?
Sam: Oh definitely! It’s why I picked such a broad range of subjects
for my final years of high school, and a double degree in Arts
and Science at university – I just couldn’t pick! I was stuck
between forensic science, and archaeology and history. I’ve
ended up combining them all and have my dream job!
Cellfie: We totally respect that! Why settle for narrowing your options when you could find your dream field?
Have you ever had any setbacks or been told you are a girl so
cannot do tech?
Sam: Absolutely. I’ve been lucky to have a lot of really amazing
teachers and mentors through my career BUT there’s one
teacher who really shook my confidence in high-school and it
took me a while to get over. He was my year 9 maths teacher,
and I’d previously been really good at maths, but suddenly my
grades really dropped. He told my parents I could never follow
a career in science like I wanted, and I should stick to arts and
humanities because girls weren’t good at maths, and told my
mum (the one with an applied science degree) that she
wouldn’t understand the demands of science – WRONG MOVE.
He did the same to a lot of other really talented girls in my year,
and many of us said for years we “hated maths”. I’ve now got a
science degree and doing a PhD. I re-discovered my love of
maths and coding. In fact, I help teach it at university. Some of
those other women I was at school with are now doctors,
ecologists, software engineers and teachers – take that!
Cellfie: It's so important to remember that your love and talent for something doesn't rely on other's opinions! He sounds as if he shouldn't be allowed to teach and we hope Mummy Bear ripped into him!
What’s one thing you’d like to change about the STEM
community?
Sam: Better representation. This is slowly getting better but at least
from the outside the STEM community still looks very
homogenous. We need to encourage more women, POCs and
other under-represented groups to follow their interest in
STEM. We need to help each other feel welcome and to keep
diversity through all levels of STEM careers. With more public
engagement and awesome initiatives like Cellfie I think we’ll
really start to see a positive change.
Cellfie: Agreed. Representation for all sexes, races and backgrounds! Thank you so much, we really hope to make a difference through Cellfie! :)
Is there a problem with sexism in the STEM community?
Sam: Sadly yes. I’ve encountered it, and so have many of my friends.
I was once called a “good girl” for having a science degree by a
senior male academic. It’s getting called out more now which is
great. I have an amazing all-female lab group and we back each
other up at conferences and try and call out “manels” – all male
panels, usually all white too. Sometimes sexism and prejudice
are overt and sometimes they’re subtle. The culture is
changing, but with better representation we can change it
quicker – we need more STEMinists from all backgrounds.
Cellfie: That's disgusting. Women are so often infantalized by our male equivalents and we are standing up against it! However subtle, any form of sexism or making someone feel inferior in unacceptable.
What’s your message for young girls wanting to do STEM?
Sam: Stick to your guns and follow your passions. Don’t let anyone
tell you you can’t do it because you can. Be persistent, there’s
alternative paths to what you want to do, it might not be
straightforward but there’s always a way to get to where you
want to go. Reach out to other women in STEM who inspire you
(twitter and Instagram are great for this) and see if they’d be
happy to answer your questions, many of them are happy to
help and mentor younger scientists.
Cellfie: We could not agree more! Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do- follow YOUR passions!
What is your favourite science joke?
Cellfie: This is a popular one! It is also @ScienceSoph's favourite and she definitely isn't afraid to use it! :)
What is your most embarrassing moment in your life?
Sam: So many to pick from! I’m really clumsy! Probably when I used
to play water polo and had my swimming costume ripped
mostly off in a game. Trying to get out of the pool and subtly
signal to my mum to come over with a towel for modesty –
ended up being not so subtle, I was so red in the face! We
managed it ok though. Our team ended up getting really good
special swimsuits the next season and I learned that wearing a
bikini underneath is key!
Cellfie: That sounds mortifying! We've all had a swimsuit malfunction, very relatable!
What is your favourite food?
Sam: Cheese, in all its forms and on almost everything. Every time I
travel somewhere new, I endeavour to try the local food (I have
coeliac disease so sometimes this is hard) but I make it my
mission to find the local cheese if dairy is a part of local cuisine.
In the back of my travel journals I keep a list of all the different
cheeses I’ve tried.
Cellfie: Ahhh! We LOVE cheese. Anything is good if it has cheese or chocolate in it!
What is your favourite shop?
Sam: Second-hand bookshops. I love books, from trashy novels to
coding manuals and history books, and there are always some
hidden gems. National Trust and Oxfam bookshops are
particular favourites – it's a great way to get some amazing
books on my student budget, support the book industry and
charities, and limit waste at the same time!
Cellfie: We love that! Bookstores are the absolute best!
Thank you so much for reading, we hope you all loves Sam's answers as much as we did! You can find Sam on Twitter @samleggs22. Make sure to keep in contact with the Cellfie family @cellfiemagazine on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Leave a like and a comment and share on your social media! See you next time, The Cellfie Team! :)