1/ A thread about my research! Many know my undergrad & grad degrees are in biology, & I've worked as a corporate scientist in drug discovery, etc. In my Ph.D., I switched gears & did a novel study of how representations of scientists in media impact adult STEM interest.

2/ My research stems (no pun intended) from a music video I put out last year that is my creative expression of my liberation as a Black woman in STEM. That video is called "Big Ole Geeks". It went viral. I'm linking it in the thread but you can also Google it!
3/ I made the video because I was TIRED of people telling me that I was a "token Black" and I "didn't look like a scientist" after years of conforming to all of the eurocentric standards & customs that most Black women have to force themselves in to get by. So I liberated myself.
4/ I describe these experiences in the TEDx talk that I gave earlier this year. I highly recommend that you watch it. Here is the link https://t.co/Z5YSNp7uof
5/ When I put the video out, it honestly was scary but I knew people were going to mistreat me regardless of how I lived, so I was going to live my life unapologetically & stop trying to please people who oppress me. What happened after caused me to focus my research on the video
6/ There was an outpouring of responses from a huge diversity of people across gender, race, age, etc. The overall response to the video was incredibly intriguing. I wanted to know more; and I focused a study on Black women's responses to later expand to a general audience
7/ I interviewed 18 people about their perceptions of what they believe is the most represented image of a scientist in America, if they identify with that, and how they experienced my novel representation of scientists. Also, if they can be themselves at work. What did I find?
8/ The findings revealed shared experiences consistent between 18 Black women as a general population, across STEM and non-STEM professionals. These women collectively had a shared narrative that reinforced the following main themes listed below. Not all are listed fyi👇🏿👇🏿
9A/ Overrepresentation of **👨🏻‍🔬** scientists in the media; non-identification with images of **👨🏻‍🔬** scientists in the media; unprecedented images of Black women scientists; experiences of code-switching and identity negotiation in the workplace; AND...
9B/ twerking to celebrate Black womanhood and release trauma; non-STEM professionals’ identities with science; and, science-based hip-hop as a classroom tool for learning. There was SO MUCH that was learned in the study that will fill a HUGE gap.
10/ The study I will present this week presents the co-constructed narrative of 19 women (18+me) and their incredibly powerful responses to my "Big Ole Geeks" science-based music video.
11/ My research results have implications for ensuring that students experience relatable images of Black women scientists early in their K-16 experience and that being a Black scientist should not require sacrificing your cultural identity.
12/ My study is among the first to focus on the perceptions of both Black STEM & non-STEM Black women in the general population in a study on STEM identity, the first to examine the impact of science-based music videos on adults and.....
13/ The first study investigating the impact of Black women scientists' alternative media representation.
14/ Here is the music video that is at the centerpiece of the study https://t.co/2bzICYIgES
/15 Doing this work has been rewarding, fulfilling, and the best decision I could have made. I’m glad that I’m a strong enough woman to do it, whether the world was ready for it or not. Training my brain to think as a social scientist has been the greatest exercise of my life.

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The entire discussion around Facebook’s disclosures of what happened in 2016 is very frustrating. No exec stopped any investigations, but there were a lot of heated discussions about what to publish and when.


In the spring and summer of 2016, as reported by the Times, activity we traced to GRU was reported to the FBI. This was the standard model of interaction companies used for nation-state attacks against likely US targeted.

In the Spring of 2017, after a deep dive into the Fake News phenomena, the security team wanted to publish an update that covered what we had learned. At this point, we didn’t have any advertising content or the big IRA cluster, but we did know about the GRU model.

This report when through dozens of edits as different equities were represented. I did not have any meetings with Sheryl on the paper, but I can’t speak to whether she was in the loop with my higher-ups.

In the end, the difficult question of attribution was settled by us pointing to the DNI report instead of saying Russia or GRU directly. In my pre-briefs with members of Congress, I made it clear that we believed this action was GRU.
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.