discussion / Community Base  / 20 August 2019

Breaking Bio: A Youtube Platform for Promotion of Diversity in Conservation and Youth Empowerment

Hello all,

Just started this initiative with a colleague of mine. In short:

Objective: Highlight diversity (e.g. background, job type in conservation, ethnic, LGBTQ+ etc.) in Conservation, allowing for awareness building and representation of different career paths and inclusion within Conservation.

Primary Audience:

Teachers (mainly biology professors, but others as well)

Youth (15-18)

Early College-Age (18-20)

Methods:

Step 1: Film remote 10 minute Skype/Zoom interviews with diverse representatives in Conservation (and later, possibly broading it to STEM in general) as “Virtual Career Day” presentations where they discuss their backgrounds, work, and how they got into Conservation, and present open, honest conversations about barriers to entry/staying in Conservation and inclusion in the field.

Step 2:

Share video with youth through teacher faciliation (primarily high school students who are just choosing their careers, but can be expanded to college students)

Notes/Future Directions

Initial interviews focused on careers within conservation (rehab, research, academic, etc.)

Start with careers in the U.S. and then expand to worldwide examples once there is more interest/feedback

Eventually hold live interview sessions with Q&A on Skype/Zoom etc to allow for practitioner/student engagement.

If anyone is interested in this, has any ideas, or would like to be an interviewee, please boost, subscribe, and/or contact me! It's a fledgling project, but have created a Youtube channel. More information soon, so watch our channel and keep in touch!