Samantha Fowler
[Image description]: A headshot of Samantha smiling at the camera. She is experimenting with a curly hair routine (which is somewhat working) and is wearing a black blouse and brown pants and a multi-tiered silver necklace. She is sitting on the floor with a coffee mug.
[Image Description]: A close up photo of Samantha lying on the floor and crying with tears running down her face in the middle of a depressive episode. She smiles despite this, as a small spaniel puppy rests her head on Samantha's neck.
Science communication specialist currently living with chronic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, and bulimia nervosa
Mental Illness and School
I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder at the end of high school after I had started chronically fainting at school and spent three months in bed (missing my grade 12 exams) with severe vertigo. Although doctor’s debated the cause of my vertigo, regular psychological therapy has been my saving grace. Through out my undergrad degree (a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and Biology), I was also diagnosed with two episodes of major depression, panic disorder, and (after hiding it from even my psychologist for six years), bulimia nervosa. I almost failed out of the second half of first year because of crippling depression.
I struggled, severely, with talking to professors. I joke that my “technique” to request accommodations was to enter a professor’s office with a list and then sob hysterically through said list. As flawed as this technique was, it saved me. I somehow managed to get a doctor’s note to the university accessibility services and talk one on one with each professor about my unique needs for each course. I was able to request study space in the accessibility office, longer exam times in private rooms, and occasional extensions on projects when my depression or anxiety became debilitating.
I eventually graduated Valedictorian for the University of Waterloo Faculty of Science in 2019.
Science Communication and STEM Education
I fell head over heels in love with science communication by accident. After being alerted to free pizza if I sat through a random volunteer training in the first year of my undergrad, I started regularly volunteering with Let’s Talk Science and University of Waterloo Science Outreach. Volunteering became an unhealthy, obsessive escape mechanism in the almost-failed semester of school, and then a healthier coping mechanism in later semesters after I learned how to balance it with actual studying. I now have five years experience working in science communication, focusing on engaging communities equitably in STEM. I’ve worked in particle accelerator labs doing social media, health education teaching about consent, and engineering outreach teaching kids to code. I currently work at TGC (techgirls.ca) supporting social media, website, and outreach efforts for a team that researches and develops programs to advance a STEM economy where all women thrive.
My dog gets me out of bed in the morning.
After multiple episodes of depression and varying degrees of debilitating mental illness standing in the way of what I want to do, my life goal is pretty simple: walk my dog, Echo, every day. Echo is a three year old English springer spaniel with dark brown fur and caramel coloured eyebrows. When I am too exhausted and depressed to get out of bed, Echo get’s me out of bed (it’s that or pee on the floor). When I am curled in a ball and unable to move out of panic, Echo brings me her stuffed crab toy and makes me laugh. I’ve waited my whole life for her and, these days, Echo gets me out of bed in the morning.
