00:00:00Kregg Quarles: Okay. So, my name is Kregg Quarles and I'm interviewing Dr. Juana Mendenhall via Zoom for the Black Excellence in STEM Oral History Project. Today is June 21st, 2021. And thank you for agreeing to do this interview. And… So, can you start off by stating your full name and date of birth for the record?
00:00:26Juana Mendenhall: Date of birth with the year or just date of birth? [laughter]
00:00:29Kregg: Birthdate with the year. [laughter]
00:00:32Juana: Okay. Hello. I am Dr. Juana Mendenhall. And my date of birth is June 26th, 1976.
00:00:41Kregg: Okay. So, starting off with just a little bit of background for like childhood, kind of growing up. What were your parents' names? Where did they grow up? And what did they do for work?
00:00:55Juana: My parents. I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jonathan and Yolanda, were my parents. Unfortunately, my father just passed away about a month or so ago. So, yesterday was interesting for me, but thankfully, my mom is here with me. So, my parents were, you know, blue collar workers. My dad was a truck driver. My mom worked, I think, for a printing company is what I remember when she worked. Or for like a medical company too. And so, you know-- But they both were really good in math. So, I think that's where I get a lot of my quantitative, analytical, STEM science thinking skills from. But yeah, just, you know, regular working people.
00:01:49Kregg: Nice. Nice. So, you grew up in Greensboro. So, do you have any siblings?
00:01:57Juana: Okay. So no, I was raised as an only child, but I do have a half-brother that I met some years later, yes.
00:02:04Kregg: Okay. Tell me anything about a little bit about your childhood. What was it like? Was there any early influences into STEM?
00:02:19Juana: So, I was always this curious kid. The kid always got into somethin', always had questions. I was always busy, into something. I'll say that. And so, loved to tinker with stuff. Wasn't afraid of that. Didn't shy away from that. I think one Christmas, my uncle, my dad's brother, bought me a chemistry set. And so, that's when it kinda really got the wheels turning for the STEM and the science and chemistry. So, I started playing around with that, mixing things up. And that's when it started. And then, a few years later, I think I might have been-- I don't remember how old I was with the chemistry set. I think I was in like the second or third grade. My aunt-- I don't know how or why I wanted this, but I did. I think it might have been a Christmas present. She bought me-- I'm going to date myself because I already dated myself when I gave my date of birth. But she bought me a computer. And so, this was early eighties, so this is like '80-- I don't know, early '80s. It was probably-- I'm sure it was before 85, but there was a store called RadioShack. And RadioShack had these computers that you would connect to the back of a TV. So, you had like UHF and VHF (TV frequency formats) . So, I'm really dating myself. And you had to put the little metal prong on, connect to some screws on the back. And then, you could switch the controller up and down to whether if you wanted to watch TV or you switch it to and I can't remember--v or u, which one was for the computer. But it essentially looked like a keyboard that connected and then on the side of-- It's called the TRS 80 [microcomputer] or the Tandy or something is the name of it. You can Google it. And then, there was a side port that you could put this big cartridge in like if you wanted to play games or something like that. But my aunt bought it and it came with a manual. It was about this thick. And what I did was I sat, connected it to the TV, and I actually taught myself how to program. So, I taught myself how to program BASIC. And so, I learned-- like went down with the code, line ten, all this stuff and I'm like in the third grade. And I just took the book and just went through and just started teaching myself how to enter these inputs and write code and things like that. So, from an early age, at least third grade, I was always fascinated with computers and I really, really thought that's what I was going to study. I really thought I was going to be a computer programmer. Even from, through high school-- I think like my junior, senior year, they were, they offered courses so I was like, in accelerated math courses. But that was, I didn't know I was that smart. That was interesting. I didn't know I was good at math. I was just taking a test, right. And then I realized I was skipping up. And when I got to high school, that's when the imposter syndrome sit in, but you didn't really know it at the time. So, back in the late '80s, early '90s, you didn't really know what these things were called. And I remember going to high school and I was a freshman. I was in geometry. And I'm in this class. It was like me and maybe two or three other freshmen. And we're in this class with like these juniors and seniors. And it was, it was a little intimidating. you didn't want to seem like, oh, I know this stuff. So, it was kinda like you tried to dumb it, dumb yourself down a little bit and make it seem like you weren't that smart or whatever. But I kept with it. And even by the time I got to take my first programming course, I think it was like junior, senior year. It's funny, one of my math teachers 'cause she was a coding teacher as well. So we taught-- We learned Pascal [a computer programming language] in high school. And she would always make a joke with one of my friends that I hung out with. She was like a real po--, I was popular too, but she was more so like popular and kind of mischievous. So, she would always say to one of my friends, "All right, you watch out. You're going to be gassing up Juana's Mercedes one day." So, it was like, always this joke. Like, you know, she knew I was smart. I was going to, you know, hopefully be something. And so, my friend I was hanging around with was like, you know, she's going to make it. So, it's still to this day even like on social media. The joke is, did you have your Mercedes yet? Because I want to gas it up. So, that's the joke. But no, I'm now electric so I don't have to worry about that. [laughs] So saying that to say, I was always an inquisitive kid, always curious. Always wanting to read about something. Wasn't afraid to pick up a book. Wasn't afraid to take the initiative to try and figure something out on my own. It's kind of a blessing and a curse now 'cause some people don't like that, even as a professor. Going into new environments, I can just pick up the ball, teach yourself type of thing. But you know, I think it's a skill set to have. But then, it's interesting. Since I have this kind of interesting trait to see others that don't, it's a little interesting for me to be empathetic to it, but I'm older now and I've figured out how to kinda just, it's okay. You know what I mean? So, those are the childhood kind of lessons you learn over time. Though, you may be strong in some areas, others may not, but you know, don't pass judgment basically is what I learned. But yeah, I was curious, fun, go-getter type of kid.
00:07:51Kregg: Were you-- It sounds like you were supported. But did you, at that time, do you feel very supported in being that type of child, being inquisitive, like with your parents?
00:08:01Juana: I think so. Yeah. I think they knew and it was like, well, what are we going to do or, you know, it was kinda like I want to just build like a tent. It was just like, just always doing stuff. And I think I'm still like that. Like I'm always [laughing] doing stuff. But they were… So even if I wanted to get-- But again, I'm from very humble beginnings. So, if the money was there, if there was some way I could get, you know, afford it to go to certain camps or do certain things, of course, we would. They would allow that. But growing up in the '80s was great because a lot of times we were just outside. Just outside playing. It's different than the kids these days, but it was about getting out, playing, running, jumping, maybe becoming good at a sport. So, even as a kid, I played basketball. I played soccer. So, we're still kind of having like a good balance, right? So, you could still be smart in your books and love learning, but you can also have an athletic balanced to you. So, I think that that really helped through that childhood phase as well, being able to kind of balance those type of things out.
00:09:11Kregg: So, you mentioned that you thought you're going to go into computer science and that was up through high school. So, what happens? What happens to that? How did that transition to where you are now in chemistry?
00:09:28Juana: Yeah. So, junior year I did take my first chemistry course. I believe it was junior… Sophomore or junior year I took my first chemistry course. And we were learning about-- You know, it's interesting when you learn things and you don't really know the influence of teachers. But you can like remember the teachers that really affected you. You remember their name. So, it was coach Vonstein. He was my chemistry teacher. And I remember sitting in the class and learning just about like organic chemistry nomenclature like alkanes, alkenes, alkynes. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is good. And looking at the branching of the molecules and kind of-- I was like, this is, I think I really like this. And there was another joke because, you know, I was enjoying it and a friend's sister who was older was in the course too. So, she was kinda picking with me about it. And again, there's that other impostor syndrome you don't really know is there but it does. So, it's kinda like, okay, do I let them know how much I really enjoy? Or do I kinda like dumb it down? But I still, I stay very engaged with it. And after that I was like, okay, this will be my second follow-up. You know, if the coding doesn't go well, you know, chemistry will be in mind. And I think with chemistry, what I liked about it is that it allowed you to move a little bit more. So, you could still like do stuff and make stuff and create with your hands. And I told you from the beginning of my childhood I was always like, I like to fidget and I like to play with things. So, I think that's what really led me more so to chemistry. It's because I'd really like to tinker and I like to put my hands on things and things like that. Versus, you know, the kind of, if you will, abstract programming. But fast-forward. Now, chemistry and coding, you know, that's computational chemistry. But at the time, you know, wasn't there yet or exposed to it in that manner. But I think that's what shifted because it was like, oh, I can tinker with stuff. I can make stuff. Oh, when you mix this, we can see colors and I think I really liked the visual aspect of that. And so, that's what kind of bridged me over to chemistry. Not that it was a cake walk by any means, you know that. [laughs] But just really being able to engage with that and being able to actually see something tangible that you could create. That's what I think really made me lock onto chemistry.
00:11:51Kregg: Wow. And you're creating today now. So… [laughs].
00:11:55Juana: Still creating. Yeah. It's, it's-- it's a process. It's a process for sure.
00:12:03Kregg: Right. So, from high school, you went to college. What colleges did you go to? What was it, what was it like? What was that path--
00:12:14Juana: So, I'll do this, we'll disclose because I think it's a really good part of my story. So, I didn't include this in the childhood stories. So, around six… Sixth grade, I think, I noticed something with my body. I started losing a lot of weight and having some issues. So, even like in seventh grade, I used to get, I got really sick at school. And like my parents, they had to come pick me up and they didn't know what was going on. So, fast forward, I think it was around seventh grade, about a year after a bunch of tests and things like that, I was actually diagnosed with something called Crohn's disease. So, it's an autoimmune disease that affects your small intestines. And so, this was maybe around seventh grade. That kind of shifted some things with me because I had to start taking certain medications, you know, adjusting to that as adolescence. So, fast forward to senior year. I got very, very sick my senior in high school. And so, there's a point to this story. So, I got very, very sick where I had to actually get admitted to the hospital like the Christmas right before-- the Christmas of my senior year. And then, I actually had to have surgery. So, I had to have major surgery. I had about… I can't remember, maybe 18 inches of my small intestines removed because it was very infected. And so, that was a thing like, am I gonna graduate high school? Anyway, so it was a, it was a huge, huge issue with that thing of Crohn's disease because it kinda can be-- It's auto-immune, so my body's fighting this off. So, it's like ups and downs. So, given that, you know, just a lot of the recovery I had to go through was really, really a lot, especially for someone that's like 17 years old. There was a decision of the few schools that I applied to that I'd stay at home, you know, just because of the health issues and things like that. So, I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina. That is where North Carolina A&T State University is. So, I'm a graduate. So, I went to A&T North Carolina A&T and I studied chemistry. And so, I stayed there with the same doctors and made sure I kinda maintained my health with my gastroenterologist. And for the most part, I think in undergrad, everything went well. You know, as far as health, it was kind of steady [laughs]. So, yes. So, that was one of the reasons why I chose to do undergraduate in my hometown. And then, I graduated in four years in 1994. I actually thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. So, follow this trend. So, computer programming. Studied chemistry, got in chemistry. It's like, oh, man I think I want to be a pharmacist. So, in an undergrad I started working as a pharmacy technician for two or three years actually. But after doing that, it was just like I just don't think it's engaging me enough. You know, it's just kinda like I was there. Again, I told you I've always been a person. I pick up something and read, started reading more about the drugs, not saying that, but the medicinal chemistry. Should I say it that way? And so on. Packets of medicine bottles, there's like, you know, like a pamphlet and you can take it off and look at the chemistry behind it, the pharmacokinetics. So, I started reading up on that. Took a course in pharmacology as an undergraduate at North Carolina A&T. I took it with nurses, so it was, it was a different language, but I took the course just to kinda see if I liked it, if I still liked pharmacy. I did take the PCAT (Pharmacy College Admission Test) actually but it was that thing of I just don't think pharmacy will engage me long enough, you know, because being in the retail pharmacy space, it was just kinda too routine for me. And I realized I am a thinker. And I like to create, I'm a creator, I'm an innovator. So, I didn't pursue pharmacy. I said let me just take, after I graduate, let me just take some time off to just think about it. Is that something I really want to do? And I actually decided to work. So, I actually started working in toxicology at a place called Laboratory Corporation of America in Burlington, North Carolina. So, I started doing drug screens. So, I was doing-- looking at a lot of the-- using the equipment that I learned about in analytical chemistry. Gas chromatography, mass spectrometry. I was using a lot of that equipment to test urine and blood samples of certain patients. So, I did that for about a year and a half and still just was like, I don't know. I don't know if I'm still going to do pharmacy. Things like that. And switched industries. Moved to Atlanta, switch industries and started working with engineering materials. So, where's the story going? So, engineer materials, I learned, is plastics. So, basically we would make certain materials and mix them up and make plastics like even-- So, I'll use this example because I have it here. These, oh, you can't see it.
00:17:29Kregg: Maybe--Oh--[inaudible] green and yellow.
00:17:34Juana: Yeah, it's green and yellow but it's a little like rubber chicklet thing here. So, I would kind of mold these things, well plastics. This is basically a bunch of oil, right? So, we would mix stuff, add color and we could actually test these things out. So, I started doing that for a few years and I said, You know, I think I really like this field. And I worked in industry for maybe about three or four years. And then, finally I said, I think I'm ready to go back to school, but I don't want to do the pharmacy. I want to do more of this, engineering materials, material science or chemistry, polymers. And after kinda looking at some schools in the Atlanta area, I had some kind of--What's the word I'm looking for? Non-traditional interviews with certain faculty members at some local schools in the Atlanta area. And in doing that, I met a guy named Ishrat Khan at Clark Atlanta University. And from the day I called him on the phone and talked to him and we kinda chatted, he mentored me from day one. So, he told me things like, you know, if you go to graduate school, especially in chemistry, you don't necessarily have to have go get a master's first. You can go directly to a PhD. And so, I was talking to like a lot of the other programs and, you know, nobody never like, gave me certain information like if you take the GRE and then-- He was just very informative of like next steps. And so, because of his mentorship, that was kinda like off the record, I felt like person to work for and not necessarily thinking much about pedigree, but more so about really having a mentor to guide me and mold me into a person, a scientist that would go back to industry. So, that was my plan. Like, go back, graduate school and I'm going right back to industry because I enjoyed that space. Well, we see how that ended up. So, I basically applied to Clark Atlanta University, joined Dr. Khan's polymer chemistry lab and received my PhD from Clark Atlanta in four years. And it was a great ride. But again, because I came from industry, I think that set me up to be able to really handle the ins and outs of graduate school a little bit better than some. So, I worked my butt off for four years straight and got my PhD in four years from Clark Atlanta University. I'll stop there.
00:20:10Kregg: Can you elaborate a little bit more on the how you feel that working in industry helped you through that program? As you say.
00:20:19Juana: I think for me it helped me. I kind of knew already about more. So, about like experimental design. I was really comfortable with mixing chemicals and kinda more so than what you would learn in a teaching lab. So, for me-- And I say that in comparison -- and this is anecdotal of course, but I say that in comparison to some of my peer graduate students that were kind of going directly from undergraduate straight to graduate school. They didn't have that kind of industrial professional experience. So, it was like I got more experience out of the-- for being an industry, not just a teaching lab. One of my jobs, my roles in industry prior to graduate school was I worked in a-- I do-- I did synthesis in a lab, but I also did powder plant support. So, it was a chemical engineering aspect to that. So, we would make a small batch in the lab and then we would go to another plant in Augusta, Georgia and do a small scale up. So, me kinda being-- And, and let me add this. This is part of history or HERstory, as they say. I was the only female in my industry job. So, it-- And especially engineer materials. I was the only female and I was the only woman of color. And in these jobs, like I learned how to drive a forklift. You know, I was like I had to wear steel-toe boots because you know working in the plant with some of these machines and you're like lifting stuff. And it was-- It was interesting. It was definitely interesting. But it made me prepare, I think, more for that graduate experience where when I got in graduate school, I was comfortable. I was moving gas regulators around and hooking them up. But again, I told you from day one, I'm a tinkerer. Even there at home, I'll fix something around the house if I have to. But I think that's what really-- It gave me a little bit more confidence, even though it was an interesting dynamic being the only woman on a all male team and some of these men were old enough to be my dad, you know. But it really prepared me for graduate school in a sense where I was more confident with, you know, just jumping in. Not afraid to make a mistake, but more so looking at it as learning, right? So, you're doing this experiment. And if it doesn't go right, then you know, I knew like processes of evaluation and let's try this and just kind of prepared me for that. But, you know, we as humans, we're all still life learners. So, even though now I'm a professor, I'm still learning every day and I tell that to my students. I want you to teach me. Teach me something new. So, it's still about constantly staying on that oscillating wavelength, if you will, to make sure that you're still learning from every experience.
00:23:15Kregg: All right. All right. So, have you, just speaking to that because I'm not sure if it's a big part of your story, but being the only one of something, was that-- Did that create any challenges, even opportunities for you?
00:23:32Juana: Um--
00:23:36Kregg: I mean basically, how did it affect--
00:23:38Juana: I would say it's been interesting, I would say perhaps as a junior faculty member, but maybe not, maybe even as a postdoc. So, after Clark Atlanta-- Well, let me say prior to leaving Clark Atlanta, I applied for an-- it was an NSF STC [Science and Technology Centers]-- I think it was Science, Technology and something fellowship. And with this fellowship, and again, I'm in graduate school. So, this is the thing about me. And even to this day, and I tell my students this. I love science. I love doing it. I love thinking about it. It is something, it turns on something in my brain that it's just, it's very weird. But it's something about it that I really love. And maybe it's just, it's like a euphoria, almost like chasing it and thinking about it. What if we tried this? Where I just love it. I just really do and I don't know why, but I do. And so, when I was in graduate school, like I was having fun, I was loving like, trying to figure it out, if I did this. Learning new tools, I was really having fun. So, I applied to this NSF STC grant and it allowed you to go to a research intensive institution. Could have been like Virginia Tech, whoever, I can't remember who was there. But one of the schools that I wanted to go to that had one of these science technology centers was Cornell University. And so, my mentor, Ishrat Khan, you know, said, "You should apply for this." So, I wrote up the proposal, didn't really know what I was doing with that. Didn't have much of mentorship on that, but I wrote it up and said this is why I want to go. This is what I will learn and how I will bring it back to Clark Atlanta, to my home institution. And I got it. And I went to Cornell University as a graduate student of Cornell, but I went to Cornell University on a summer fellowship from NSF to learn how to do nanobiotechnology. So, one of the goals was to learn a new tool that was coming up, kind of cutting edge, should I say. And it was called atomic force microscope. So, my proposal was to go to the Center of Technology, Center of Excellence and learn how to use atomic force microscopy. And so, I took the samples that I basically made at Clark Atlanta. Took them to Cornell and got trained on how to use this atomic force microscopy, which allowed you to look at your structures on the nanoscale, right? To maybe, you know, 20 nanometers to maybe 100 nanometers if you know that. So that's what my proposal was for. Went to Cornell. So, this is probably my third year. Went to Cornell as a-- I'm going to get back to your point, sorry. But as a junior, stayed there for summer. Learned the tool. One of the things, the samples I was looking at that I made at Clark Atlanta was I made like a synthetic DNA. Right. So, made it with some, you know, okay. You could say you're making this all day long, but as a scientist, we have to show that we've discovered something. And so, the atomic force microscopy, or AFM, allowed me to just take this small metal, small, like to the eye, metal strip and tap on the polymer, the powder that I made. And with tapping, you could basically take an image and it would go back to a detector and show you what you were looking at on a nanoscale. Something you can't see with the naked eye. And it turned out when I actually did the work and prepped my samples after, you know, about three months or so. You could see that I made this helical, a synthetic helical material that resembled DNA. And I didn't tell my mentor. He came up at the end of the summer and I said I'm going to wait for him to see my work. So, he saw my presentation. And when he saw it and he saw that he could see the helix from the microscope image. He was jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store. And he said to me, this is start of my fourth year. He said to me, "Okay, Juana. You know, you, you're about to get your PhD. It's time for you to write up all your-- Make sure you write up all your work. Let's get your publications out because you're getting your PhD this year. This is it. Wrap it up." And I'm looking like, "What do you mean? Like I'm having fun." You know? So, I say that to say, as a woman of color, because of this experience, perhaps this did set it up. But again, you know, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and really work and grind. That opportunity from that summer intern, afforded my mentor at Cornell to see my work ethic and my innovation and my persistence and resilience. And so, he contacted me about applying for a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell and it was a pretty prestigious one. It was like a diversity postdoc fellowship. And you had to have a sponsor from someone at Cornell. And so, we worked on the package together and he sponsored me and I was selected for that. So, right after my four years at Clark, I went into a postdoc at Cornell and I was selected, like out of three people that applied for this, I was one of the three women of color that received that award and got me a postdoc at Cornell for a couple of years. So, yeah. So, I would say certain things, perhaps, but I feel like my work ethic and due diligence and love and passion for science has really been the thing that's propelled. You know, some days it's not easy by any means, but, you know, we keep, we keep kicking on. So to say, saying that to say after Cornell, I did another postdoc. And it was basically from someone being able to validate what I've been working on, things I was doing. So, I did another postdoc at Georgia Tech in biomedical engineering, which is where I really wanted to kinda take off at. And, for me, doing that experience in Biomedical Engineering as a first fellow that was funded under IRACDA [Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards], which is an NIH postdoctoral fellowship that teaches you how to teach. So, what happens is, I started off in graduate school, I'm going back to industry and then, I started really enjoying the discovery process and the design thinking behind everything and being an innovator, that I completely forgot about industry. Because I was like, I love the independence, I love the creativity. So, now I'm shifting gears as a postdoc and I'm like, "Oh, I think I want to be a professor now." And so, the Emory IRACDA fellowship from NIH essentially trained me how to be a teacher. So, there are postdocs that did part of their work doing research in a lab. And then, the other part was you had a teaching mentor at institutions such as Morehouse College, Spelman College, or Clark Atlanta. And so, yeah. So, that's kind of a segue way into how I got to Morehouse College. And as one of the, I think I'm the second woman of color. I do not know if the previous woman of color had tenure, but I know I'm probably the only-- I have bigger news in a couple of weeks to announce, but I'm probably one of the only… Yeah, women of color in the college, at Morehouse College in chemistry. So, you'll hear more about that in a couple of weeks. I'll stop. [laughter].
00:31:35Kregg: Alright. I won't make you reveal the good news, but I think I've got a good idea.
00:31:42Juana: Yeah, yeah. A new statistic. I will say that. I'm adding a new statistic to the STEM field.
00:31:51Kregg: Right! Right, right. So, there is one thing I wanted to go right back to is what was the research that you did at Georgia Tech? And what was it like?
00:32:03Juana: Okay so, the common thread between all of my projects was that I make polymers which are large, large macromolecules, right? So, it's like basically a plastic. But my claim to fame is I make these plastics that are biocompatible so they can be used in the body. So, from my work at Clark Atlanta, I basically did this synthetic DNA and I actually tested it on cells to make sure it was biocompatible. One of the cell lines I use is-- There was a book and a movie that came out of it. I actually use the HeLa cells. So Henrietta Lacks was one of the patients that these HeLa cells came from. And so, I actually started using those cell lines as a graduate student. And then, when I moved to Cornell, I basically continued to work with polymers, but now I was actually making them in a 3D shape. So, we could actually make something called a scaffold, which is like a metal scaffold that holds up a building. But we would make these using macromolecules so we could make them on a very small scale, like a macro scale you can see with the eye. But on the nanoscale they would be-- The architecture would look kind of like tangled fibers, but it was mimicking bone tissue. So, at Cornell, I actually started learning how to make, kind of, synthetic bone, if you will, using these polymers or these plastics. And I did that for a while. We also did more AFM [atomic force microscopy] work. We looked at putting carbon nanotubes in mice and tracking them. So, we did a lot of different work, but it was leading into biomedical engineering. So, when the opportunity came to go to Georgia Tech to work with a professor in biomedical engineering, I continued along those lines, still looking at making bone, artificial bone and cartilage tissue that can be used to regenerate, you know, from diseases of somebody had an injury or something like that. So, at Georgia Tech, I continued with that work and looked more at making more scaffolds, but also how-- Studying how they would behave in the body a little bit more. So, actually taking it kinda more full-scale and inclusive. And Georgia Tech was a segue into me starting at Morehouse College. So, it allowed me to continue to work with and train undergraduate students. And then a little bit after that.
00:34:53Kregg: If you need me to pause the recording, by the way, feel free. I know you have children.
00:35:02Juana: A little bit after that. No, you're good. A little bit after that, Morehouse knocked on the door around the time I was having a few interviews and I just chose to go to Morehouse. So yeah, that's how I ended up there. But every research, it was a new project, but there was still a common theme, a common thread between all those where we were looking, I was looking at basically making synthetic material that could be used to repair damaged tissue.
00:35:34Kregg: Wow. So, why did you-- So, what led to choosing? It sounds like you had some choices. Why did you choose Morehouse?
00:35:43Juana: Good question. So as, actually I did mentioned earlier, but as a graduate student at Clark Atlanta, I actually did a lot of teaching assisting work at Morehouse and Spelman College. So, they were adjacent to Clark Atlanta. So, I would serve as a teaching assistant. And there was a professor there by the name of Subhash Bhatia that basically was over the teaching laboratories at Morehouse. And he watched me, you know, teach and mentor the students. And I had a reputation at Morehouse. So, I actually interviewed at another institution, pretty big urban university in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia area. And as a young postdoc, you get so excited when you get your first interviews or you're going on interviews. And then, when you get there and people say, "Oh, you may not like it there." I'm like, "What do you mean I got an interview? All I gotta do is get the job and I am certain, you know, it'll be great." But when I interviewed there, it was-- I was like, "This is just not-- This is just not a good fit. This is just not, this is not going to work." It was going to be a huge hill to climb. And literally, I'd sent my materials over to Morehouse. I knew Morehouse. I knew the landscape. I knew the resources. And I knew when I compared it literally where I just finished interviewing at with my experiences at Morehouse and what they had and, you know, the-- I knew. I was like this Pennsylvania school is not a good fit for me. And literally after I finished the interview, wrapped up my interview and actually sat down and had dinner, I think I got an official email from Morehouse with an offer. And it was like, wow, so I knew. I was like, I know-- Just simple things as far as what the laboratories looked like. Like that was… I did not know how much that played a role in things. But the laboratories that where I interview were, were not, they didn't compare to what Morehouse had, which was interesting. So, I was like this is going to be a huge, a steep, steep climb at the other institution. And I knew at Morehouse I had more leverage and I could hit the ground running as soon as I got there. So, that was one of the reasons why I chose Morehouse and the great students. And the great students we have. So, yes.
00:38:16Kregg: That's right, That's right. My alma mater. Great students.
00:38:19Juana: Great, great students.
00:38:22Kregg: So, what kind of resources are important? I mean, for someone like you who's doing, I mean, bio, chemical research. What kinds of resources, what kinds of things do you look for, you know, to keep your, this path to excelling and tinkering--
00:38:40Juana: [Sighs]
00:38:41Kregg: --and doing more innovating. What's, what is important? Or--
00:38:44Juana: You know, I've been-- You learn as you go. But the thing is-- I'll say this. And this is for anybody that can-- You learn as you go, but you cannot stop. If you stop or you pause, it's so hard to get back the motivation or the momentum, right? So, I think the resources that I've learned about over the years and the things that I need is because I didn't stop. So, case in point. When, you know, when I started in 2009, it was like oh, you have, you know, your startup pack, that you got things to buy. And I'm thinking, oh, I need like a vacuum pump or a lyophilizer. Things like this in the laboratory. But then, as I keep moving forward, I'm like… Light years away from where I started, because I was always thinking small. So now, I have like three laboratory spaces at Morehouse. You would never thought that would have happened, but it's because I kept going. So, I moved into a whole other lab space. This got all these bells and whistles. And, I've been fortunate enough to be able to kinda get these resources because I continued to keep collaborations going. Working with people that were maybe at other institutions that had more resources. So, even if it's a situation where I could send a student to do a summer project and or even if I could go for a couple of weeks and work on projects. And thankfully, I've been fortunate enough to have collaborators at places that, you know, appreciate that and appreciate my commitment to training undergraduates at Morehouse. But moreover, I didn't stop. And so, like still learning about this is some new cutting edge equipment you can use. And the latest thing that I've done since I started. So, Morehouse is a completely undergraduate institution, right? But we have an adjacent school where I went for my PhD, Clark Atlanta. And what in the last two years or so, I've actually been supporting graduate students to come in my laboratory. So now, I'm actually training graduate students. I have two graduate students. I actually would have had three but one didn't work out. But I've actually like really shifted the mold now at Morehouse where I'm actually having graduate students from Clark Atlanta come in my lab and work. And that helps to kinda keep things going as well where we're getting equipment that I don't have to go to a more research institute, research intensive institution. Now, I can do it in house, which is a huge step from me starting out in 2009. Yeah. So, I think that the key for me, and I'll say this as I mentor junior faculty, is that you have to continue to keep the momentum going. Keep getting mentors. I had a lady tell me that was a business, she was a business major. I mean, not a bus-- but she was on the business side of things for like startup and incubators. And she said, "Juana you need a team. You need a team. You have to build your team." And it never resided with me. And when she said it something, I was like, "She's right!" Because, you know, with undergraduates, it's a heavy lift. It's always a heavy lift, right? And when she said it, I was like, oh my gosh, you know, and I was like, let me change up some things on how I write my proposals or work with others. And it's made a big, big difference. It's still a process but it's made a big difference. But again, breaking the mold on the undergraduate institution side of, of incorporating graduate students and mentoring them and sitting on PhD dissertation committees and things like that. So, it's been a… It's been a good ride and I feel like I'm just getting started. I really do.
00:42:51Kregg: That's amazing. So, do you still-- How do you feel about science now compared to, you know, growing up and you had that love and passion. Does it-- Has it changed?
00:43:02Juana: It's still there. No. It's still there… It's funny. I was talking to my graduate student last week in a meeting. And I said-- I'm sure everyone will laugh at this, especially for my undergraduate experience. "I'm never," you know in undergrad, "I'm never staying up late studying for tests again." Like, "I'm never doing this. I'm not stressing myself out anymore." Graduate student. When you're in graduate school. "I'm over-studying. Man, I just, this is so stressful. I'm tired of staying up late at night. I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed early. I'm not doing this anymore." Junior faculty. "This grant. I'm not staying up late working on this grant. I'm gonna start-- I'm going to have writing groups. I'm going to do this." Literally, in October, I'm submitting a proposal to NSF [National Science Foundation]. I'm literally up for 24 hours still working on this grant. Still as a professor, a tenured professor, still doing this. So, for me, it never ends. It's something that's I guess is embedded in my DNA or I'm just addicted to it. I don't know what it is, but it's-- I still keep going like that. I will. Now, you know, there is a thing called burnout. Sometimes, you know, you may be up high on the roller coaster, then you're in your valley. But because I think for me I'm very deadline-driven. So, having a deadline is really good to help keep me motivated and it just turns on just like that so I can keep it going. Yeah. But I think my passion, I want that to always come out with others, especially my graduate students and it may not diffuse a little bit as much to them as I would prefer, but it's still there. It is. It's still there.
00:44:49Kregg: That's awesome. So, some other factors in your story. You mentioned mentors and I was wondering, were there any other resources that you had or were wish you had now that you feel were important for your success?
00:45:09Juana: I do, yeah. It's funny you bring this up because my motto, and I lead with this, is well now when I mentor my graduate students, I try and do everything for them that I know I did not get. I'm really big on that. So, I think for me, as I mentioned, I'm, I've always been a go getter, right. But I could have had a little bit more feedback on certain things. And I honestly didn't know it as much until my second postdoc at Cornell. I mean, at Georgia Tech. That was a little eye opening. So, we may have had, especially at the research intensive institutions, it's like a playground, right? Especially if you're a scientist. You got all these instruments you want. You can just, you know, you can just have a field day. I love that stuff. But I think having mentors early on that kinda help you see your weaknesses and help you build them up. Not in a derogatory way, but in a constructive way. So, I think having mentors to kinda help, maybe with scientific writing or proposal writing or just making sure you can draw good conclusions early on would've… Would've helped me a lot. As I mentioned before, I did not get a lot of help on that NSF STC proposal I wrote when I was in graduate school, but I still got it funded because I think I had the core points highlighted in that proposal. But that was still me just kinda, you know, teaching myself. But fast forward to really getting a federal grant funded. It is uh… Whoo! And the art of that, you really need mentors, right? You really need mentors, really need somebody to give you feedback that will really, that's really invested in helping you do that. And I think if I would have had that a little early on-- Yeah-- I would be in a different position. But it's okay. I've learned that everything happens when it's supposed to happen, and it will happen if it's meant to be. And so, one of the things that I really champion with my students is to just make sure that I help them with those type of things as early as possible. So, even though you're doing your science, there's more to just doing science than that. So, kind of giving them that whole holistic approach to see how everything kind of comes together.
00:48:03Kregg: So, you're providing that for your students now?
00:48:08Juana: Absolutely. Absolutely. So good, bad, and indifferent. Sometimes they don't like to hear it, but I was like I'd rather you know this coming from me, than leave me and then you learn it later. So, I try and teach them everything I know. I really do. And they know it comes from a place of love, like tough love, right? But really making sure that they understand kind of how all this stuff works together. Yes.
00:48:33Kregg: So, now that you're a professional in your field and you still got this love for your field. You did mention late nights, 24 hours-- What other kinds of things are challenging and difficult about your field, about this field that you still have this passionate love for? Or are there any?
00:48:55Juana: No, there are challenges. So, I'll say this. I think one of the biggest challenges, for me, especially at a historically Black college, it's a liberal arts college. So, one of the things I think that's challenging is-- So, I kind of mentioned it earlier, but it wasn't necessarily the undergraduates. You could still do research and have a productive undergraduate laboratory, right? So, that's not a huge challenge. The thing is that it's a slower process, right? So, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to recruit graduate students to kind of speed up the pace. So, I think that's essentially the challenges. The pace can be a little slower at smaller institutions, right? So, my drive and efficiency and determination may not match how fast we can accomplish things at a smaller college. Where if I was at a larger institution, we may can crank out stuff like this [snapping] without a problem. But for us, it's a smaller process. But we still get things done. It's just a smaller process. And that's kind of been interesting because sometimes, you know, if we write a grant proposal, I could have these ideas-- And this has actually happened to me before. I could have these ideas and may need, really need funding to get it started or, you know, somebody to help me out, and then turn around and I see a paper has come out with something that I know I put in my proposal because it's someone that's kind of in the field, right, that could be at Stanford, if you will, and can knock it out within two or three months, right?
00:50:53Kregg: Right.
00:50:54Juana: So, those are the challenges. The main thing is it's just a slower pace, but that's it. But we're getting there. So, we have resources, still, that allows again, as I told you, I have about three lab spaces now. So, I have one lab for like chemical synthesis and characterization. I have another lab where we do more of our bio work, cell culture work now and I even had an undergraduate who went in during the pandemic because I was probably the only one that had students get approved to come on campus. But hey. [Laughter] And he was like, "Dr. Mendenhall, this is really looking like a Research 1 lab over here." Because again, it's that persistence. So, figuring out a way to keep funding things and getting new bells and whistles to really carry out your research questions and making things happen. And with COVID, the COVID-19 pandemic, I felt like I was on this trajectory, so I'm just like this exponential trajectory. And then when COVID happened, I just plateaued. So, that's brought some anxiety-- A lot of anxiety for me, and I know they like, "Lady, just relax," but it's brought me a little anxiety because I know I was like about to like really, you know, take it up like 20 notches and it just pshshshew but it's okay. It's okay. So, just trying to keep that level down. It's okay.
00:52:20Kregg: How do you manage that? What kinds of things do you do to deal with the slowing pace due to COVID, but also, you know, not-- Like knowing you-- Maybe there are other places that have, where you can knock out research, like you're saying. But you've chosen to be at a place where there's a little bit slower. So, how do you manage that?
00:52:47Juana: What I've learned is I just have to appreciate the small things. So, what I've realized is Morehouse College is an amazing institution, right? And I think I realized my place is here because of what I bring and how I can expose the young men to so many things they would have probably never had a chance to really be exposed to at an undergraduate institution. So, I really had to take a pause and look at the beauty of it and say, you know, this is where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be here, right? So, I'm here to really expose students to things that they never thought that they would be exposed to. Case in point. I have a student that he wants to study mechanical engineering. And so, I started talking to him about mechanical engineering from the biomedical perspective. He was blown away. He was just like, "Oh my gosh, I never--" you know, I think he was thinking more so about building bridges and, you know, something like that or roller coasters. And then, I'm like he's working with me now and he's like, "Wow, I never knew this existed." But the main thing I think I've realized is that even through the day, if you're overwhelmed and you just can't seem to catch a breath, I always have to just make sure I pause. So, even if you go out for a walk, just do something. Even if you go to lunch, and you don't take nothing with you, just take even that hour, that 30 minutes, to just sit still, right? Or listen to some music or something to just kinda help me stay a little mellow because I can get, especially when I talk about science, I get really excited, too excited sometimes, right? So, to keep the anxiety down, just to kinda always just take that deep breath and say it's okay. I've even got to the point now where it was just non-stop. So, you in the office, you're at office hours, you get home, eat dinner, and you're back on the laptop. Sometimes I just have to close it down. Take the night off, take the weekend off. Don't look at it just because, you know, you still have to stay refreshed and recharged. If you're just going like the Energizer Bunny, there's no way to kind of regenerate that. And again, this is wisdom from years. If you talked to me, what, ten years ago, I would never have said this because, you know, I was so hungry, hungry, hungry, right? And I still am, but I realize there was beauty in the patience of it and it will happen. You know, you just, like I said, you just can't stop. If you stop, then it won't happen. But just learning like how to kind of regiment it a little bit better and breathe. That's my key thing now is breathing. Yeah. So now, I'm starting to, I'm going to start back kind of cycling a little bit more and things like that to kinda just help keep everything mellow.
00:55:53Kregg: Right. All right. Okay. So, I've gotta ask. So, the last little bit, you know, when it comes to innovation, you know, you've talked about your academic career and you've talked about your academic career and also being a professor and helping young folks. There's also an innovative side to you and a business side to you as well. I know I'm familiar with the gel. The gel you're making. Can you share what that side of life is like? Because it seems a little bit different from being in school and doing the standard research institution. Academic institutions have research. Can you tell me about that side of your experience and life and being an innovator? What is that like? And, you know, is it just another day?
00:56:51Juana: It's… Well, it's, it's interesting, I will say with the innovation side, it still, just like, I think any true research project is like you still have to convince people, right? So, you still, you're pushing it out, but it's still like, you still have to sell it. So, the beauty of-- And it's still a process. So again, keep going with that. But I think, you know, never giving up on that. But continuously figuring out ways to sell the idea, figuring out the holes. So, one of the things with my gel is that we're making this gel we're making it in a lab. So, you remember that it's in this 100 milliliter flask, right? This little small flask. And how are we going to produce these for clinical trials? Like did I think about this? So, what I was able to do fortunately was get funding. So, look at how all these dots connect, right? So, from my earlier part of my story, I told you that I worked in a pilot plant, right? So, I bought a small, I got some additional funding. I built a small pilot plant in my research lab at Morehouse. So now, we are able to scale up the material. So now, we're not going from a 100 milliliter beaker to now we have like a five gallon tank where we can actually synthesize more of my gels and my product. So, although you're an innovator, and I hit these kind of dings along the way where you can't give up, you always have to be a life learner, you have to always kinda engage in different spaces to make sure you're still elevating. So, it's kinda like we're, yeah, this is great you and this one milliliter flask, but you know, what about, you know, continue to get funding because we still have to do research and development. So, you still have to kind of continue to search for funds from that way. But also on a innovative side that could be a startup company, what does that look like? And so, if you go into a company model, you can't just make stuff out of a 100 milliliter beaker. So, we had to scale up a little larger. So, that's been going. So, we have a system set up for that. Learning about intellectual property. I've actually the first person at Morehouse College to ever file a patent. So, even last week, I had a meeting again about my IP intellectual property and understanding that a little bit more and the licensing behind that and the percentages. So, it's so many different levels of just starting in a lab. Think about it. From the little girl that started out with the chemistry set to learning the program to the teacher making a comment to now creating gels that I'm hoping to market here, thanks to COVID, within the next year two for either equine models or pigs. Starting out in these type of animals to humans one day. But it builds on just continued momentum, right? Continued momentum, learning, engaging in different spaces, being mentored from different, not just your science people, the business people have a lot to bring to the table. So, really listening and learning from them. Continue to think more about your projects. And just being humble enough to kinda take it all in. Take it all in and see where you want to go with the next. And the innovation side is becoming very interesting because there's still a lot of layers to it. And again, you still have to keep pitching it, selling it, figuring out ways to kinda, get it across. And unfortunately, and I'll, I'll say this because it is a part of history. Looking at how many women, number one, that could be doing an innovative thing or some type of science company are STEM based company. What does that field look like if you look at the statistics on that? And then, we throw another demographic into that, a woman of color. So, how many women of color actually have like some type of chemical and innovative startup? What does that look like? And then, you're still pursuing, you know, technology grants to help support this work. So, it's still, it's still a trajectory that, you know-- COVID has really dampered things. So now, you know, with certain things, you know, just trying to pivot and figure out how to keep things rolling. But we are. So, it's just been a process going through that. But the innovation side and never stops, but it's more so figuring out ways to still be productive, efficient, and being able to sell the products. So hopefully, we'll keep moving that needle forward. And we did… I did apply for another grant, the one I was up 24 hours, [laughs] to continue to do-- Move into another space for that innovative project, to work on more larger animal models and study our materials and that animal model and then move up to clinical trials next. So, the plan is to go back in for that. And hopefully, August submit for clinical trials study with National Institutes of Health.
00:02:27Kregg: And so, basically this-- So, you have-- Is your innovation tied, it's tied to your research that you're doing at Morehouse?
00:02:36Juana: It is. Yes. It's a portion of it. Yes, it is. Yeah. It's tied to it, the patent. And learning just about patent law and percentages, you know, it's a whole dynamic. It takes you out of being in the lab, right? So, you think about that, but you know it went very well. The negotiation process-- Women always negotiate. Women always have to negotiate. Never sell yourself short. But everything went very, very well. And Morehouse has been phenomenal with supporting me in shifting the paradigm from a undergraduate institution to working with graduate students to filing a patent. I mean, yeah, they've been very supportive. Anytime I have something coming up, they're very supportive. So, I will say that. So, it's just keep on keeping on. [laughs],
00:03:33Kregg: That's fantastic. Do you think that makes a difference having an institution that's supporting you?
00:03:39Juana: Absolutely. Absolutely. But I also feel like it's still a partnership where you still have to let your needs be known and you know what you want to accomplish. That all has to be kind of understood at every layer, at every level, and hopefully the institutions will support you in doing that. But you know, Morehouse has been phenomenal with that I will say, yes.
00:04:12Kregg: That's fantastic. I know we said we're going to keep it to an hour and it's about an hour. Firstly, you have a wonderful story. We're not limited to an hour.
00:04:26Juana: Okay. There's more to come, though. There's more to come. So, we have to do a follow up in a little bit. Yeah. There's more to come with-- I honestly feel like I'm just getting started. This, it's crazy because you've seen the process and now if you come, come back and actually we-- If I would have been on campus but I couldn't make it today. But if you see the stuff now you'll be like, oh my gosh. Yeah. You can, you'll see it. Yeah. But it's, it's again, just still thinking, moving, exposing myself to other things.
00:05:02Kregg: So, one of the questions that we have is, so now that you've made it, how does your, you know, the the non-academic side of your life-- You have family, you have a family of your own. You have family you grew up with. How did they feel about you being in science and your whole passion for science? Were they always like, yeah, go for it.
00:05:29Juana: You know, it's surprisingly I'm different, but they support me. They're always-- They are my biggest cheerleader. That's funny my grandmother and I are like best friends. And so, even when I defended my PhD, she couldn't make it in person, but my cousin, who's a videographer, came and recorded my PhD dissertation for her. And my grandmother is about 88 years old and she will literally… She can literally reiterate and tell someone, "My daughter studies polymer chemistry." Like she can literally have a intellectual conversation about what I do with someone if she's bragging on me. So, she's probably the only one actually in the family, but everyone is very supportive, but she can really give you like those specifics about what I'm working on and what I'm doing and be able to disseminate that to someone else. But yeah, the families, you know, very, very supportive. Have always been that way. And it's like geez, that's just me. But you know, they know at the end of the day it's, I love it and they love to see actually the fruits of my labor. So, when it's something big happens they're like, "Let's celebrate!" My family loves to celebrate. It can be something small, but they love to celebrate. So yeah, they've always been really, really supportive. And I have two little children and my son actually loves science. So, he's supportive with that. And now, I just say mom is working on this. But as long as he can still kinda engage with science and I'm looking forward to him doing a lot more. Just kinda because he's very like me, inquisitive and likes to tinker, so I can't wait for him to pick up some few things and see what he could do with it as well. So, we'll see what happens. But yeah, everybody's really supportive
00:07:14Kregg: Right, right. That's fantastic. And you also like-- I just realized, you know, where-- Did you always have a passion for teaching as well? Because it seems like now that's a big part of your joy. Oh, you're on mute. Sorry.
00:07:33Juana: Okay. So--[baby crying in background] one second, please. Hold on one sec. I'm sorry. What was the question?
00:07:53Kregg: It's fine. Did you always have a passion for teaching along with your science?
00:08:00Juana: OK. Teaching is interesting. It's funny you bring that up. Can you hear me okay?
00:08:07Kregg: Yeah, I can hear you fine.
00:08:25Juana: Okay. So, this is my saying with teaching. Teaching, I say I've grown to-- I did not love teaching when I started. And so, when I started teaching, I kinda came in at prematurely because I was on the postdoc with Emory to learn how to teach and do research. But I actually got offered the job at Morehouse prior to starting my teaching mentorship. And I was actually teaching with someone. My mentor was a guy at Spelman, but I got offered a job before I actually started teaching. So, for me, teaching was-- It was a transition. I didn't realize how much prep went into teaching when I started. It's funny that I actually kept-- I started my first course was General Chemistry and I actually kept my general chemistry notebook from undergrad. Don't ask why, but I still had it. So, I had a bunch of my notes still that I actually started to teach with. So, for teaching, it was a steep learning curve for me and I did not love it, but I grew to like it. And so, now that I teach-- I actually have a lot of release time now, so I don't teach nearly as much as I used to thanks to grant funding. But I basically figure out a way to really love to teach by bringing in my own personality. So, one of the other hidden gems about me is that I am also a DJ. Yeah. So, one of the things that I started to do was just I had to kinda bring in who I was to the classroom and my personality and kinda my excitement just like I have for doing research and research questions, I had to kind of bring that all into the classroom. And once I started to do that, things changed. So, I would bring, if we're talking about certain sound waves in class, I would bring in my DJ equipment and, you know, kind of teach them about learning about waves and how sound travels and have them engage with doing certain exercises where they could do like spoken word. So, just figuring out a way to kind of really kind of change the game up and bring myself more to the classroom. And that's what really helped with my teaching. And me really enjoying it a little bit more. But at first it was like, oh my gosh, the prep that you have to do to teach. So, it was kinda like, again, I'm not staying up late, I'm not doing this. And so, I stopped staying up late. But what I started doing was getting up extra early to kinda just prepare and figure out, okay, how does this work? And what I realized with teaching, you can't really-- It's not finite, it's not black and white. So, you can think you got this lecture figured out perfectly. And then, a student will just ask a question. You're like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't think of that." So, it's kind of always being flexible and just kinda enjoying it. I had to learn how to enjoy the experience of teaching and what comes with it and how teaching has changed since I was in school in the '90s. But I've embraced it and so yeah, it's still a lot of fun and the students would even-- One year they were like beating my class down to take it and I was like, "Oh, I can do this." And I had like almost 70 kids in one class from all over the campuses. And I've said I would never do this again, but I did it because I knew everyone wanted to take my class because it was fun. And then, after that, thankfully, I had a teaching assistant that was a postdoc that helped with grading papers, but it was a bit much. But everyone was excited to take my course. So, that made me feel special. But again, it was lessons learned. So, I had to kinda go through and understand my best practices for instruction. What worked well, what didn't work well, how do students get these concepts. Things like that. But once I think the students saw the passion I had just like I have for my research lab. Then it changed for me. So now, I do love teaching. I love engaging with students in the classroom. So it's just a great experience.
00:12:59Kregg: So, does the teaching and or the DJ-- By the way, what is your DJ name?
00:13:04Juana: DJ Periodic.
00:13:06Kregg: DJ Periodic. I love it!
00:13:08Juana: Like the periodic table. Yeah.
00:13:11Kregg: So, does the teaching aspect and the, you know, and really the other part of life, you know, personal life, DJing-- How does that interact? How has that affected your STEM side? You know, the science and research side?
00:13:29Juana: I think-- So, that's an outlet for me. So it actually helps because it's kinda-- It's still a little ADD-ish, if you will, because it's a lot goes on when you have to DJ which is probably why I can do it. But, you know, just kinda keeping up with everything. But I think it allowed me to again breathe. Take a, take a-- And although I'm doing something, to me it doesn't feel like work. And that's one thing I'll always advocate for when they say find something you love to do and you never have to work a day in your life. I feel like with every-- My little hobbies or, you know, it doesn't feel like work, which is why I can stay up for 24 hours and do it. It's stressful, but I don't feel like I'm really working. It's just like, even with DJing, it's-- I think-- My spouse is always like, "Oh, do-- You're sure you want to do that? That's a lot." But for me, I can be in there for eight hours and just play music and it's… I don't feel like I'm working. Yeah, I may feel it the next day in my back because I'm a little older now, but to me it's just something I enjoy. It's a way to just kind of release stress and kind of balance me out. And it's okay. So yeah, I think it's good. Just kinda making me kind of Zen at sometimes when things get a little stressful. But yeah, it's good. I actually did my first event, probably since the pandemic, last weekend. Or this weekend on Saturday. But it was, yeah, it was fun.
00:15:00Kregg: Fantastic.
00:15:01Juana: Yeah.
00:15:02Kregg: That's wonderful. So, last and final question. Is there anything else you would like to share during our interview today for the history records, for the future people who watch this.
00:15:14Juana: So, I'll say this, and I don't know if you will edit it, but I'll go ahead because when you probably release it, it'll be known. So--
00:15:21Kregg: Well, you get final approval so you can say whatever you want.
00:15:24Juana: Okay, Okay. So, I'll say this to you and you can, you can bring it back. So, there is a statistic that, and I might mess it up, but it speaks to there's only about 2% of women of color in STEM at HBCUs [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] that have been awarded or appointed, if you will, Full Professor. And this is a statistic. I just read this article in the Chronicle maybe about a week ago. This year I actually was appointed Full Professor. But the official announcement will be probably happening in a few weeks. So, the college is a little behind because of COVID. And that will be one of the few women of color in STEM at a HBCU that actually has this title. And in academia, there's this gap from when people get tenure, promoted to associate. There can be a huge gap with that going from women to men. I mean, going from associate to professor and more so female to male. So, there's still more males that have title of Full Professor than women, especially women of color. So, I will be probably one of the first ever in chemistry at Morehouse College to have the Full Professor title. So that would be it. But again--
00:16:52Kregg: Congratulations.
00:16:54 Juana: It's never giving up. That's what I'll say. Never give up. Keep riding the wave, being persistent. If you get knocked down, get back up. There's always light at the end of the tunnel.
00:17:09 Kregg: Fantastic. Well, I want to thank you for sharing your story, sharing your words of wisdom. I think a lot of people can learn, learn quite a bit from, from you both now and also in the future. When they look back at these times, What were the-- What was it like?
00:17:27Juana: Bad [inaudible]
00:17:28Kregg: --2021.
00:17:30Juana: [laughter] We survived the pandemic. Yeah. So no. I think now this was great. Thank you.
00:17:35Kregg: All right. Thank you very much. I'm going to stop recording now.
Okay. Boop boop stop. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END
