Maryam Zaringhalam is a molecular biologist by training who now works in the world of science policy, advocacy, and communication. Her personal mission is to ensure that everyone—no matter who they are—can benefit from and participate in the fruits of science. She is a Senior Producer for the science-inspired storytelling show The Story Collider, is a Leadership Team Member of 500 Women Scientists, and has written for Slate, Undark, and The Washington Post.
The Story Collider is a nonprofit storytelling organization dedicated to sharing true, personal stories about science—both through live shows that occur in 16 cities around the world and through a weekly podcast. The Story Collider believes that science is a part of everyone’s lives, and so everyone—whether they’re a scientist or not—has a story to tell about how science has impacted them. Those stories, whether heartbreaking or hilarious, have the power to transform the way we think about science—and to whom it belongs.
I asked Maryam how she got interested in storytelling. Maryam replied, “I’ve always believed that science not communicated is science not done. In graduate school, I wanted to push myself to communicate about my work to the public. The only problem: I had severe stage fright. The first time I gave a talk in a popular science lecture series, I got so nervous I cried while trying to talk about natural selection. So, I was pretty nervous when the opportunity came up to tell a story for The Story Collider’s New York show. But Erin Barker, our Artistic Director, and Ben Lillie, one of our co-founders, really empowered me to get up there and share. It was the first time I was able to connect with an audience around my experiences—and it gave me this powerful template to share not only my science, but who I am as a scientist, through stories.”
Maryam continued, “Storytelling gives me an outlet to explore my feelings about something—it helps me make sense of who I am today, like therapy in public. I sometimes get fixated on events and will tell them over and over to friends or strangers. So storytelling has given me a tool to think about why that event is meaningful and to fit it into how I’m changing as a person—my arc, if you will. That’s also why I so appreciate people sharing their stories with me. I feel like they’re offering me a little window into who they are at their core. That’s a great honor! “
When discussing her passion for her work in producing The Story Collider shows, Maryam added, “There is such an immense power in holding a microphone and choosing who to share that mic with. As a producer, I have the great privilege in passing the microphone on to people whose stories might otherwise be overlooked or erased, and to pass the microphone over to people who have never felt like science is for them. Fostering that sense of ownership and identity with science is really motivates me as a producer—and has me always on the hunt for stories waiting to be told on our stage!”
Come see Maryam perform, along with 17 other female storytellers, at the Women’s Storytelling Festival in the City of Fairfax, March 13 and 14, 2020. Details here.
