Northern Power Women - S13 E5 - Holly O'Dea
[00:00:00] Simone Roche: Hello, welcome to the Northern Power Women Podcast. This is the Be More You season. And you know what happens? You're getting to sort of that new year or that new month and think oh I'm going to do something different this month and I'm going to take on something or give something, well we're quite sort of authentic over here about going, just be yourself, be your authentic self. So in 2023 we're like, don't give anything up. Don't take anything up you don't want to, be especially more you. And that's what this year is all about for you. And we are looking forward to yet another crazy busy year. And we've got a brilliant program for International Women's Day, which is the first time I heard our guest today. We've got webinars, we've got power circles, we've got Power Ups. So if you want to get involved, please do get in touch or find out all the information on our award-winning power platform at wearepower.net.
[00:00:48] And I'm delighted to introduce you to our incredible guest Holly, who's on the 2022 Northern Power Women Future List. Holly tells me has literally just had a last day in work because Holly is about to become a mum for the first time. Holly works for the NHS as a clinical scientist and workforce lead in genomics. Completed her undergrad degree in biological sciences at Oxford Uni and then went on to complete an MSC in medical genetics.
[00:01:15] She completed an NHS Scientist Training program in 2019, and I love this because Holly is known all our social media accounts as the scouse scientist, and that's where I first came across Holly and spends a lot of the time passionately encouraging young girls to follow in her footsteps and achieve their goals, and really, really, really, really passionate about inspiring the next generation of women into science.
[00:01:36] Holly, welcome to the podcast this week.
[00:01:38] Thank you for having me.
[00:01:41] And you talk about how important it is to provide young people with role models and science that they can relate to. We've just said that you refer you to yourself as the scouse scientist. Why are role models so important and who were yours when you were growing up?
[00:01:53] Holly O'Dea: So I think the key thing really is representation. So I'm a huge believer of if you can see it, you can be it. So if you can see someone that looks like you, sounds like you from a similar sort of background then obviously that's something you can relate to and you feel like well if they can do it, then I can do it too.
[00:02:14] So I think that's just what's like so important. And the thing with scientists is often, a lot of the time they're these old, stereotypical, white, middle class male. And I just feel like how can young women relate to that sort of thing? And in terms of role models growing up, well, I've got sort of one scientific role model, which is Rosalyn Franklin, who if you don't know, is she was sort of involved in discovering structure of D N A and after learning about her story in school, that's what first inspired me to sort of become a woman in science. And then from a personal level, I guess my mum was probably my biggest role model because it was just sort of me and my mum and my nan growing up. And she always sort of inspired me to achieve whatever it was that I wanted to do.
[00:03:01] Simone Roche: And I also love the fact that you rightly recognize yourself as a role model too, don't you? It's a responsibility to be a role model.
[00:03:08] Holly O'Dea: Yeah. Well, that's e exactly what I'm trying to, I'm trying to be, I'm just trying to, in this Instagram age where everyone's obsessed with the phones and social media, I just feel as though the only people on social media for young girls to look up to are sort of reality stars and there's nothing wrong with that. I follow them on my phone as well. That's absolutely fine. But I just wanted to give something a little bit different for young people to look up to.
[00:03:35] Simone Roche: And talked about, when we talk about role models, it was important to see people. That you think you could aspire to, but also hear people that sounded like you was that why it was so important for you to go out there and go, I'm going to be the scout scientist?
[00:03:47] I am the scouse scientist, and I'm going to celebrate where I come from.
[00:03:50] Holly O'Dea: Yeah, that's exactly right. So I think going to Oxford Uni and things like that, there was a bit of a pressure like, are you going to change who you are? Are you going to change the way that you speak? Because obviously not that many people down there did sound like me.
[00:04:04] But I sort of made it my mission to not change who I am and not change my accent because I feel as though your accent it's part of you. It's, it's who you are. It's how you were brought up and I just feel as though why change that? And I wanted to show people, just be yourself and you can achieve whatever it is that you want.
[00:04:22] Don't feel like you need to change who you are just to sort of pursue a particular career.
[00:04:28] Simone Roche: And we have spoken to lots and lots of different women from different sectors who've talked about sort of this discrimination about because of their regional accent, especially northern accent. I was in the Royal Navy in my early years and when I went through to become an officer. I remember I was thinking, oh gosh, I don't think I was ever treated differently for being female, but it was in those days where the only accent was that BBC type of English. That BBC accent. Have you had to overcome this? And, and any top tips out there for people listening to this going, that's me. That's me. What do I do about it?
[00:04:58] Holly O'Dea: Yeah. So this is, I've, I've, this has happened so many times, especially when I was down at uni. And people sort of hear your accent, assume certain things about you, stupid stereotypes about your character or how intelligent you might be just because you speak with a certain accent.
[00:05:15] But as I said, I just felt as though, well, no, I'm going to stick to sounding the way I sound, I'm not going to be pressured into sound and like anything else. And actually I think it's important to just be yourself and be proud of where you come from.
[00:05:28] You know, it is hard sometimes, when you're surrounded by people who maybe are all talking a certain way and you know, straight away, especially with the scouse accent I felt down south people would go. Oh my God, where are you from? Straight away the, the amount of times, even when I was in uni, even just going to Tesco and people, I'd start talking to someone at the till, straight away it was like a huge thing. The accent was like this massive deal, and I didn't even really realize that I had a strong accent before I went down south cause it just sounded like everyone else, all of my friends and family. So that was when I first sort of noticed it, to be honest. But I just think just be yourself and actually turn it into a positive and it's a great conversation starter.
[00:06:12] In general most people I've come across love Liverpool and they've got a story about it or they know someone there or they want to talk about the football and I just think to be honest, it made me stand out and it made people remember me. So I think just flip it into a positive if you can.
[00:06:28] Simone Roche: I love that.
[00:06:28] It's about being memorable, isn't it? And again, it goes part of that being who you are, you know? You are also a woman in science, as we we talked about as well. Do you think the, you know, there's so much talk about STEM science, women in tech, women's and science and tech, you know, women in engineering, do you think the industry is changing?
[00:06:47] Holly O'Dea: Yeah, so I think in terms of women in science, it's definitely getting a lot better. For the biological sciences that I'm obviously part of it is a lot better than things such as sort of physics and maths. But I wrote a little piece a couple of years back that it wasn't just looking at sort of women in science, it was looking at women from working class backgrounds with regional accents, who sort of went to state schools and that sort of whole demographic of women in science.
[00:07:16] So not just women in science, but the whole sort of demographic. And that actually is still relatively poor and I think the main reason for that is because of the lack of role models in STEM from that sort of background. So even covid especially, science was sort of thrown into the media.
[00:07:35] Everyone was talking about science all of a sudden. But again, most of the time when we saw scientists on the tele. It was these white middle class males with the sort of, you know, posh BBC accent that we were talking about. And again, it's just this lack of, of representation. And there are a lot of women like me.
[00:07:53] I'm not the only scouse scientist, I'm representing a lot of women, but I don't think when we see scientists in the media, it's not portrayed sort of correctly at all.
[00:08:03] Simone Roche: I know, and, and like you say, there's so many amazing role models out there. To be honest, that's why we do what we do because we want to unearth, we want to unearth those amazing role models we want whether it be our young girls and our young boys to look up and think, oh my God, they're absolutely nailing it out there doing amazing things and talking about amazing things you are about to become a mum for the first time. So congratulations.
[00:08:25] Holly O'Dea: Thank you.
[00:08:26] Simone Roche: And how do you feel, you talked about you finished work last week. How do you feel about this, your career post-baby? Often it's a time where women take stock of where they want to be. What's next? Have you got any concerns, what you're excited about?
[00:08:39] Holly O'Dea: So obviously I'm very nervous about being a first time mum. I'm very lucky that I've got a lot of support around me from my husband, my mum, and his mum, family and friends and things like that. So I think I am very lucky in, in that sense. But in terms of career, I am going to take a full year off work that's off my professional NHS role, but I think I'll still continue doing what I'm doing. Things like this podcast in the background. Hopefully I'll have, hopefully a bit more time, I don't know if I'm being a bit naive saying this, maybe I am, but in my head I feel like I might have a bit more time to focus on the Scouse Scientist and I'm building that up and doing things like podcasts and stuff like that, especially if my mum can babysit, for just a little half an hour here and there. But I am looking forward to taking a full year off work. It's just so crazy because obviously like a lot of people, you've gone from school to uni to a job, to a training post and you've never really stopped.
[00:09:35] So I think that's going to be a bit hard to adjust to, You're out of your normal routine, aren't you? And I'm quite a organized, like strict, routine person, so I don't know how I'll cope with that, but hopefully, hopefully we'll be okay.
[00:09:50] Simone Roche: Every day's a learning day, isn't it? And you have taught very openly on social media about the impact of miscarriage on your mental health and about the death of your Nan Ada last year.
[00:10:00] Vulnerability is something that a lot of people struggle with. For me, it's something that I think really shows and resonates in great leadership and great behaviours. Why did you decide to open up about such really, sort of very personal topics?
[00:10:14] Holly O'Dea: So I think with the Scouse Scientist platform, I do really try and show obviously what I do in work and things like that.
[00:10:22] But I also try to show part of myself and my personal life as well, because I think that's important. It's important for young people to see, she does have a life as well. She's got mates, she goes out, she's got a normal life. She's not all about sort of work, work, work. So I think it's really important to showcase that.
[00:10:40] And in terms of like my nan and the miscarriage, they were huge, huge parts of my life that happened and I felt as though if I didn't share that, I was sort of hiding it for no reason. And I thought, what's the point in hiding it? I'm trying to show real things happen and maybe I'm not going to be on social media for the few months and I've gone quiet and why is that?
[00:11:01] And just to sort of normalize it a bit more. And I guess in terms of my nan, I was always talking about my nan all the time. I always say, 'oh my mum and nan' they brought me up. And they were my biggest sort of cheerleaders, I guess. And even my nan was in some of my YouTube videos cause I did one where it was about sort of genes getting passed on from one generation to the next and I had a my nan passing something to my mum passing something to me just to sort of represent that.
[00:11:27] And loads of people used to comment saying, oh your nan's so funny in the videos and things like that. So I felt it was important to share that with everyone that she had passed away. And obviously it was a really difficult time. . But again, I was just very lucky to have had her. And I think it was important to normalize that we all go through these things in life and it's good to talk about them.
[00:11:47] Simone Roche: And did you get feedback from that? I think sometimes like putting yourself out there, it's like take that big deep breath in, but did you get some positive feedback from you opening up?
[00:11:58] Holly O'Dea: Yeah, so a lot of people reached out and things like that and especially, with the mis miscarriage as well.
[00:12:04] So that was sort of, at the time I didn't sort of announce that it had a miscarriage because it just didn't. It didn't feel right and I didn't feel ready to talk about it. But then obviously when I got pregnant this time, I felt it was important to acknowledge that we had had a miscarriage last year as well and cause I think social media, you just see all the positives, 'oh I'm having a baby' and I thought no, I should acknowledge the fact that it wasn't as easy as what social media might sort of make out to be. And to be honest, when I said about having a miscarriage, the amount of people that messaged me and said that happened to me too. Even people I know and people that I was close with.
[00:12:44] And I thought why didn't you tell me that? Why didn't we talk about. So yeah, it was a real eyeopener when I posted that one.
[00:12:51] Simone Roche: And you found out you're expecting a girl and you've already started using the hashtag mini scouse scientist . I love that. What, what are your hopes and dreams for her? For the future?
[00:13:02] Holly O'Dea: Yeah. Mini scientist. I just thought that was quite a funny one. But to be honest, I'm not going to push her one direction or another. I was really into the performing arts when I was younger and I could have quite easily gone in that direction. My husband's a psychologist, so he's sort of into a totally different area. And I think all I will try and do is the same as what my mum did for me and just encourage them to pursue the dreams and whatever that may be. I don't mind, as long as they're happy and healthy. And they do have goals and the sort of inspiration then I will do whatever I can to, to support that.
[00:13:38] And I don't mind. She doesn't have to be forced into science if she doesn't want to be.
[00:13:42] Simone Roche: Oh, Holly, I don't know where the time's gone. I really appreciate you joining me today on the podcast and sharing everything about you being that ultimate role model, you being you, you getting ready for this next stage in your journey and your story.
[00:13:56] Thank you so much for opening up. Really appreciate you joining us today.
[00:13:59] Holly O'Dea: Thanks so much. It's been really good. Thanks for having me.
[00:14:02] Simone Roche: And we cannot wait to hear about Northern Power Baby, aka a mini scouse scientist. And hearing from you, Holly, again, thank you so much and thank you.
[00:14:10] If you want to get involved, please email us at Podcast@northernpowerwomen.com and join us on all of our socials at North Power Women on Twitter and at Northern Power Women and all the other ones, and stay connected on our power platform, which is currently undergoing major developments. Quite exciting but please do get involved in all of our runway events, including webinars and power ups, and thank you so much for joining us.
[00:14:29] My name's Simone, and you've been listening to the Northern Power Women Podcast a what goes on media production.