75. Erin Mallon - Author of romantic comedy novels featuring women in STEM

04/06/22 • 60 min

Ordinarily Extraordinary - Conversations with women in STEM

Erin Mallon is an author of a newly released trio of romantic comedy novels which feature protagonists who are women in STEM: Flirtasaurus (July 2020), Lovebug (February 2021), and Sharkbait (coming Summer 2022). She is also a playwright and narrator of over 550 audiobooks, many of them in the romance genre. She has won several awards for her audiobook narration and recently won the 2021 Independent Audiobook Award for Humor for her audio play These Walls Can Talk. Erin's most recent release is Pale Blue Dot(s) an immersive audio play about an all-female astronaut team (with special appearances by David Bowie and Elon Musk).
Episode Notes

Erin Mallon brings women in STEM to mainstream media through her trio of books Flirtasaurus (about a Paleontologist), Lovebug (about an Entomologist), and Sharkbait (about a Marine Biologist). She shares what got her into writing (books and plays) and book narration, how audiobooks are narrated and how plays are written. We talk about some specifics about sex scenes in her books (I think this may be the first time I've talked about sex within the podcast). And we get into a discussion about how work should be fun and I share my challenges with trying to find fun and play in life as I enter my 50s.

This is truly one of my favorite conversations as it's in such a different area from my life as an engineer. Erin's works have great reviews and I've loved finding new books and audio plays (not something I knew existed until this conversation) to check out.

Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check

Erin's website: www.erinmallon.com

If you want to meet Erin in person, you can find her at these events: https://www.erinmallon.com/events

Books: Flirtasaurus, Lovebug, and Sharkbait.

Plays: PALE BLUE DOT(S), THE NET WILL APPEAR, THESE WALLS CAN TALK 2: The Narwhal Strikes Back!, BRANCHED: a comedy with consequences, THE BROMANTIC COMEDIES, SKIN HUNGRY, THESE WALLS CAN TALK, COME FIND ME, BIBLE ADVENTURE PARK!, SOFT ANIMALS, THE OTHER WHITE MEAT, STUNNING DISPLAYS OF PROWESS, HAND ME DOWN,

Earphones Awards - The award is given by AudioFile to truly exceptional titlesthat excel in narrative voice and style, characterizations, suitability to audio, and enhancement of the text. (www.audiofilemagazine.com)

Audie Awards - Awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance (Wikipedia)

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Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check

Erin's website: www.erinmallon.com

If you want to meet Erin in person, you can find her at these events: https://www.erinmallon.com/events

Books: Flirtasaurus, Lovebug, and Sharkbait.

Audie Awards - Awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance (Wikipedia)

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Previous Episode

74. Dr. Mary Kinsella - Women Engineering Career Strategist, PhD Industrial & Systems Engineering

Dr. Mary Kinsella, founder and CEO of Her Engineering Career, is a career strategist who works with women engineers to help them navigate their careers to confidently command greater influence and impact. Prior to founding Her Engineering Career, Mary spent 31 years at the Air Force Research Laboratory in engineering and scientific research roles. She has a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Materials Engineering.
Episode Notes

Mary is passionate about helping women strategically navigate their engineering careers. She does this through developing technical competence, credibility and expertise; Finding and maintaining a career trajectory; Expanding leadership skills; Targeting promotion; Increasing confidence and risk tolerance; Mastering self-promotion and networking; and developing a big picture mindset.

She also hosts the podcast "Her Engineering Career" which provides insights and skillset tips for women engineers. She wants to help women stay in and be successful their engineering careers.

Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check

Mary's website: www.herengineeringcareer.com

"Her Engineering Career Podcast": https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/her-engineering-career-podcast/id1573628370

"The Confidence Code";, by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.

Additive Manufacturing also known as additive layer manufacturing is the industrial production name for 3D printing, a computer controlled process that creates three dimensional objects by depositing materials, usually in layers. (wikipedia)

In May 2016 a new 'office building' was opened in Dubai. The 250-square-metre space (2,700 square foot) is what Dubai's Museum of the Future project is calling the world's first 3D-printed office building. In 2017 an ambitious project to build a 3D printed skyscraper in the United Arab Emirates was announced. (wikipedia)

In 2018, biomedical engineers from the University of Utah developed a method for 3D printing ligaments and tendons. The method involves first taking stem cells from the patient and printing them on a layer of hydrogel to form a tendon or ligament. This is allowed to grow in vitro in a culture before being implanted. (https://interestingengineering.com/doctors-can-finally-3d-print-human-tissue-ligaments-and-tendons)

Next Episode

76. Lauren Sato & Ada Developers Academy

Lauren Sato is the CEO of Ada Developers Academy, an organization which prepares women and gender expansive adults for careers in software development in addition to helping place them in internships setting them up for long-term career success. Lauren has deep experience in leadership and leading programs that empower women in sustainable ways. She has a BA in Adolescent and Young Adult Social Studies Education.
Episode Notes

Lauren's passion for the work she does at Ada Developers Academy is so evident in our conversation. Providing sustainable life change for women and gender expansive adults particularly Black, Latine, Indigenous Americans, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA+, and low-income people is the core of Ada's mission. Lauren is working to accelerate Ada's growth which has been challenging and also unexpectedly strong because of COVID.

In addition to sharing information about Ada's program, her own story and journey of coming to Ada, Lauren shares stories of some of the women that have gone through the Ada program and how life changing it has been for them. We have some extensive discussions about diversity, the importance of language, and providing communities that people feel at home in.

Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound Studio

Acronyms, Definitions, and Fact Check

Ada Developer's Academy - https://adadevelopersacademy.org

Ada Lovelace - Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. (wikipedia)

Gender Expansive - People who did not identify with traditional gender roles but are otherwise not confined to one gender narrative or experience. (www.hrc.org)

Seventeen percent of LGBTQ people polled lost their jobs because of COVID-19, compared to 13 percent of the general population, a survey found. (nbc news)

From February 2020 to January 2022, male workers regained all jobs they had lost due to the public health crisis, according to an analysis by the National Women's Law Center of the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. However, 1.1 million women left the labor force during that span, accounting for 63 percent of all jobs lost. While women gained 188,000 jobs in January 2022, they are still short by more than 1.8 million jobs lost since February 2020. It would take women nearly 10 months of growth at January's level to regain the jobs they lost, the NWLC report indicated. "While men have recouped lost jobs, women are still in a big hole, and that shows how the pandemic impacts genders in different ways," said Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at NWLC. "Part of the reason for this is because women still hold the lion's share of caregiver responsibilities." (https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-competencies/global-and-cultural-effectiveness/pages/over-1-million-fewer-women-in-labor-force.aspx)