Hi there! My name is Kia and I’m very excited to join the Bio Careers family! I thought I’d introduce myself in this first post and let you get to know a little about me. Like anyone else, I have had a bunch of experiences, made more than my fair share of mistakes, and have enjoyed many successes. Hopefully, as I share these and much more with you, you’ll be able to use them all as a tool to carve your own path.
Hi there! My name is Kia and I’m very excited to join the Bio Careers family! I thought I’d introduce myself in this first post and let you get to know a little about me. Like anyone else, I have had a bunch of experiences, made more than my fair share of mistakes, and have enjoyed many successes. Hopefully, as I share these and much more with you, you’ll be able to use them all as a tool to carve your own path.
I am a former chemist turned pharmacologist, who was actually really a neurobiologist. I am now working as a medical writer for a healthcare communications agency in New Jersey. I earned my B.S. in chemistry and like many other science majors, was told that the next step was graduate school.
I didn’t really have an alternative plan so that’s what I did. I graduated with a PhD almost 6 years later. My story becomes even less unique at this point. I realized pretty early on that I did not want to pursue a career in academia. Shocker! After I was done freaking out, and briefly considered leaving grad school, I pulled myself together and decided I needed a plan.
Pointer #1: the first step to solving any problem – think!
I thought about what I liked about grad school thus far and decided to explore that avenue as a career. I’m sure you’ve guessed what it was that I liked doing. I liked writing, about science. So I decided that I would do whatever I could to learn more about science writing and get some experience.
Pointer #2: after thinking, try some ‘doing!’
I got some experience writing for a research news blog and wrote a grant for a non-profit, not science-related actually, but writing nonetheless. I took some time off after graduating, edited scientific manuscripts for non-native English speakers, and even taught science to elementary school kids after school, which I really loved. I then began the lengthy search for a science writing position.
Pointer #3: don’t wait too long to ‘do.’
I’ve been working in my current position for over 8 months now and, as I suspected, I absolutely love it. So now that you know all this, what will I share that can possibly help you? Well, I’ve seen and heard a ton of things, and with the help of some pretty awesome people and some divine intervention, I’m exactly where I want to be. In the coming blog posts, I will be discussing how I transitioned from grad school to the “real world,” my day-to-day experiences at work, what I’ve learned about medical writing thus far, and much more.
I look forward to being an open book, and humbly passing on what I know!
