How to go from Tide Pools, to TedX, to TV, with sharks. With Melissa Márquez.

June 8th was World Oceans Day, and if you listen to this podcast, you know this is a day I am very much here for - because I am obsessed with the ocean… for good reason.

But rather than going on about it myself, for this episode I thought we could celebrate World Oceans Day with the help of another ocean obsessive: Melissa Cristina Márquez.

Melissa is a marine science education expert based in Australia, and is known as "the most enthusiastic shark scientist" people ever meet. Her work has been featured in Science, NPR, Vogue, Allure, InStyle, GQ, Seeker, Popular Science, and showcased on Disney+, BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Acciona, and Good Morning America.

As well as being a scientist and educator, Melissa is also an author of children’s books including the Wild Survival series (Scholastic) and Mother of Sharks (Madre de los Tiburones), with her latest, Sea of Constellations (Océano de Constelaciones).

In this episode, she shares:

• Her background and how she got to be on the Discovery Channel
• Why we need diversity in science
• The integration of Indigenous science into Western science - and how it works
• How to tackle constant misinformation
• Her favourite thing about sharks
• How to stay hopeful during a bleak time in the ocean world
• The importance of ocean education and being a steward of nature
• The importance of interacting with nature from a young age

Key Quotes

“If we're going to coexist with nature again - how we used to - we need to be a part of nature again, instead of apart from it.”

“Science, in order to be effective and actually benefit people, needs to serve the people it's trying to benefit.”

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