August 28, 2025 • 18 mins
Samuel Ogunsola, co-founder of Shaping African Women in STEM, shares what inspired him to launch the program and how it has grown.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
(bright music)
- Welcome to the "Lessonsfrom Lab and Life" podcast
brought to you by New England Biolabs.
I'm your host, Lydia Morrison,
and I hope this episode bringsyou some new perspective.
Today, I'm joined by 2024Passion in Science Award winner
Samuel Ogunsola.
(00:20):
Samuel launched the ShapingAfrican Women in STEM program
or SWIS Africa,
an initiative that aims toinspire young African women
to pursue careers in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
by sharing stories of successfulAfrican women in STEM.
Hi, Samuel.
(00:40):
Thanks so much for being here
to join me today for the NEB Podcast.
- Oh, thank you very much
for the opportunity to be here.
Thank you. A pleasure.
- Yeah, I'm so excited
to share your story with our audience.
And I wanna start by explaining
what it was that you observed
about the fields of science,technology, engineering,
and mathematics in Africa
(01:03):
that drove you to foundthe SWIS Africa program.
- Oh yeah, I would say what happened
is because I myself am a scientist.
I did my undergrad inbiochemistry from Nigeria.
And after I graduated,
I noticed that there weremany female friends of mine
(01:24):
and also females around me thatare giving up on their dream
of pursuing a career in STEM.
So looking at that, I seethat there is a big challenge
because, you know, weneed everyone on board
to be able to make STEM progress.
We need the females, we need the male,
(01:44):
because we see the worldin a different way.
So if we have, you know,only male scientist,
that's not going to help us
because we also needdifferent perspectives
in looking at our data
and also the impactswe're making through STEM.
So that's what led meto start SWIS Africa.
And the goal is mainlyto use stories of women
(02:06):
that have gone ahead tohelp inspire, empower,
and keep the, you know, newset of women that are coming up
to be able to pursue career in STEM.
So we do this, you know,through different programs
to be able to help achieve this goal.
So we have, you know,interviews we publish.
(02:27):
We publish blogs and differentthings just to ensure
that we get to inspire morewomen to pursue career in STEM.
- Wow, that's so important.
I'm curious, in your conversations
with the women that you knewthat didn't pursue careers
in STEM fields,
what were the reasons that they gave you
for not moving forward with those careers?
(02:49):
- I would say one of themis stereotypes and biases.
Imagine you discusswith your parents that,
"Oh, I would love to get a PhD."
As a woman, the firstquestion they will ask is,
"Okay, when will you be done?"
"Oh, maybe I'll be doneat age 29, age 30."
"Don't you think youshould get married first?"
And by the time you get married,
(03:11):
you give birth and do all those things,
before you say you want to go back,
life has already happened.
So many people just, you know, stop there.
- Mm.
- Right?
Although there are women
that are able to still, like, push through
and that's part of thestories we are sharing.
You know, being a woman
to be able to give birth,you know, be married,
and still be able to do your PhD program
and succeed is something that is amazing.
(03:32):
So we get to share thestories of those people
to empower, you know, thenew sets that are coming,
that they're actuallywomen that are doing this
and they're able to excel at it, right?
So that's one.
I would say the other one
is also lack of role models, right?
People to look up to.
If for instance,
I want to pursue a careerin aeronautic engineering
(03:55):
and I've not seen anywomen do that before,
I might feel discouraged.
I don't think it is a field for women.
Maybe women are not even engineers.
Maybe all the women are doing nothing
or maybe they're justscientists in the lab.
So the more we see women,you know, in engineering,
the more we see them share their stories
that we are actuallydoing this, we are here.
(04:16):
So you're not the only one out there.
So I think that willencourage more women to join.
And then I'll say anotherone is lack of resources.
- Mm.
- Lack of recognition, lackof opportunities out there
for women because thetrainings might be different.
The way you maybe train a guy
might be different fromthe way you train a lady.
So being able to understandthat can also help us
(04:38):
to get more women to pick up career
and also pick up interest in STEM.
- Yeah, I think that thoseobservations are true
for lots of different fields and careers,
and I think especiallypoignantly so for women
and women of color inSTEM fields in particular.
So it's so wonderful tohave attention drawn to it
(05:01):
and to see someone building acommunity around those people
to help those women support each other
and help each other rise intheir careers and be successful.
So how does SWIS Africawork to support the mission
that you've just described for us?
- Yeah, we use different ways to do that.
So we have our objectives.
(05:23):
So we mainly have three objectives.
So the first one is to celebrate.
So we do that through interviews.
We organize interviews.
Through those interviews,
we get to celebrate theperson we interview,
so people get to hear their stories.
And I think celebratingsomeone encourages them,
"Wow, people are actuallylearning about what I'm doing.
(05:44):
I think I feel important andI can push through this more.
So that means there is ameaning to what I'm doing."
And then the other partof it is we also engage.
So that part of engagement
involves regular sending outemails, social media posts,
getting to discuss with them.
And that also that's wherementorship comes in place
(06:05):
because I cannot just be one-off programs
or maybe one-off connections,
so you need to be able to constantly
or consistently talk to them,
you know, get to hear whatthey're going through.
So we try to do that.
So every month, we try as much as possible
to send out an email to allthe people in our community,
and we have about 600 of them now, right?
(06:28):
So another one is also to empower them.
So we have workshops.
We have what we call theSWIS Africa Masterclass
where we are, it's online,
so we invite people to come around
and teach on a particular topic.
So we've talked about data science.
We've talked about research.
We've talked about mentorship
and different topics
that we think would benefit the community.
(06:49):
And then now we have newprograms that are coming up.
So one of them is theSWIS Empower Art Program.
So this came out of the factthat as a final year student
in an undergraduate program,
the next step you want to take
is either to go intoacademia, to get a job,
or to start your own maybe idea.
But for each of these steps,
(07:10):
there are different thingsyou need to achieve them.
For instance, if you want toget into entrepreneurship,
you need to learn how towrite a business plan,
how to pitch your idea.
That might be different from someone
that wants to go for a masters.
Maybe the person needs tolearn how to write an essay,
how to write the proposal,
how to make academic presentation.
And that's also different
(07:31):
from someone going to the industry.
The person needs to learnhow to do interviews,
how to write a CV or resume,
how to even apply for a job.
So each of these streamsrequire different skills
and experience.
So part of what we want to do now
is also create this program
to help final year undergraduate student
to be able to transitioneasily from college
(07:54):
to the marketplace.
So that's that.
We also have the SWIS Arts project,
which is a SWIS Africaresearch training program.
And the goal of that program
is to empower women in research.
So if you have interest in research,
we want to empower you
to be able to learn more about research.
And besides that too,
to give you an opportunityto communicate your research.
(08:15):
Because the world we are in today,
if you don't have tocommunicate your research,
you are more disadvantaged.
By being able to present in a conference,
being able to give presentation
is actually a very importantskillset in research.
And then we have another one, again,
for high school students,
which the goal is to empower some of them
to be able to do their finalyear exam back in Africa.
(08:38):
These are an exam that is quite expensive,
and also they need a lot of training.
So these are some of theprojects that are ongoing
that we are looking atdoing to make more impact
and also get more womeninterested in STEM.
- What an incredible group of resources
you've been able to establish
(08:58):
for the women in that community.
I think I love thestorytelling feature of it
because I do think it's so important
to celebrate those individuals.
And I'm curious, how do youidentify those individuals
that you're going to interview
or you're going to havespeak at one of your events?
(09:20):
How do you find these women?
- So I would say our mainresource is LinkedIn.
So we go on LinkedIn, we justtype in, okay, women is STEM,
or women doing research,
and then we search for them.
And we don't look at peoplethat are only high flyers
or maybe a director.
No, we also look at peoplethat are just starting.
(09:40):
We've interviewed recent graduates.
We've even interviewedsomeone in undergrad.
We interviewed any woman in STEM
that loves to share their story.
So what we just do mosttimes is to use LinkedIn.
And besides that now,
we are happy to also announce
that you can actually nominate someone.
So you can go on our website, SWIS Africa,
(10:03):
and search, you see the tabfor interviews, click on it.
So you can look for a friend of yours
that is a woman in STEM, a Black woman.
It might not even be a Black person,
but someone you feel we should celebrate.
You can just type in thedetails of the person,
then we'll reach out,
and then we invite theperson for an interview.
So the interview can either be virtual
(10:23):
or maybe they can alsoanswer the questions.
Or some people have probably stage fright,
they don't want to show their faces,
so we can just have themwrite the answers out
and then we can post it on ourwebsite or on our media page
so people can also gothere and read about it.
So we try to, you know,accommodate everyone.
(10:44):
And later on, we'reprobably going to transition
into starting a podcast like this.
- I was just going to say,you should do a podcast.
- Yes, we are looking into that.
It's just, again, setting up the resources
to get that done right.
So it takes a lot of money to set it up
and getting a place to do it.
So it's something we're working on.
And even interestingly, this summer,
(11:04):
we're planning to do ourfirst physical interview.
So we're going to get a cameraman,
get, you know, sound, get everything.
So we're working on that.
But it's just like, again, itall comes down to resources.
If you have enough money,we get to make more impact.
So with the little one things we have now,
we're trying as much as possible
to still achieve our mission.
(11:25):
- Yeah, and it seems likeyou've made great strides
in achieving your mission.
I also wanted to talk to youabout the communication aspect
that you mentioned.
I'm obviously a huge fanof science communication
and sharing scientificknowledge and thought process,
but I think that it's so important
(11:47):
because I think when youtalked about the three tracks
of moving to academia orgoing directly to a job
or perhaps starting your ownproject as an entrepreneur,
those are very different andall very scary things, I think,
to undertake, you know,as you're thinking about
how to start your future.
And so I can't imagine howvaluable a resource it is
(12:08):
to have someone, you know,there giving you guidance
on how to put your CVtogether, how to interview,
how to interact with PIs,
or to help you with your interview skills.
I remember when I firstwent to my first interviews
after graduate school,
you know, my father-in-law sat me down
and gave me a fake interview process.
(12:30):
He wasn't my father-in-law at the time,
but it was so valuable to me
to have someone to do fake interview with
and to practice those skills
and to learn what kinds ofquestions are important to ask
when you're thinkingabout those positions.
So I think that anincredibly valuable resource
for that community
and really for anybodypursuing a future in STEM
(12:53):
to understand what those expectations are.
So really, really amazing.
- Thank you.
- I'm curious, it seems likeyou're doing a great job
using social media
and online presence inthe LinkedIn community
to really help buildawareness of the program
and the community.
If someone's interested inhelping or supporting SWIS Africa
(13:18):
or one of the sub programsthat you mentioned
like SWIS Empower Her,
how would they go about doing that?
- So I would say it's pretty simple.
So just head over to ourwebsite, www.SWIS Africa.org.
So on the website, youcan send a message to us
and then we can get to meet.
(13:39):
We can do that virtually
and get to talk about howyou can come in and help us.
Again, we need a lot ofsupport for all these projects.
And support is not just finance.
We need support in terms of mentorship.
We need support in termsof helping the team.
Again, we are doing a lot of projects,
so we need more hands to get them running.
(14:00):
And again, we are not onlylooking for Black people
to join us.
This is something that is open.
As much as you have interestin supporting women in STEM,
reach out to us, we can talk.
We recently partnered withan organization in Canada,
TechNest community,
and what we did was tocelebrate women globally in tech
(14:21):
and also in STEM.
So whether you're white or Black,
the goal is to celebrateas many women as possible,
although our focus ismore on the African women,
but we can still expand our reach
as long as we are achieving our mission
to celebrate more women, empower them,
and equip them with theresources they need.
So you can reach out tous through our website
(14:42):
and also you can reach out to me.
My email is samuel@SWIS Africa.org.
So once you reach out, you can get a talk
and discuss on how you cancome in and support us.
Thank you.
- Awesome.
And everybody can findlinks to the website
in the transcript forthis podcast as well.
So before I let you go, Samuel,
(15:04):
we just enjoyed a lunch together
and someone asked you aquestion during that lunch
and your answer was just so phenomenal
that I have to repeat the question here
for all of our listeners.
So the question you were asked was,
"What is your favorite NEB product?"
Which isn't something wetraditionally ask at the podcast,
but your answer was justso wonderful to hear.
So would you share with us whatyour favorite NEB product is
(15:28):
and the story behind that?
- Yeah, that's aninteresting story actually
because when I started my PhD program,
part of my major projectis to clone a mini-gene.
So I've tried different techniqueswhere I kept on failing.
It's either I get a cloneand the insert is not there,
(15:49):
or I get a clone with the insert,
but the insert is wrongly positioned.
So there were a lot of challenges
and that delayed myprogram for over two years.
So I had to meet a mentor
to advise me on how to give about it,
and then he recommendedthe NEB Gibson Cloning Kit.
So I checked the website,
and interestingly, itwas actually for free.
(16:09):
At that time, they were doingfive reactions for free.
So I ordered the fivereactions and then it came,
and I just tried the kit and boom!
My clone came out and it was perfect.
And I even got multiple clones,
so that make the project very fast.
And within a year or two,
I was able to move fast in my PhD program.
(16:29):
So to me, I think my own best product
is the NEB Gibson Cloning Kit.
Again, I use several NEB products.
I use the enzymes.
I use the restriction enzymes especially,
but the Gibson Cloning Kit issomething I'll always remember
through my PhD experience.
- Yeah, I love that story
because I can acutely rememberhow frustrating it can be
(16:52):
to be a PhD student
and to sort of keeprepeating the same experiment
and keep having it notwork the way you expected
or anticipated and howfrustrating that can be.
So I can imagine what abreakthrough moment that was.
- Yeah, it was.
- For you and I'm so gladthat NEB could be here for it.
- Thank you very much.
And also, I'm verygrateful for this podcast
(17:13):
and the opportunity tocome around to the campus
and also get to talk about SWIS Africa.
And this is not just about me.
I'm also saying a big thankyou to my other team members.
My co-founder, Abosede Salami.
She's currently a PhD student in New York,
and she's been doing a lotof great work helping us
to have SWIS Africa,
(17:33):
and also my team membersthat are supporting us
to make the organization move forward.
All of them are volunteers,they're not paid
because for now we're still building,
but they're all putting alltheir effort to make this work.
So I say thank you to all of them.
And also all the peoplethat have supported us
in terms of mentors,
all the people we've interviewed,and all the participants
(17:55):
because everyone, you know,we are all working together
to make SWIS Africa what it is,
so I say a big thank you to everyone.
Thank you.
- Yeah, thank you so muchfor being here today,
and thank you for working so hard
to build the powerful community
that you're helping to develop.
- Thank you.
(bright music)
- Thank you for joiningus for this episode
of the "Lessons fromLab and Life" podcast.
(18:17):
Please check out our show's transcript
for helpful links fromtoday's conversation.
And as always, we inviteyou to join us next episode
when I am joined
by New England Biolabs'bioinformaticist Vladimir Potapov,
who is an important part of the team
that builds online toolsto aid both NEB scientists
and our customers in calculationsand experimental design.
(18:38):
Vladimir joins us to talk
through the open-accessNEBridge Ligase Fidelity Tools,
which are used to aid inthe design of DNA Assembly
through the Golden Gate method.
(light music)
(bright music)
- Welcome to the "Lessonsfrom Lab and Life" podcast
brought to you by New England Biolabs.
I'm your host, Lydia Morrison,
and I hope this episode bringsyou some new perspective.
Today, I'm joined by 2024Passion in Science Award winner
Samuel Ogunsola.
(00:20):
Samuel launched the ShapingAfrican Women in STEM program
or SWIS Africa,
an initiative that aims toinspire young African women
to pursue careers in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics
by sharing stories of successfulAfrican women in STEM.
Hi, Samuel.
(00:40):
Thanks so much for being here
to join me today for the NEB Podcast.
- Oh, thank you very much
for the opportunity to be here.
Thank you. A pleasure.
- Yeah, I'm so excited
to share your story with our audience.
And I wanna start by explaining
what it was that you observed
about the fields of science,technology, engineering,
and mathematics in Africa
(01:03):
that drove you to foundthe SWIS Africa program.
- Oh yeah, I would say what happened
is because I myself am a scientist.
I did my undergrad inbiochemistry from Nigeria.
And after I graduated,
I noticed that there weremany female friends of mine
(01:24):
and also females around me thatare giving up on their dream
of pursuing a career in STEM.
So looking at that, I seethat there is a big challenge
because, you know, weneed everyone on board
to be able to make STEM progress.
We need the females, we need the male,
(01:44):
because we see the worldin a different way.
So if we have, you know,only male scientist,
that's not going to help us
because we also needdifferent perspectives
in looking at our data
and also the impactswe're making through STEM.
So that's what led meto start SWIS Africa.
And the goal is mainlyto use stories of women
(02:06):
that have gone ahead tohelp inspire, empower,
and keep the, you know, newset of women that are coming up
to be able to pursue career in STEM.
So we do this, you know,through different programs
to be able to help achieve this goal.
So we have, you know,interviews we publish.
(02:27):
We publish blogs and differentthings just to ensure
that we get to inspire morewomen to pursue career in STEM.
- Wow, that's so important.
I'm curious, in your conversations
with the women that you knewthat didn't pursue careers
in STEM fields,
what were the reasons that they gave you
for not moving forward with those careers?
(02:49):
- I would say one of themis stereotypes and biases.
Imagine you discusswith your parents that,
"Oh, I would love to get a PhD."
As a woman, the firstquestion they will ask is,
"Okay, when will you be done?"
"Oh, maybe I'll be doneat age 29, age 30."
"Don't you think youshould get married first?"
And by the time you get married,
(03:11):
you give birth and do all those things,
before you say you want to go back,
life has already happened.
So many people just, you know, stop there.
- Mm.
- Right?
Although there are women
that are able to still, like, push through
and that's part of thestories we are sharing.
You know, being a woman
to be able to give birth,you know, be married,
and still be able to do your PhD program
and succeed is something that is amazing.
(03:32):
So we get to share thestories of those people
to empower, you know, thenew sets that are coming,
that they're actuallywomen that are doing this
and they're able to excel at it, right?
So that's one.
I would say the other one
is also lack of role models, right?
People to look up to.
If for instance,
I want to pursue a careerin aeronautic engineering
(03:55):
and I've not seen anywomen do that before,
I might feel discouraged.
I don't think it is a field for women.
Maybe women are not even engineers.
Maybe all the women are doing nothing
or maybe they're justscientists in the lab.
So the more we see women,you know, in engineering,
the more we see them share their stories
that we are actuallydoing this, we are here.
(04:16):
So you're not the only one out there.
So I think that willencourage more women to join.
And then I'll say anotherone is lack of resources.
- Mm.
- Lack of recognition, lackof opportunities out there
for women because thetrainings might be different.
The way you maybe train a guy
might be different fromthe way you train a lady.
So being able to understandthat can also help us
(04:38):
to get more women to pick up career
and also pick up interest in STEM.
- Yeah, I think that thoseobservations are true
for lots of different fields and careers,
and I think especiallypoignantly so for women
and women of color inSTEM fields in particular.
So it's so wonderful tohave attention drawn to it
(05:01):
and to see someone building acommunity around those people
to help those women support each other
and help each other rise intheir careers and be successful.
So how does SWIS Africawork to support the mission
that you've just described for us?
- Yeah, we use different ways to do that.
So we have our objectives.
(05:23):
So we mainly have three objectives.
So the first one is to celebrate.
So we do that through interviews.
We organize interviews.
Through those interviews,
we get to celebrate theperson we interview,
so people get to hear their stories.
And I think celebratingsomeone encourages them,
"Wow, people are actuallylearning about what I'm doing.
(05:44):
I think I feel important andI can push through this more.
So that means there is ameaning to what I'm doing."
And then the other partof it is we also engage.
So that part of engagement
involves regular sending outemails, social media posts,
getting to discuss with them.
And that also that's wherementorship comes in place
(06:05):
because I cannot just be one-off programs
or maybe one-off connections,
so you need to be able to constantly
or consistently talk to them,
you know, get to hear whatthey're going through.
So we try to do that.
So every month, we try as much as possible
to send out an email to allthe people in our community,
and we have about 600 of them now, right?
(06:28):
So another one is also to empower them.
So we have workshops.
We have what we call theSWIS Africa Masterclass
where we are, it's online,
so we invite people to come around
and teach on a particular topic.
So we've talked about data science.
We've talked about research.
We've talked about mentorship
and different topics
that we think would benefit the community.
(06:49):
And then now we have newprograms that are coming up.
So one of them is theSWIS Empower Art Program.
So this came out of the factthat as a final year student
in an undergraduate program,
the next step you want to take
is either to go intoacademia, to get a job,
or to start your own maybe idea.
But for each of these steps,
(07:10):
there are different thingsyou need to achieve them.
For instance, if you want toget into entrepreneurship,
you need to learn how towrite a business plan,
how to pitch your idea.
That might be different from someone
that wants to go for a masters.
Maybe the person needs tolearn how to write an essay,
how to write the proposal,
how to make academic presentation.
And that's also different
(07:31):
from someone going to the industry.
The person needs to learnhow to do interviews,
how to write a CV or resume,
how to even apply for a job.
So each of these streamsrequire different skills
and experience.
So part of what we want to do now
is also create this program
to help final year undergraduate student
to be able to transitioneasily from college
(07:54):
to the marketplace.
So that's that.
We also have the SWIS Arts project,
which is a SWIS Africaresearch training program.
And the goal of that program
is to empower women in research.
So if you have interest in research,
we want to empower you
to be able to learn more about research.
And besides that too,
to give you an opportunityto communicate your research.
(08:15):
Because the world we are in today,
if you don't have tocommunicate your research,
you are more disadvantaged.
By being able to present in a conference,
being able to give presentation
is actually a very importantskillset in research.
And then we have another one, again,
for high school students,
which the goal is to empower some of them
to be able to do their finalyear exam back in Africa.
(08:38):
These are an exam that is quite expensive,
and also they need a lot of training.
So these are some of theprojects that are ongoing
that we are looking atdoing to make more impact
and also get more womeninterested in STEM.
- What an incredible group of resources
you've been able to establish
(08:58):
for the women in that community.
I think I love thestorytelling feature of it
because I do think it's so important
to celebrate those individuals.
And I'm curious, how do youidentify those individuals
that you're going to interview
or you're going to havespeak at one of your events?
(09:20):
How do you find these women?
- So I would say our mainresource is LinkedIn.
So we go on LinkedIn, we justtype in, okay, women is STEM,
or women doing research,
and then we search for them.
And we don't look at peoplethat are only high flyers
or maybe a director.
No, we also look at peoplethat are just starting.
(09:40):
We've interviewed recent graduates.
We've even interviewedsomeone in undergrad.
We interviewed any woman in STEM
that loves to share their story.
So what we just do mosttimes is to use LinkedIn.
And besides that now,
we are happy to also announce
that you can actually nominate someone.
So you can go on our website, SWIS Africa,
(10:03):
and search, you see the tabfor interviews, click on it.
So you can look for a friend of yours
that is a woman in STEM, a Black woman.
It might not even be a Black person,
but someone you feel we should celebrate.
You can just type in thedetails of the person,
then we'll reach out,
and then we invite theperson for an interview.
So the interview can either be virtual
(10:23):
or maybe they can alsoanswer the questions.
Or some people have probably stage fright,
they don't want to show their faces,
so we can just have themwrite the answers out
and then we can post it on ourwebsite or on our media page
so people can also gothere and read about it.
So we try to, you know,accommodate everyone.
(10:44):
And later on, we'reprobably going to transition
into starting a podcast like this.
- I was just going to say,you should do a podcast.
- Yes, we are looking into that.
It's just, again, setting up the resources
to get that done right.
So it takes a lot of money to set it up
and getting a place to do it.
So it's something we're working on.
And even interestingly, this summer,
(11:04):
we're planning to do ourfirst physical interview.
So we're going to get a cameraman,
get, you know, sound, get everything.
So we're working on that.
But it's just like, again, itall comes down to resources.
If you have enough money,we get to make more impact.
So with the little one things we have now,
we're trying as much as possible
to still achieve our mission.
(11:25):
- Yeah, and it seems likeyou've made great strides
in achieving your mission.
I also wanted to talk to youabout the communication aspect
that you mentioned.
I'm obviously a huge fanof science communication
and sharing scientificknowledge and thought process,
but I think that it's so important
(11:47):
because I think when youtalked about the three tracks
of moving to academia orgoing directly to a job
or perhaps starting your ownproject as an entrepreneur,
those are very different andall very scary things, I think,
to undertake, you know,as you're thinking about
how to start your future.
And so I can't imagine howvaluable a resource it is
(12:08):
to have someone, you know,there giving you guidance
on how to put your CVtogether, how to interview,
how to interact with PIs,
or to help you with your interview skills.
I remember when I firstwent to my first interviews
after graduate school,
you know, my father-in-law sat me down
and gave me a fake interview process.
(12:30):
He wasn't my father-in-law at the time,
but it was so valuable to me
to have someone to do fake interview with
and to practice those skills
and to learn what kinds ofquestions are important to ask
when you're thinkingabout those positions.
So I think that anincredibly valuable resource
for that community
and really for anybodypursuing a future in STEM
(12:53):
to understand what those expectations are.
So really, really amazing.
- Thank you.
- I'm curious, it seems likeyou're doing a great job
using social media
and online presence inthe LinkedIn community
to really help buildawareness of the program
and the community.
If someone's interested inhelping or supporting SWIS Africa
(13:18):
or one of the sub programsthat you mentioned
like SWIS Empower Her,
how would they go about doing that?
- So I would say it's pretty simple.
So just head over to ourwebsite, www.SWIS Africa.org.
So on the website, youcan send a message to us
and then we can get to meet.
(13:39):
We can do that virtually
and get to talk about howyou can come in and help us.
Again, we need a lot ofsupport for all these projects.
And support is not just finance.
We need support in terms of mentorship.
We need support in termsof helping the team.
Again, we are doing a lot of projects,
so we need more hands to get them running.
(14:00):
And again, we are not onlylooking for Black people
to join us.
This is something that is open.
As much as you have interestin supporting women in STEM,
reach out to us, we can talk.
We recently partnered withan organization in Canada,
TechNest community,
and what we did was tocelebrate women globally in tech
(14:21):
and also in STEM.
So whether you're white or Black,
the goal is to celebrateas many women as possible,
although our focus ismore on the African women,
but we can still expand our reach
as long as we are achieving our mission
to celebrate more women, empower them,
and equip them with theresources they need.
So you can reach out tous through our website
(14:42):
and also you can reach out to me.
My email is samuel@SWIS Africa.org.
So once you reach out, you can get a talk
and discuss on how you cancome in and support us.
Thank you.
- Awesome.
And everybody can findlinks to the website
in the transcript forthis podcast as well.
So before I let you go, Samuel,
(15:04):
we just enjoyed a lunch together
and someone asked you aquestion during that lunch
and your answer was just so phenomenal
that I have to repeat the question here
for all of our listeners.
So the question you were asked was,
"What is your favorite NEB product?"
Which isn't something wetraditionally ask at the podcast,
but your answer was justso wonderful to hear.
So would you share with us whatyour favorite NEB product is
(15:28):
and the story behind that?
- Yeah, that's aninteresting story actually
because when I started my PhD program,
part of my major projectis to clone a mini-gene.
So I've tried different techniqueswhere I kept on failing.
It's either I get a cloneand the insert is not there,
(15:49):
or I get a clone with the insert,
but the insert is wrongly positioned.
So there were a lot of challenges
and that delayed myprogram for over two years.
So I had to meet a mentor
to advise me on how to give about it,
and then he recommendedthe NEB Gibson Cloning Kit.
So I checked the website,
and interestingly, itwas actually for free.
(16:09):
At that time, they were doingfive reactions for free.
So I ordered the fivereactions and then it came,
and I just tried the kit and boom!
My clone came out and it was perfect.
And I even got multiple clones,
so that make the project very fast.
And within a year or two,
I was able to move fast in my PhD program.
(16:29):
So to me, I think my own best product
is the NEB Gibson Cloning Kit.
Again, I use several NEB products.
I use the enzymes.
I use the restriction enzymes especially,
but the Gibson Cloning Kit issomething I'll always remember
through my PhD experience.
- Yeah, I love that story
because I can acutely rememberhow frustrating it can be
(16:52):
to be a PhD student
and to sort of keeprepeating the same experiment
and keep having it notwork the way you expected
or anticipated and howfrustrating that can be.
So I can imagine what abreakthrough moment that was.
- Yeah, it was.
- For you and I'm so gladthat NEB could be here for it.
- Thank you very much.
And also, I'm verygrateful for this podcast
(17:13):
and the opportunity tocome around to the campus
and also get to talk about SWIS Africa.
And this is not just about me.
I'm also saying a big thankyou to my other team members.
My co-founder, Abosede Salami.
She's currently a PhD student in New York,
and she's been doing a lotof great work helping us
to have SWIS Africa,
(17:33):
and also my team membersthat are supporting us
to make the organization move forward.
All of them are volunteers,they're not paid
because for now we're still building,
but they're all putting alltheir effort to make this work.
So I say thank you to all of them.
And also all the peoplethat have supported us
in terms of mentors,
all the people we've interviewed,and all the participants
(17:55):
because everyone, you know,we are all working together
to make SWIS Africa what it is,
so I say a big thank you to everyone.
Thank you.
- Yeah, thank you so muchfor being here today,
and thank you for working so hard
to build the powerful community
that you're helping to develop.
- Thank you.
(bright music)
- Thank you for joiningus for this episode
of the "Lessons fromLab and Life" podcast.
(18:17):
Please check out our show's transcript
for helpful links fromtoday's conversation.
And as always, we inviteyou to join us next episode
when I am joined
by New England Biolabs'bioinformaticist Vladimir Potapov,
who is an important part of the team
that builds online toolsto aid both NEB scientists
and our customers in calculationsand experimental design.
(18:38):
Vladimir joins us to talk
through the open-accessNEBridge Ligase Fidelity Tools,
which are used to aid inthe design of DNA Assembly
through the Golden Gate method.
(light music)
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