S3E3: Clearing the Runway

I think that what you just described w- uh, is something that I think is so important for the mentor-mentee relationship, and that's sort of self-awareness and self-directedness right from the very beginning.

I, I think that, um, you know...

And, and to be frank with you, and you know this because we've talked about plenty of times, I've-- it's been challenging for me, um, to even navigate these spheres, right? So I, I try to have a life that's at the intersection of translational neuroscience, where I, I still do stem cell research, and national science policy.

And just with the m- balancing the conflict of interest b-between those alone is a challenge, let alone the stigma that you get when you're in one room and you're looked at a pol-- you're looked at as a policy person and not a real scientist, and then you're in the scientific room, and they say, "What the heck are you doing with policy?" Right? So I think there's a lot of stigma around this, and you came with that-

Yeah

... because you had a really unique background in that.

And I, I, I would love folks to hear about that a little bit more 'cause-

Yeah

...

I think that was something that I thought was really cool.

And, um, but-

Yeah

...

but maybe I'll say that, you know, I think that the way mentorship has evolved, um- You know, especially over the last five years, but really, really, really specifically over the last two, not only with what's happening in the larger sphere of science policy, but with AI.

The, the traditional model of mentorship is just gone.

So, you know, it, it cannot be, "Let me tell you what happened in my career, and then you can learn from that." I know you knew that right from the beginning, right? It's more, you know, what exactly can I do to give you access or opportunities or, um, experiences? And let's just be frank about it.

What can I do to provide you with things that will ultimately lead to a job for you, you know? A- a- and that's what you want.

And so I think one of the things that I really appreciated about you, Blakely, and still do, is that, um... and I think this is something that I think mentees need to think really strongly about.

I think we're trained to feel kinda icky about the idea of it being kind of, we... you the word, used the word transactional in terms of a mentor-mentee relationship.

I wouldn't say transactional.

You just came into it driven with the idea of, like, I need this, this, and this, and that helped me-

Mm-hmm

... pull from my experience to sort of help open opportunities where I could for you.