Ep 32: Darrion Nguyen ("Lab Shenanigans"aka the Asian Millennial Tik Tok version of Bill Nye the Science Guy) - a podcast by Ling Yah

Darrion Nguyen is currently a lab research technician at Baylor College of Medicine & the face behind “Lab Shenanigans”: a social media brand that makes fun, easily digestible science content that has garnered over 600,000 followers to date (½ million on Tik Tok!)!

But who is Darrion? 

What led him down this path towards marrying his twin loves of theatre & science, quickly becoming the Asian Millennial Tik Tok version of Bill Nye the Science Guy? 

And how can others do the same?!

We unpack all that and more in this STIMY Episode.

Highlights:

• 3:18: Incident at Darrion’s family’s convenience store that led to his father's unfortunate passing :(
• 5:40: The moment he discovered a talent (and love!!) of improvisation
• 9:07: Watching Bill Nye at his grandma’s tailor shop
• 10:21: Realising he was gay & coming out to his friends and family (except his mum?! 😅🤣)
• 13:46: Why Darrion ended up pursuing science when he also loved theatre
• 18:13: His love of organic chemistry & biochemistry in high school
• 21:57: Getting into voice acting & coming to terms with his higher pitched voice as part of his identity
• 24:14: Creating fun videos that went viral on Facebook meme pages
• 25:48: Creating Lab Shenanigans
• 27:43: Why Darrion decided to take a gap year rather than immediately doing his PhD
• 31:09: His work as a research technician
• 32:13: The ecosystem of a lab & their stereotypes (as seen in his Lab Shenanigan videos!)
• 34:00: What is the “mfing tea”?!
• 37:35: How Darrion first ended up on Tik Tok (P/S: As a joke!)
• 42:30: Suffering burnout 
• 43:58: Creating 10-15 second Tik Tok videos anywhere between a 5-10 minutes to 3 hours, and why it takes so long!
• 46:00: How Darrion’s PI (aka boss) reacted when she first learned about his lab shenanigans lates at night in the lab!
• 49:16: Collabs with other fun science content creators like Chris Sutherland, Raven & Nick Uhas
• 50:08: How Darrion builds his passionate online community
• 51:51: Facing keyboard warriors as an Asian gay man
• 53:36: Advice for those wanting to venture into the world of Tik Tok
• 57:13: Splitting his time between his work as a scientist (yes, he does do real work!) and a content creator
• 1:00:14: Advice on monetization for content creators 
• 1:01:11: Launching his Lab Shenanigans merchandise store 

Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/32

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