Guest Profile
Name: Neil Thompson
What They Do: As a product development engineer, I had to speak in front of management every month for project status meetings. I was terrible at it at first but improved significantly over time. I turned everything I learned into an online public speaking course called Teach the Geek to Speak. The course's focus is helping STEM professionals communicate effectively with those outside their field, such as management and customers.
Company: Teach The Geek
Noteworthy: Blacks are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math). I want to change that, and strongly believe that getting kids to think about STEM when they're young is the way to go.
I wrote a book to let Black kids know (if they didn't already) that STEM is for them, too. I used hair as the vehicle to impart that message. The book is about my nephew Anthony asking me why his hair is the way it is. I use science to answer the question.
Bio
Neil Thompson teaches geeks, talks to geeks, and writes books for future geeks. With his company, Teach the Geek, he works with engineers and scientists so that they can communicate more effectively with non-technical audiences.
He's the host of the Teach the Geek podcast, interviewing those with STEM (science, technology, engineering, science) backgrounds about public speaking.
He's also the author of the children's book, Ask Uncle Neil: why is my hair curly? The book is about his nephew asking him why his hair is the way it is, and Neil using science to answer the question. The motivation for the book is to encourage more Black children to consider careers in STEM.
Connect with Neil Thompson!
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