Charity Southworth
Team Leader
The Science Boutique
So we've talked a lot just over the past, I don't know how awkward it is for you Charity, but over the past 10, 15 minutes about who Charity is, which begs the question then, could anyone do this? And that's something that I've wondered about as I've tried to find a few examples to hold up of science engagement functioning in retail spaces. And in both cases, as it turns out, actually in both cases it's women who also happen to be astrophysicists who also happen to be really interested in fashion accessory work. So I wonder though, I mean Charity you have such a specific thing that you do and it's so unique as you said and it comes from a place that's really about your own unique identity and who you are. How do we try to hold this up as something that other people might want to try? That's a good question. I think, it's not about copying what I'm doing, it's about morphing it to what is already out there. And there's so many bases to cover. When you think about the retail world, you have markets like this, you have craft fairs, you have actual walk-in stores, you can go to conferences. There's all different kinds of conferences, you can go to women conferences, a bunch of people I know from the market do that. There's all these different places and I don't think that one company could go to all those places and do science engagement. I think you have to have different types. Whereas I would put myself in a really crafty, artsy type business, a lot of it's just me and what can I do in that lane. Then you would have people who are still active in academia, formal researchers who have great connections to science conferences, women in STEM conferences. What can they do in those areas. And I think the engagement component is completely different based on where you are and what you're doing.