What does it look like to raise kids who believe they belong in science, who feel confident speaking up, and who see women as leaders in fields that have long pushed them out?

I first came across Emily Calandrelli’s work years ago on social media, and her mix of joy, honesty, and curiosity pulled me in immediately. Her voice reminded me that advocacy doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful and that our kids are always watching how we chase our own dreams. She is now one of my favorite examples of what it means to model confidence and curiosity for the next generation.

On today’s episode, Emily and I talk about finding her way in a male-dominated STEM world, what she learned from losing her Netflix show, and how creating her own YouTube series changed everything. She also shares the story behind her viral TSA moment, how it sparked federal legislation, and what it meant to finally launch into space after dreaming about it for two decades.

We discuss:

✔️ How representation in STEM shapes kids’ beliefs about what’s possible

✔️ Why speaking up matters, even when it’s uncomfortable

✔️ The pressure mothers face when they pursue big goals

✔️ What her spaceflight taught her about wonder and perspective

✔️ How parents can spark scientific thinking and curiosity at home

To connect with Emily Calandrelli follow her on Instagram @thespacegal and check out all her resources at ⁠https://www.thespacegal.com/⁠ 

00:00 Intro 00:51 Welcome + How Emily Sparked TSA Policy Change
01:50 Raising Confident Science-Loving Kids
03:22 Emily’s Path From MIT to TV
05:03 Breaking Into Science Media as a Woman
06:25 Losing a Netflix Show and Starting Over
09:30 Building Emily’s Science Lab on YouTube
11:22 Redefining Success Beyond Algorithms
14:44 Motherhood, Identity, and Letting Go of Guilt
18:36 The Spaceflight Story She Worked 20 Years For
22:31 How She Funded Her Own Ticket to Space
24:11 What Seeing Earth From Space Feels Like
25:00 The Gendered Backlash After Her Spaceflight
31:01 The TSA Incident That Went Viral
32:31 Turning Viral Attention Into Real Legislation
38:12 STEM Representation for Kids Today
43:13 How Parents Can Model Curiosity at Home
46:47 Why Meeting Girls in STEM Fuels Her Work
49:21 Closing Thoughts + Where to Find Emily

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00;00;00;01 – 00;00;27;14

Emily Calendrelli

Women. I’ve noticed when they achieve what is in their lives, like the pinnacle of success, the dream that they’ve always dreamed. I’ve noticed in many different industries, it can never just be like a parade after the Super Bowl, where people are happy for them. There always has to be some sort of discuss around, like whether they deserve it, whether or not they were annoying when they achieved it or not.

 

00;00;27;14 – 00;00;51;23

Emily Calendrelli

They, like, you know, that there’s always some sort of a value version of it. And so there’s no freedom to be excited. There’s always the obligation to be strong, even in this moment of success, which I find really frustrating and annoying.

 

00;00;51;25 – 00;01;12;25

Dr. Mona

Welcome to the PedsDocTalk podcast. It’s Doctor Mona here, and today’s episode is one I’ve been excited to share for quite some time. Not many people can say they turned a personal problem or situation into national legislation, but aerospace engineer, women in Stem advocate, and mom Emily Calendrelli really did just that. You probably know her as at the Space Gal.

 

00;01;12;27 – 00;01;30;23

Dr. Mona

Three and a half years ago, she was hassled by TSA for traveling with a breast pump without her baby. Instead of letting it slide, she spoke up. Her experience helped spark the Babes Act update, led by Senator Tammy Duckworth, which now requires TSA to follow clear rules when screening breastmilk formula and pumping gear, and to keep the guidance current.

 

00;01;30;28 – 00;01;50;14

Dr. Mona

So parents aren’t put at risk or hassled at airports. The Chamber of Mothers supported the effort as an advocacy partner, and at the time of recording this introduction, the bill has passed the Senate and the House and is headed to the president’s desk for signature. And I hope it’s signed into law by the time this episode airs. But this episode is about so much more than that moment.

 

00;01;50;20 – 00;02;10;26

Dr. Mona

What does it look like to raise kids who believe they belong in Stem science, technology, engineering, and math, who feel confident speaking up, and who see women as leaders in fields that have pushed them out for so long. I first came across Emily’s work years ago on social media, and her mix of joy, honesty, vulnerability and curiosity pulled me in right away.

 

00;02;10;28 – 00;02;30;15

Dr. Mona

She reminded me that advocacy doesn’t need to be loud, to be strong, and that our kids learn so much more simply by watching how we move through the world. She’s one of my favorite examples of what it means to model confidence and curiosity and vulnerability for the next generation. Today, Emily and I talk about what it really feels like to find your place in a male dominated Stem world.

 

00;02;30;18 – 00;03;02;16

Dr. Mona

What she learned from losing her Netflix show, and how building her own YouTube series changed everything. She shares the full story behind her viral THC moment, how it grew into federal legislation, and what it felt like to finally fly into space after dreaming about it for over 20 years. And if you’ve ever wondered how to raise kids who feel like they belong in science, or if you’ve been scared to speak up for something you’re passionate about, or felt the pressure of chasing big goals while mothering, or questioned whether curiosity still has a place in your grown up life, this conversation will mean something to you.

 

00;03;02;18 – 00;03;22;02

Dr. Mona

We talk about how representation shapes what kids believe is possible. Make sure to subscribe and download your favorite episodes so you never miss conversations. And share this episode on your social. Remember, that’s how the show continues to grow. Tag at PedsDocTalk at the PedsDocTalk podcast and at the Space Gal so we can follow along.

 

00;03;22;05 – 00;03;29;01

Dr. Mona

Let’s get into this amazing conversation.

 

00;03;29;03 – 00;03;31;12

Dr. Mona

Thank you so much for joining me today, Emily.

 

00;03;31;14 – 00;03;33;15

Emily Calendrelli

Oh, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

 

00;03;33;18 – 00;03;50;08

Dr. Mona

I am so honored I have been following you. I can’t remember when I started following you, but I think your videos were showing up on my my explore page, and I didn’t hit that follow button, and I was like, you kept showing up and I’m like, goddamn, why? There’s something about this woman that is so engaging, but also so joyful.

 

00;03;50;09 – 00;04;28;18

Dr. Mona

Like, I, I like surrounding myself with joyful people, but also real people, right? Not like this toxic positivity BS. It was this like, I like her and I love what she’s doing, and I love that she dresses up in a dominated field that tends to be perceived as like, nerdy and not cutesy. And I love that. And not only are you talking about Stem, you have talked about so many different things on your platform, whether it’s about politics, whether it’s about advocacy, whether it’s about breast milk and TSA situations, which we’ll get into for anyone who’s not familiar with who you are, which I would just be shocked at this point because we share a

 

00;04;28;18 – 00;04;38;26

Dr. Mona

lot of the same community. Tell us a little bit more about yourself and what made you get online and start doing the work that you do as the space gal, especially on social media?

 

00;04;38;28 – 00;05;03;26

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. Gosh. Well, my background in engineering and technology, I have four degrees in engineering and technology. I went to MIT for aeronautics and astronautics, Engineering and Technology and Policy, and then when I was graduating, I actually I got a call from a production company that was looking for a woman with the expertise and space to be the host of this new space TV show.

 

00;05;03;28 – 00;05;28;24

Emily Calendrelli

And at the time, I was looking for a job, and I thought that sounded like an adventure, and I did. So I said yes, and I thought, you know, if this doesn’t work out, if, I’m not a great TV host or if the show doesn’t get renewed, then I have four degrees to fall back. Yeah, but fast forward and that show exploration outer space has been on the air on Fox for the last ten years.

 

00;05;28;24 – 00;05;51;01

Emily Calendrelli

It’s an Emmy winning show now, and it truly just opened up my entire career to this new field of what’s now known as science communication. Yeah. And so from there is where I started building out a social media presence for sharing the stuff that I was filming and my TV show, and then later just about my own life and things that I found interesting in the news.

 

00;05;51;03 – 00;06;04;23

Emily Calendrelli

And I started writing books mostly for kids on science topics. I started doing other TV shows, and, I got my own show eventually on Netflix, and it just kind of blossomed from there.

 

00;06;04;25 – 00;06;25;14

Dr. Mona

And, you know, that show was called Emily’s Wonderland on Netflix, and then the now your YouTube show, which is now your own, you have your own autonomy. I still remember when I think I started following you, maybe around the time that you were starting that YouTube channel and you were like, you know, position yourself there and, you know, trying to grow that following on YouTube can be very hard.

 

00;06;25;19 – 00;06;33;08

Dr. Mona

And I also have a very slow growing YouTube. And I was like, this is amazing that obviously I’m bummed that your show on Netflix.

 

00;06;33;12 – 00;06;33;25

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah.

 

00;06;33;25 – 00;06;41;06

Dr. Mona

Was stopped after one year, but now you have full creative control on Emily’s science lab, right? That is the name on the YouTube for the YouTube one, correct?

 

00;06;41;12 – 00;06;59;22

Emily Calendrelli

Right. Yeah. The thing where, you know, I got my dream job. I worked for years and years and years and the TV shows that I was pitching in Hollywood, they wouldn’t be they wouldn’t get picked up. And I got a lot of the same feedback, because when you pitch to these large science networks, they’ll tell you that they’re very honest about it.

 

00;06;59;22 – 00;07;22;21

Emily Calendrelli

And, you know, we love you. We love your show idea. Except the fact that the vast majority of the people who watch our shows are guys and don’t know if they’re going to relate well to a solo female host. And in one particular meeting, I was asked if I had a boyfriend who could co-host the show with me and it just became very, very frustrating.

 

00;07;22;21 – 00;07;44;19

Emily Calendrelli

And hey, I mean, it hasn’t changed. If you look at major science networks today, only 1% of science shows are solo, hosted by women. Which is just a very, very weird. I went from one male dominated field in science and technology to apparently an even more good field and it’s science television, which is not what I thought I was doing.

 

00;07;44;21 – 00;08;01;00

Emily Calendrelli

But at that point we started to pivot. And instead of pitching science shows for adults, I started pitching science shows for children. And as it turns out, Hollywood felt a little bit more comfortable with a woman as an authority figure teaching science to children.

 

00;08;01;03 – 00;08;02;06

Dr. Mona

Right? And yeah.

 

00;08;02;09 – 00;08;22;24

Emily Calendrelli

You know, I find it to be funny because now I’m known as this, like kids TV show host. But that was not what I intended to do. I have, you know, this very strong background in science, with four degrees. I went to MIT, and the only thing that Hollywood wanted was for me to do science experiments with kids.

 

00;08;22;26 – 00;08;45;09

Emily Calendrelli

And so it was an interesting, life pivot, but it ended up being something that I found so much joy in. I really, really love kids. I love working with kids. I love educating kids. And it became something that I didn’t realize I would love so much until I did it. And so when Emily’s Wonder Lab got picked up, I happened to be nine months pregnant and wow.

 

00;08;45;10 – 00;09;05;13

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah, there’s was like very wildly pregnant lady Hope so on Netflix. It turned out to be just a funny turn of events, but that show got canceled and I was waiting for it to get picked up because it was never like, we’re not going to renew your show forever. It was, not this year. Not this year.

 

00;09;05;19 – 00;09;30;13

Emily Calendrelli

Oh, this year. And so I was like, how long do I wait for them to continue my dream? Or do I just try to take a handle on this myself and create what I can in a different format? And so that’s what I ended up doing. I took the, 100 episodes that I had for ten more seasons of Emily’s Wonderland, and I put it into a book series, my Stay Curious and Keep Exploring book series.

 

00;09;30;16 – 00;09;52;06

Emily Calendrelli

And then, of course, the question was like, are these going to flop? Yeah. Did I need Netflix to be successful and reach an audience? But they ended up, I found my people. They ended up doing well. The last one became a number one New York Times bestseller, which I’m so grateful for. And then this is kind of like a, you know, a long, journey.

 

00;09;52;12 – 00;10;17;06

Emily Calendrelli

But after those books did well, I put all the money that I made from the books to create Emily Science Lab on YouTube. And so that’s the show that I have now on YouTube that I’m really putting a lot of my energy behind because I, like you said, it’s something that I own. It’s my IP. Like I get to decide what to do with it and I’m not canceling it anytime soon.

 

00;10;17;08 – 00;10;39;29

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show. Oh, I love to hear it. No, I, I love it. I’ve watched it with my son, and my daughter’s younger, but, like, it’s just such a joy. Again, your personality comes through. And when I say that your joy for teaching children and your joy for science, really comes through those episodes.

 

00;10;39;29 – 00;10;54;09

Dr. Mona

So if anyone hasn’t watched it yet, you’re going to have to subscribe. You’re going to have to check it out. We are going to be linking all of that on our show notes. Because you are going to raise a science lover thanks to Emily. So, I love that we’ll get in more about the Stem and the education.

 

00;10;54;11 – 00;11;22;08

Dr. Mona

And you just mentioned something about the process, right? You have shared honestly about writing books that you’re proud of, but also about the disappointment of not always hitting the metrics right. The bestseller lists or external benchmarks. And I, as someone who was raised in a very externally motivated, driven society as well, I resonate so deeply when you share those stories because it’s a reminder of how that’s not that’s not always what our value is or should be.

 

00;11;22;10 – 00;11;32;09

Dr. Mona

How have you redefined success on your own terms based on your experiences here? And what do you want other creators or mothers to know about staying the course with something that they’re passionate about?

 

00;11;32;12 – 00;12;06;23

Emily Calendrelli

Well, for one, I think the greatest skill set that I have to I have to constantly remind myself of is to diversify your validation. So never have one source of your life be your only source of validation, whether it be like your social media or your family, or your kids, or your husband or your partner or whatever it is like, you have to be able to resort to other aspects of your life when one thing fails you, because one thing will always fail you.

 

00;12;06;26 – 00;12;11;09

Emily Calendrelli

Like for me right now to be fully transparent, my social media is doing terribly.

 

00;12;11;12 – 00;12;19;04

Dr. Mona

And you had mentioned that like I saw in your stories and you’re like, it’s that weird feeling when you finally get to be really big, the algorithm doesn’t push you out and into reality.

 

00;12;19;10 – 00;12;38;29

Emily Calendrelli

And yeah, like my followers don’t see any of my content anymore. And I have to remind myself that, like, my value does not come from likes and comments. And it is something that like, I am not totally over. I have I have to be like, okay, where are my other sources of validation to find those real quick? So that’s something that I struggle with too.

 

00;12;38;29 – 00;12;59;10

Emily Calendrelli

But I when you when you diversify, you have something else to lean on. But when it comes to something really big, like getting on the New York Times bestseller list, that was something that was a pie in the sky dream that I had for seven years. And what I did was when I would publish a book, I would check the list, and then I wouldn’t get on it and I would mourn.

 

00;12;59;13 – 00;13;19;13

Emily Calendrelli

And then what I did next was I would figure out what I could do better the next time. Love it. I would have an honest look of like what I did and be like, how would I criticize that? How could I have done that better? What can I do better the next time? And then you just have to, like, get up and try to succeed as if you’ve never failed before.

 

00;13;19;15 – 00;13;52;23

Emily Calendrelli

Have a memory of a goldfish, as, Ted Lasso says. Yeah. So I that’s what I just kept doing. And it would take years and years and years and gosh, you just have to really be dedicated to the why so that your how feels worthwhile. And so eventually, you know, after the seventh year in the ninth book, I finally got on it and that truly felt like the one of the best, successes I’ve had because it took so many years and was so hard to, get on it.

 

00;13;52;23 – 00;14;10;22

Emily Calendrelli

But the other thing I’ll say for that is that, like, you know, success leaves clues. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can ask other people who have already achieved that goal what they did and what advice they would have for you. And at that almost feels like cheating. It feels like, no, I should. I want to do this myself.

 

00;14;10;22 – 00;14;27;17

Emily Calendrelli

I want to earn it myself. But there is no award for somebody who never received help. Like their success leaves clues. And don’t be afraid to ask others, for what their roadmap look like, in case that makes sense to, you know, go along the same path.

 

00;14;27;19 – 00;14;44;06

Dr. Mona

What a great advice for parenting, for life in general, right? That’s why I love talking to you. You’re a mother of two. And that’s exactly right. I, I was talking to another friend about why I feel like mothers sometimes don’t ask for help, for stuff with their kids. Right. And a lot of it is that same feeling.

 

00;14;44;06 – 00;14;59;05

Dr. Mona

You just said that they feel like they have to do it alone. Or maybe they don’t realize they need the help. And I’m like, I can help you. Or maybe we just need to figure out stuff that makes your life better overall, that makes you not put the validation only on your children. That makes you remember that you need to take care of self.

 

00;14;59;05 – 00;15;19;28

Dr. Mona

All these things, you know, combined together so that we can have this more balanced or what feels more whole life, you know, and I, I love that you are always advocating for that. Right. And you always are posting, you know, about going, you’re traveling and you are away from your kids and you’ve posted about the judgment you may get or why you’re so grateful to leave your kids.

 

00;15;19;28 – 00;15;37;14

Dr. Mona

And I also travel a lot for my job, and I have never once felt like they’re going to hate me, that they’re going to grow up without a mom. What is it about that sort of. I say that that’s advocacy, because it is. A lot of moms need to see that you can have a dream, but also beyond, phenomenal Mother, which I look at you as well.

 

00;15;37;14 – 00;15;43;29

Dr. Mona

What do you say for those moms who are struggling with that? I got to be here. But I want to pursue this. And you know, what am I supposed to do here?

 

00;15;44;01 – 00;16;06;29

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. I mean, gosh, I think the, the thing that I keep remembering is that, like, I don’t want to lose myself in motherhood, and that my kids are watching me. Yeah. I will know my kids for a longer percentage of their life as an adult. And so what I do now will influence how they treat their own adulthood.

 

00;16;07;01 – 00;16;32;23

Emily Calendrelli

And so I want to give them the agency and them the freedom to focus on their dreams and their goals and just their self-worth outside of, family and children. And just kind of give them permission to do so as well. And of course, like, this is one of those situations where it’s a moving target and there are always things where I’ll be like, shoot, I wish that I hadn’t taken that trip.

 

00;16;32;23 – 00;16;57;10

Emily Calendrelli

I wish that I had stayed home and gone to that recital or whatever. It was like, I it’s not to say that I don’t make mistakes, but, as I’m, I’m doing this, I’m constantly reevaluating, like, what do I need to feel like I’m fulfilled in my work and my impact that I’m having? And then what’s important to be here for the kids and what’s something that I can’t miss.

 

00;16;57;10 – 00;17;12;20

Emily Calendrelli

And I really need to work around. So it’s a moving target. But, I mean, the bottom line is, like, I don’t once they are out of the home and they’re at college and they’re having their own lives, I don’t want to look around and be like, crap, who was I? Who am I.

 

00;17;12;22 – 00;17;30;05

Dr. Mona

Know, and I feel the same way, and I know every woman is going to have a different sort of value system. On what’s important for them. Maybe they’ll take a pause from their careers and all of that, but it is okay to have both. It’s okay to not do the career if you don’t want it, but I love that you embody that, and it’s so awesome to see as someone who does it as well.

 

00;17;30;05 – 00;17;49;07

Dr. Mona

And I get a lot of followers that tell me that they feel guilty and this and I’m like, does your husband feel guilty leaving and going to work? Is this definitely a social, a social, norm, that’s being placed on you and and fueling that guilt as well. You know, that guys leave and they go to work and they do this, and they travel with their buds, and they’re not like, oh my God, I left my kids.

 

00;17;49;07 – 00;17;53;26

Dr. Mona

But yet we are overthinking all of this stuff that we are failing in some way when we’re not.

 

00;17;53;28 – 00;18;15;24

Emily Calendrelli

Exactly. I would get the same accusations when I chose to fly to space of like, oh yeah, well, could you do that when you have two young kids? And I’m like, I’m not saying that that wasn’t part of the very difficult decision that I need to do it. But you’re not asking all of the other dads on my flight that you’re not asking any of the other people who have flown to space, who have been dads.

 

00;18;16;01 – 00;18;36;10

Emily Calendrelli

That question and the assumption there is that losing a mother is somehow like, what’s so much worse, right? Losing a father? And I think, like, at least my husband would take offense to that. Yeah. So I yeah, I it’s just very unfair burden that we seem to only place on on the moms.

 

00;18;36;13 – 00;18;56;09

Dr. Mona

And I speaking of that, I think that’s a good segue to my next question about going to space. Okay. So, for all of our listeners, we I’ve been trying to get Emily on my show. I tried reaching out last year, but, you know, she was busy because she was about to go into space. I mean, I can’t believe I’m saying that because I get to talk to someone who’s been in zero gravity, and that’s so awesome.

 

00;18;56;15 – 00;19;08;00

Dr. Mona

And what was so cool as an outsider is that you. Your handle was called the Space Gal, and then you finally went to space. So you’re like, really in space? Space Scout? Like it was so cool to see as an outsider.

 

00;19;08;07 – 00;19;08;18

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah.

 

00;19;08;24 – 00;19;30;03

Dr. Mona

What did that experience teach you? You already mentioned about that commentary that you got about like that. We aren’t you worried, but I know other things happened as well. Right? There was obviously this joyous experience, but you also experienced some misogynistic comments. Yeah. I want to talk about what that felt like in a positive sense. Like what that felt like being someone who’s so into this field and getting to go to space.

 

00;19;30;03 – 00;19;35;09

Dr. Mona

And then I want to hear what you were surprised with after that experience, from some people’s comments and all that.

 

00;19;35;16 – 00;19;54;19

Emily Calendrelli

Well, shoot, I studied in the field and worked in the field for two decades and ever since I was a college student and we had learned of the growing commercial space industry. I mean, all of this started 20 years ago. It’s very funny for people who are maybe unfamiliar with the space industry. The flight that I took was on a Blue Origin rocket.

 

00;19;54;20 – 00;20;14;26

Emily Calendrelli

This is a commercial spaceflight. You buy a ticket, you can go into space. It’s a suborbital flight, which means it goes up and comes back down. It takes a shape of like a very, like skinny, elongated rainbow. And you get it’s from launch to landing. It’s only 12 minutes long. It’s an incredibly quick experience. You get five minutes in space.

 

00;20;14;28 – 00;20;41;22

Emily Calendrelli

And if you’re not familiar with the space industry, that may seem like a like, really like only five minutes in space. What? But what’s crazy is that it took 20 years to be able to get those five minutes in space, because space travel is so difficult, and not to mention so expensive that it’s hard to make, a business model that closes around this so that more people can see our Earth from beyond the atmosphere.

 

00;20;41;25 – 00;21;03;25

Emily Calendrelli

And so anyways, just to put that into context, it’s like revolutionary that we have these five minutes. But I dreamed about this for two decades. And when I was in school, we would talk about this like, do we think that this is ever going to happen? Like, do we think they’re ever going to make that work? It’s just it was so difficult and I thought, I bet they are.

 

00;21;03;25 – 00;21;28;26

Emily Calendrelli

And I bet I’m, I bet that’s how I’m going to get to space. That’s what I thought when I was a college student. I was like, I bet I’m going to go to space on a suborbital flight. I love it. I was fully committed the delusion. And then every single year since, I would keep my eye on the industry and I think, how did how does someone like me, who isn’t a billionaire, who doesn’t have the means to just buy a ticket, how would someone like me do this?

 

00;21;29;03 – 00;21;47;19

Emily Calendrelli

And I would keep my eyes out and I would see some people go to space, by getting sponsored by billionaire. And so I started applying to contests that billionaires were having on going to space, and I would get closed. There was one time where I was a runner up in a contest to go to space, and I was trying to get selected by a billionaire.

 

00;21;47;21 – 00;22;08;25

Emily Calendrelli

And eventually I thought, well, what if I just select myself? What if I, like, try to secure a seat and then I fundraise around it as if it were a company and I’m fundraising? But there’s no company. I’m the product and inspiration is the service. And I create science videos for them in exchange for them sponsoring my flight.

 

00;22;08;27 – 00;22;31;12

Emily Calendrelli

And so that’s what I did. I signed on the bottom line, for, flight to space and basically bet my husband and I’s entire life savings and net worth on this one ticket. And I went out and I pitched dozens and dozens and dozens of people and companies and foundations, and I tried to see if anybody wanted to be part of this media experience.

 

00;22;31;15 – 00;22;54;03

Emily Calendrelli

And there were many that said, yes. Yeah, many more that said no, but there were many enough that said yes. And so I partnered with 30 different people to pay for my flight. And when I got up there, like it was everything that I hoped it would be and more, it was just like it was hard to meet expectations because I had imagined it for so long.

 

00;22;54;06 – 00;22;59;01

Emily Calendrelli

But it was everything I dreamed it would be.

 

00;22;59;03 – 00;23;20;05

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show. For, I mean, the pictures looked amazing. And then you obviously had a video on YouTube about that experience. I mean, that was just it was so amazing to see someone so excited to fulfill that dream. You know, like, I’m going to see this personally.

 

00;23;20;05 – 00;23;38;21

Dr. Mona

Like, I don’t have a personal dream to go to space because I’m not in your field, right? Like I have my own dreams, but I know when someone has a dream and is so excited to fulfill their dream. And something about me is that I’m going to always be so excited for that person, right? Like, if you can see the joy, I mean, there was a picture of you just looking out into, I think it was Earth or something.

 

00;23;38;21 – 00;23;44;11

Dr. Mona

I think it was the view of Earth, and your eyes just had a glow that I’m like, this woman is in her element.

 

00;23;44;13 – 00;24;11;11

Emily Calendrelli

Like it was so beautiful. It was like one of those moments where you experience just a visceral wonder where you’re just like, I cannot believe I’m living in a time during the universe that I get to experience this and see it with my own eyes. And like when I was rewatching my video, I had like a GoPro on my wrist so I could basically watch like a first person perspective of the entire experience, which was fun.

 

00;24;11;14 – 00;24;36;06

Emily Calendrelli

But on the way down, I said to like, nobody in particular, I just said, I love you. I was like, who did I say that to? And I’m thinking that like, I like the stars, I love the earth, I love life I have ever met. I need to this moment. And I’m like, I was just a huge sense of gratitude that I just got to do this.

 

00;24;36;12 – 00;24;42;22

Emily Calendrelli

And I was just like I said, I love you to the universe, I guess. Yeah, it was pretty wild.

 

00;24;42;24 – 00;25;00;22

Dr. Mona

What a dopamine hit to. I mean, like, that probably was just a flood of just like, good feel hormones. Oh my gosh. And, you know, I had mentioned in that second part of the question like you had talked about already, a lot of the surprising of like, oh, you’re leaving your kids behind. And then there was also some misogynistic or sexual comments that you had to block off.

 

00;25;00;25 – 00;25;04;25

Dr. Mona

I mean, did those surprise you when they came around? And you don’t have to go into detail with.

 

00;25;04;25 – 00;25;05;13

Emily Calendrelli

What they were.

 

00;25;05;19 – 00;25;24;02

Dr. Mona

Or did you kind of expected being in the feel that you are. And I would love to comment on that, because that must still be hard being in a field that is male dominated or, or just seeing how society still views women in male dominated fields or in general, like doing things that are like perceived to be a male activity, like science and Stem and all that.

 

00;25;24;04 – 00;25;51;03

Emily Calendrelli

Right? Yeah. I mean, I think I should have expected it. I didn’t I wasn’t prepared for it. But I should have expected it. I think like women, I’ve, I’ve noticed when they achieve what is in their lives, like the pinnacle of success, the dream that they’ve always dreamed. I’ve noticed in many different industries, it can never just be like a parade after the Super Bowl, where people are happy for them.

 

00;25;51;05 – 00;26;20;03

Emily Calendrelli

There are always has to be some sort of discussion around, like whether they deserve it, whether or not they were annoying when they achieved it or not. They, like, you know, that there’s always some sort of evaluation of it. And so there’s no freedom to be excited. There’s always the obligation to be strong, even in this moment of success, which I find really frustrating and annoying.

 

00;26;20;05 – 00;26;30;05

Emily Calendrelli

But yeah, I think that it’s something that because I’ve been on the internet for a long time and people have said some of the most colorful things to me. One great word.

 

00;26;30;05 – 00;26;31;03

Dr. Mona

Choice.

 

00;26;31;06 – 00;27;09;02

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah, I think my skin has just become very thick, to things. This was sort of a new level of, of commentary and also in a very like sexual sense, which was incredibly just like discomforting because I think what I’ve learned is that when, a general man online sees a very successful woman their immediate way, their card like the easiest card they have to play is a sexualization card, because it’s their way to assert dominance, and it’s actuation where they have none.

 

00;27;09;04 – 00;27;32;04

Emily Calendrelli

It’s their way to say, at the end of the day, I need you to remember that you’re a woman and I’m a man, and it’s their easiest card to play to try to assert any sort of power in the situation. And so at the end of the day, it makes them feel quite small. And it’s a very embarrassing thing for just the entire gender.

 

00;27;32;07 – 00;27;52;00

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. To witness like really guys, we’re going to do that one again. You have nothing else in your deck. Okay. Well that’s sad for you all. So yeah, it was something I probably should have been prepared for. But alas, I had, an optimistic view of humanity, which. Well, yeah.

 

00;27;52;03 – 00;28;17;12

Dr. Mona

No. And I and I love how you phrase that, because it is exactly what, what I see also. And I love that they probably had they didn’t see you coming in terms of like being an educated woman who sees right through them. Like I have also learned to have a tough skin. Obviously I’m not educating about, science and space, but I do a lot of vaccine education and you could imagine obviously, what I get with that, and it’s not I’m not getting those type of comments, but I’m getting the belittling comments right.

 

00;28;17;12 – 00;28;26;01

Dr. Mona

Like, you don’t know, you know, doctors don’t get training or doctors don’t do this. I’m like, I get the playbook. It’s almost like you. You’re like, I get the playbook. You are going to.

 

00;28;26;03 – 00;28;26;24

Emily Calendrelli

You’re going to push.

 

00;28;26;24 – 00;28;37;17

Dr. Mona

It, push this back with sexual comments or anything to make it seem like you have dominance over me, but I’m just not going to take it. And that probably just is like even more infuriating for these little men.

 

00;28;37;20 – 00;28;38;18

Emily Calendrelli

Oh yeah.

 

00;28;38;20 – 00;28;40;25

Dr. Mona

Like a Taylor Swift song is the best move.

 

00;28;40;25 – 00;28;45;08

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. The smell, I mean, from that perspective, really, we’re the smallest men who have I.

 

00;28;45;08 – 00;29;03;08

Dr. Mona

Love that, I love the Taylor reference. And I was like, you don’t even need to say anything. You just had the song, you had some text overlay. And that is what I love about your content. And I’m sorry that people aren’t seeing your content because it’s not only educational, but it’s also humorous. But like, you’ll just put like a text overlay and the song choice is just like slam dunk.

 

00;29;03;08 – 00;29;09;05

Emily Calendrelli

And I’m like, I have a working library of Taylor Swift songs. I love them.

 

00;29;09;12 – 00;29;24;27

Dr. Mona

And that is such a I mean, that’s such a testament to you of going above that, right? Like you’re not going to get into arguments with these people online. You’re not going to say that, but you literally are like, I am the I’m going to be this bigger person here. But by being bigger, I’m going to show you that I’m I’m strong with who I am.

 

00;29;25;00 – 00;29;41;27

Dr. Mona

I’m very confident with who I am. And to your point, you had mentioned like, I love that you said that whenever women succeed, there’s always a well, what happened? Or how did that happen? Or what is she doing? And one of the things that I often see is the expectation that women have to be humble when they succeed.

 

00;29;41;27 – 00;30;09;25

Dr. Mona

Right. Like you can’t show just true. Like, yeah, I did this and I love that you do that. And I think it’s so important because I look at it as a parenting like educator, that we should be doing the same thing as parents and moms, right? When you do something amazing with your kid, or you’ve handled a tantrum, giving yourself that pat on the back or giving yourself that sort of, I did that and you going into space is a prime example of like, this was something I wanted to do for my entire life, and I did it.

 

00;30;09;25 – 00;30;12;13

Dr. Mona

And nothing is going to dim my light right now. And I.

 

00;30;12;13 – 00;30;13;12

Emily Calendrelli

Love you.

 

00;30;13;12 – 00;30;36;03

Dr. Mona

Own that experience. And I made it known that I wanted this and I should be happy. I don’t need to qualify anything. I don’t need to say, well, this is why. And and you deserve that seat. And you got that seat and you got to see the most beautiful experience that I’m guarantee most of those people will never get to experience in their life, and are probably a little jealous that you, a woman, got to do that.

 

00;30;36;06 – 00;30;41;24

Emily Calendrelli

Oh thank you. I felt like a little mini therapy session. You got it, I appreciate that, yeah.

 

00;30;41;26 – 00;31;01;26

Dr. Mona

No. And, you know, coming back down to earth a little bit, it’s like, figuratively. Literally. Something else made you go viral, which I know you have been a huge advocate on. And I’d love to segue on your advocacy that you’ve done with your amazing platform. So you went viral after being mistreated at TSA while traveling with breast pump and your breast milk, I believe.

 

00;31;01;26 – 00;31;21;23

Dr. Mona

Right. And this is an everyday parenting reality that I think a lot of women go through. Not all women have been mistreated at TSA. And you also led this advocacy moment to help with legislation change, which again, I was like, who is this woman? Like, she’s doing space education and she’s going to go to space, and now she’s doing congressional advocacy.

 

00;31;21;25 – 00;31;32;21

Dr. Mona

What did that experience teach you about speaking up, and how did it shift the way you use your voice as both a scientist and a mom, and someone who has this amazing public presence online?

 

00;31;32;23 – 00;31;52;02

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. Well, gosh, I mean, I got into this routine of sharing a lot of the positive things that were happening in my life. And then as I was traveling for a work event, ten weeks after I had my second kid, I was traveling with my breast pump and I had my freezer packed with me to keep the milk.

 

00;31;52;04 – 00;32;11;01

Emily Calendrelli

You know, sanitary as I was, or stable, like, as I was going to go on my, like six hour flight to DC and they confiscated my freezer pack, saying that they, were not fully frozen. And I was like, no, this is medically necessary for a breast pump equipment. And they were like, do you have the baby with you?

 

00;32;11;04 – 00;32;31;22

Emily Calendrelli

I said, no, why does that matter? And they said, well, do you have milk currently on you? And I was like, not, yeah, I can be outside of my body currently. And they were like, well, this would be different if you had the baby with you or if you had milk on you. And I was like, I can express some for you right now if you like.

 

00;32;31;25 – 00;33;09;14

Emily Calendrelli

Okay. Yeah, I did not like and they escorted me out of security, confiscated my stuff, made me check it all, and because of it, I wasn’t able to pump before my flight because I was afraid I was going to lose the milk. This was during the formula shortage and it was all just like, very, very stressful. And so I had a picture of myself, crying at TSA and I posted it, and that image really went viral because this exact experience or something similar had happened to so many other moms, but so many other moms who didn’t have a million other followers to back them up.

 

00;33;09;16 – 00;33;36;08

Emily Calendrelli

And I thought, you know, I kind of I feel like I have a little bit of a responsibility to leverage this moment, leverage this follower base and all of this attention to try to direct it into something good. And so I worked with my local representative, and what was nice about having those millions of followers is I got thousands of DMs from moms who were telling me exactly what problem they had, where they had it, and how it could have been better.

 

00;33;36;11 – 00;33;59;00

Emily Calendrelli

And so I my DMs were the source of data collection. Yeah, from women all over the country. And I use that information to draft a bill with my local representative. It has passed unanimously in the Senate, and it passed unanimously through committee and the House. And it’s waiting. We are waiting for it to be, voted on on the floor.

 

00;33;59;00 – 00;34;28;27

Emily Calendrelli

So hopefully it’ll move from a bill to a law soon enough. But yeah, it was this experience where I was like, let’s let’s figure out how we can fix this inefficiency because it shouldn’t be this hard. This isn’t good for TSA efficiency. This isn’t good for security. And it’s definitely not good for moms who travel and when. There’s already so much societal pushback and barriers for women who want to travel, women who want to work.

 

00;34;28;28 – 00;34;32;21

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah, moms like this. This should not be one of them.

 

00;34;32;23 – 00;34;56;03

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love that work that you did. And I mean, seeing it become part of a congressional action like that is so powerful. And again, using an experience, seeing that it went viral and using it, how we can actually change it for other women is like a definition of like paying it forward, right? I mean, obviously you are now done breastfeeding like you’re done having children, but now future women can have that benefit with this law, which I think is so beautiful.

 

00;34;56;03 – 00;35;16;13

Dr. Mona

And I you know, I pumped for my second child. I traveled a lot when I was pumping, and I remember they never took it away, but they did that whole like take the paper and like, like swipe it over like my breast milk was some sort of like, like substance that was. Yeah, like a bomb threat. And then they would pat me down, which I never used to get pat down until I started breastfeeding.

 

00;35;16;13 – 00;35;33;20

Dr. Mona

And I’m like, listen, like, you can taste it. Like, if you want me to open it up and you want to take a swig of it like it’s. And I think the hardest part as a mother, having that happen is we already know how time intensive it is to breastfeed and to do the pumping and the logistical nightmare of having to travel with breast milk.

 

00;35;33;20 – 00;35;33;27

Dr. Mona

Right.

 

00;35;33;27 – 00;35;35;14

Emily Calendrelli

Like, yeah, it’s already stressful.

 

00;35;35;14 – 00;35;55;20

Dr. Mona

Like I remember going into it and having all my little ice packs and like trying to figure out, am I going to have enough space? I have my little water, little thermos, like it was stressful. And then if that happens, no wonder you cried because your hormones are raging, you’re taking away your baby’s food and you’re making. It’s making them make you feel like you’re not an like that.

 

00;35;55;20 – 00;36;01;00

Dr. Mona

You’re not, equal like that. You’re this. Okay, well, I don’t care. Just going to get out of the line.

 

00;36;01;00 – 00;36;24;11

Emily Calendrelli

Like, not only humanizing. You made it feel like I was doing something, like, very illegal. Like trying to sneak something through that, like, I. They treated me as if I was like a criminal. Yeah, right. I’m. I’m just a mom trying to feed her kid. This is. And I beg to speak to a female. Yeah. I was like, do you have any women I can speak to you?

 

00;36;24;11 – 00;36;41;18

Emily Calendrelli

Do you have any moms I can speak to? Because it was clear they didn’t understand how breastfeeding worked and how pumping worked, and they refused. They just, like, made me leave. They. I tried to, like, hold my bag. They’re like, do not touch that. Oh, I was like, you guys, what is going on?

 

00;36;41;20 – 00;36;59;14

Dr. Mona

You know, like and also this is my milk. Like, I mean it’s it’s not, it’s not being, it’s it’s not possessive. It’s the fact that it is my baby’s food. And like you said, I didn’t realize. I forgot that it happened for you during the formula shortage. Because that’s another level of like, well, even if I don’t have the milk, like, my kid needs to eat something and we’re not going to maybe be able to find the formula.

 

00;36;59;14 – 00;37;04;00

Dr. Mona

I mean, that must have been just layers of layers of getting you to that moment of crying.

 

00;37;04;00 – 00;37;05;05

Emily Calendrelli

Like, I do not.

 

00;37;05;07 – 00;37;11;03

Dr. Mona

Blame you for a second. And that that catapulted this whole movement, which I think is so powerful.

 

00;37;11;05 – 00;37;11;21

Emily Calendrelli

Thank you.

 

00;37;11;21 – 00;37;31;08

Dr. Mona

Oh, no, thank you for that work. And, you know, the last segment of this conversation is obviously your work in Stem. And you had mentioned it like you were surprised about how, science communication and TV shows was a male dominated, you know, feel that you were surprised about, are you still seeing, like, as a mother of a boy and a girl?

 

00;37;31;08 – 00;37;48;10

Dr. Mona

Right. Do you still see a lot of gendered messages around who belongs in science, whether it’s in the toy aisle, whether it’s in your children’s school? I’m wondering what you see as someone who’s so passionate about Stem and how do you feel like we as parents can challenge that if that’s existing for you?

 

00;37;48;12 – 00;38;12;00

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. Well, what’s wonderful is the change that I’m seeing is that the representation of women in science in books from a very young age, like the, the, the younger kids that picture books and some of the chapter books, there’s way more representation, in books. Now, today I came out with the Ace Adventures, which is features like a girl in Stem.

 

00;38;12;03 – 00;38;37;11

Emily Calendrelli

That was maybe eight years ago now. It was it was a very unique book in that landscape. But now that’s not the case. Now I feel like I see women in Stem on picture books and in chapter books everywhere. The missing piece is when they get a little bit older, because TV shows are not accepting, like women in science, and so there’s not a lot of representation as they get older.

 

00;38;37;18 – 00;39;10;19

Emily Calendrelli

And I think that’s going to be the big gap that we have to fill as a parent. You can feel that by finding these people on YouTube, like all of these science communicators who are begging science networks in Hollywood to pick up their science TV shows, they already have an incredible audience on YouTube. And so finding someone who looks like your kid talking about science and technology makes it feel much more relatable, because then the kid themselves, they’re telling themselves like, oh, if I was interested in this, I wouldn’t be the first one.

 

00;39;10;21 – 00;39;32;26

Emily Calendrelli

I would have to pave the way. I wouldn’t have to be, you know, necessarily incredibly brave to do this, because you shouldn’t have to be incredibly brave to pursue any given career like you would. It’s easier to imagine yourself in that career if you’re seeing someone who looks like you already doing it and talking about it. So if you can’t find the representation you’re looking for in books and in TV shows or movies.

 

00;39;32;29 – 00;39;37;19

Emily Calendrelli

YouTube. Great place to go.

 

00;39;37;22 – 00;39;59;26

Dr. Mona

Now let’s take a quick break to hear from our sponsors who support helps us keep bringing you this show. Oh well. Good. Good segue to obviously get on Emily Science Lab on YouTube, right? We have a female educator who’s very passionate about Stem and your example that what you mentioned is so, so important. I had that same understanding growing up.

 

00;40;00;02 – 00;40;22;23

Dr. Mona

I obviously went into science because a lot of Indian people were in medicine. Right. Like we saw that. Right. And I actually really wanted to do broadcast journalism. It was what I wanted. And I grew up in LA, and I remember in LA in the 90s and 80s, there was no Indian brown anchor or news reporter. And I remember, like, telling my parents that I’m going to be on the news, like I’m going to do news, I’m going to do journalism.

 

00;40;23;00 – 00;40;39;15

Dr. Mona

And my, you know, my parents were very open. They were like, yeah, like if that’s what you wanted to do. But then I would watch the news and I’m like, why isn’t there anyone that looks like me? And then I did a book report on how it’s very rare for Asian women or like even whether it’s like Chinese, Korean, Indian women to break through in the field.

 

00;40;39;22 – 00;40;56;07

Dr. Mona

And there was one anchor, her name was Sharon T like on KTLA news and I like, adored her. You know, she was this beautiful Asian woman. And I was like, well, she’s the only one. How come there’s nobody else? So I abandoned that dream and I said, you know what? It’s going to be too difficult. And I got to be too brave.

 

00;40;56;09 – 00;41;08;19

Dr. Mona

I think I will go into a field where I like science, where I get to maybe write and do other things and, you know, pursue my passions. And then maybe one day I can be a doctor who does media and look at me now, I’ve created my own.

 

00;41;08;24 – 00;41;10;13

Emily Calendrelli

Bias interests.

 

00;41;10;15 – 00;41;28;29

Dr. Mona

And I and I, I it was a full circle moment because I actually was on the KTLA news for like a segment, which was the news channel I watched, and I was very emotional. I told them like, I was like, I grew up watching this channel and I’m now here as a doctor talking about something. But exactly what you said about representation, we we forget how important that is.

 

00;41;28;29 – 00;41;51;00

Dr. Mona

And in all fields, you know, I think about a lot of women in medicine, a lot of women of color in medicine, that includes a lot of, black women. Like, that is very important for little girls to see. I will get you little black girls come into my office. And although I’m not black like the fact that they’re like, they just start hugging me and their mom is like, they like, I’m just so happy that you’re here, that you’re a doctor.

 

00;41;51;00 – 00;41;59;02

Dr. Mona

And I’m like, I think it’s just the diversity that we get to see in these fields that is so healthy for children, and you’re doing that every day, and it’s such an honor.

 

00;41;59;05 – 00;42;12;25

Emily Calendrelli

And with you, I think that sometimes we become the role models that we needed. Yeah, kid. Because just imagine, like the little kids who are watching you now and thinking, oh, well, maybe if I wanted to do that, it wouldn’t have to be so brave.

 

00;42;13;01 – 00;42;13;25

Dr. Mona

That’s so sweet.

 

00;42;13;25 – 00;42;15;03

Emily Calendrelli

Oh, I love it.

 

00;42;15;06 – 00;42;32;25

Dr. Mona

And and there’s a lot of my listeners who may be like, what the heck is Stem like? I feel intimidated by it. Maybe they were not a Stem kid, right? Like, and of course science, technology, engineering and math is Stem. For anyone who’s not familiar, I know we’ve we’ve thrown that out a few times. You already mentioned, you know, getting on YouTube the books.

 

00;42;33;02 – 00;42;50;03

Dr. Mona

What would you say to a parent who wants to foster the scientific thinking at home but feels unequipped? Or maybe they don’t know this field as well? Are there anything else besides going on those YouTube channels that you would say to this person about maybe why it’s important to have an interest in Stem, instead, to some degree.

 

00;42;50;05 – 00;43;13;22

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. I mean, well, you know, our society is only becoming more scientifically and technologically advanced. And I think, like anything, it’s a survival skill. For careers, it’s becoming very close. Maybe not quite as important as general literacy, like reading and writing, but I do think it’s it’s becoming a quite important skill that will be needed in any career that you’re into.

 

00;43;13;29 – 00;43;38;18

Emily Calendrelli

And also just the critical thinking that comes along with that scientific curiosity, because a scientific method really teaches you how to be transparently self evaluative of what you believe and what knowledge you hold. And trying to be honest with yourself about what’s knowledge, evidence based knowledge and what’s an opinion, can be hard for even the best of scientists.

 

00;43;38;20 – 00;44;00;20

Emily Calendrelli

And I think modeling, critical thinking as kids, modeling curiosity of, like, when I’m looking at something like, we have a plant that’s dying, I’m like, wonder why it’s I think out loud. I’m like, wonder why it’s dying. Oh, maybe it’s because it’s getting too much sunlight. Let’s look up this specific plant and see how much sunlight it needs.

 

00;44;00;22 – 00;44;26;05

Emily Calendrelli

Oh, well, maybe it’s because we’re not watering it frequently enough. Let’s look at how much we should like. I show them how I don’t know the answer and how I approach looking it up, and I think that that helps model for them. Like, I don’t need to know everything. It’s okay to, like, pose a question, try to find the answer, do an experiment, evaluate the results, and then modify like what you do afterwards.

 

00;44;26;07 – 00;44;42;06

Dr. Mona

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if if some leaders to be to be like not to be named right now, but would do that, right? Like if I just think about it like I’m like, oh man. Like and you’re right, like it is the sort of like almost like humility thing to like, you know, your limitations more.

 

00;44;42;06 – 00;45;02;09

Dr. Mona

And I love how you just said about the curiosity thing. Right. Like, I grew up in a very curious household. My my parents are both stem. My dad’s an engineer and my mom is was in health care. And so I grew up in that and it was a very curious household. Like, I love that word you just use because everything we try to figure out together or there was a lot of teaching about things.

 

00;45;02;09 – 00;45;23;04

Dr. Mona

And it’s like this, this lifelong learning that I think is so healthy for children to have this dream up. And I’m sure you are fostering that in your children and all the little kids that are watching your YouTube channel. And it’s such a it’s and I know you’ve also shared the videos and photos of like little girls, especially dressed up like you or like meeting you at book signings and events.

 

00;45;23;04 – 00;45;31;15

Dr. Mona

And when you see that, how does that fit into your sort of why? Like, what does that do for you in your heart and your body when you see those little girls.

 

00;45;31;15 – 00;45;49;21

Emily Calendrelli

And yeah, I mean, to be honest, it’s a good reminder that I the work that I’m doing does have impact. Yeah. Because when I’m online and I like nobody is engaging in my content. It can feel like, oh well, maybe I’m done. Maybe people are over my content, maybe I’m not relevant anymore. Oh my gosh.

 

00;45;49;21 – 00;45;52;15

Dr. Mona

I’m going to go on right now. And like all of your posts.

 

00;45;52;18 – 00;46;23;29

Emily Calendrelli

Don’t you dare say that I’m having like a moment at the moment. But like when I have those those like book signings where I meet the kids who sell my stuff because like, you know, these little kids, they’re not online. When I see the kids who are actually watching my stuff and I’ll, I’ll see a line of girls, a three hour line of girls dressed in astronaut suits and sparkly space dresses, and they’re so excited to come up to me and tell me that they want to be a scientist when they grow up.

 

00;46;24;02 – 00;46;47;02

Emily Calendrelli

I’m like, man, if you came to one of my book signings and you saw what was happening here, you’d have no idea that there was a gender gap, and so you’d have no idea, because right here, it’s like nerdy Barbie, like the Barbie movie where girls would dress up and go to the movies. It feels like that. But for scientists, for little girl scientists, and it’s just it’s so spectacular.

 

00;46;47;02 – 00;46;51;19

Emily Calendrelli

So that’s the stuff that feels me mean. It’s like, no, keep going. We’re on to something.

 

00;46;51;22 – 00;46;56;02

Dr. Mona

I want to really thank you for sharing about the algorithm.

 

00;46;56;05 – 00;46;56;13

Emily Calendrelli

With.

 

00;46;56;19 – 00;47;24;15

Dr. Mona

Like, negativity because, listen, I don’t a lot of my listeners may not have social media followings, but I have I have never really talked about that with my followers. How much that can negatively impact. And I think it’s really important for that small group of listeners who maybe are like, why do our content creators care? Maybe I have content creators how that has a like it’s again, it’s a psychological warfare situation that’s like it’s again, it’s I joke that social media is like roulette, like you double down and then it’s like a game of gambling.

 

00;47;24;20 – 00;47;39;14

Dr. Mona

But I really appreciate it because I, I want you to know that I struggle with that, too. Right? At the time of this recording, I’m almost at a million. And I’m like, you would think that anyone would be like, that’s amazing. But I’m like, why am I not at a million? Like, why? Why is it slowing down? Like, why was I growing 2000 a day?

 

00;47;39;14 – 00;47;59;05

Dr. Mona

And why am I now only growing a thousand? And I’m saying that because I think more women need to hear that even us as successful women in our fields, there are always going to be these sort of things that pop into our head because we’re human. And the best thing we can do is look at the big picture, but also remember that we are not alone in these feelings and it’s going to show up.

 

00;47;59;05 – 00;48;18;15

Dr. Mona

Maybe in motherhood that you’ll feel like, wow, why isn’t my kid walking like this kid? Or why is my kid doing this? And it all ties into, again, zooming out, looking at those meaningful moments like those girls lined up and you gave me chills. Like I’m teary eyed thinking of how powerful that moment was is for you. Because I see it as an observer.

 

00;48;18;20 – 00;48;27;12

Dr. Mona

And so I want you to know that you are doing wonderful work, even though I know you don’t need that. I, I believe it, and I know you’re going to continue to do this work for a very long time.

 

00;48;27;15 – 00;48;28;26

Emily Calendrelli

Thank you. Yeah.

 

00;48;28;29 – 00;48;35;22

Dr. Mona

What would be your final uplifting message for everyone tuning in? Just, you know, obviously kind of taking home the conversation today.

 

00;48;35;25 – 00;48;56;00

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. I mean, you know, as parents were often encouraging our kids to always my tagline is like, stay curious and keep exploring. But I think it’s a good reminder for ourselves, too, because there is always new things to learn, and there’s always new things to get excited about. And there’s wonder to be found in so many different places of the world.

 

00;48;56;00 – 00;49;06;16

Emily Calendrelli

And so always stay curious, because it’s like learning is just, you know, the one of the most lovely things that we can do as humans. And I think it never stops.

 

00;49;06;16 – 00;49;21;21

Dr. Mona

It never stops. And having that understanding that you can always grow and learn is, I think, the best thing we can do as parents. Like again, as parents, as people. And you embody that. Where can people go to stay connected? We’ve already talked about your YouTube and I’m going to be adding all these links, but if you can just run through where people can find you.

 

00;49;21;23 – 00;49;27;04

Emily Calendrelli

I’m the space gal everywhere online. You can find everything at the space google.com.

 

00;49;27;06 – 00;49;42;04

Dr. Mona

I will be attaching all of that. Emily, it was such an honor to have you on. I am so glad it finally happened. And it actually feels like fate that it happened after you’re, you know, launching into space. So I’m glad that it happened this year. But thank you so much for joining me today.

 

00;49;42;11 – 00;49;45;26

Emily Calendrelli

Yeah. Thank you for having me.

 

00;49;45;29 – 00;50;05;14

Dr. Mona

I told you it would be an amazing conversation. I’d love to hear what stood out to you. What part of Emily’s story moved you? What are you taking with you after the episode? Something I valued most in this conversation was how the authenticity I always saw from her online showed up just as strongly here. The humility, the criticism she’s handled, the joys, the triumphs and the lows.

 

00;50;05;17 – 00;50;27;19

Dr. Mona

All of it reminded me how grounding it is to talk with someone who leads with both confidence and honesty. Join the discussion over on my socials at at PedsDocTalk, at the PedsDocTalk podcast, and drop a comment on the post for this episode. And if this message could help someone in your circle, share it on your stories and tag at the PedsDocTalk podcast and at The Space Gal so we can see it.

 

00;50;27;21 – 00;50;35;17

Dr. Mona

Don’t forget to subscribe and download all your favorite episodes, because that’s how the show continues to grow. Have a great week and I’ll chat with you all next time.