Today, we celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, a day to honour the vital role gender equality plays in advancing scientific progress. It’s a reminder of how crucial this equality is to achieving the global development goals that benefit us all.
To mark the occasion, we caught up with Jessica Taylor-McKaig.
Jessica plays a dual role with Scottish Sea Farms, one of Scotland's leading salmon producers. She works in the Communications Team and also manages the company’s community benefit fund. When she’s not making waves in her professional life, Jessica is a passionate STEM ambassador—and she’s also our 2025 YAS Secretary!
Can you tell us about your role and about being a STEM Ambassador and what it involves?
I currently work in the Communications and Marketing team for Scottish Sea Farms, one of Scotland's largest salmon producers. In my role I cover all parts of comms and engagement; from external such as media and government engagement as well as social media, to internal supporting our teams on campaigns.
As a STEM Ambassador, a lot of the events I do during my work day are included, like the Into Aquaculture course that our Learning and Development team run with Oban High School. It's not just in work; I also do a lot of mentoring for high school students on schemes run through STEM Ambassadors directly.
Sometimes you're offering your time (attending careers days), your expertise (mentoring), or an objective/outside view (interviews/CV prep). That's what I really enjoy about being a STEM Ambassador, the variety of how you can engage, when it works for you!
What inspired you to become a STEM Ambassador, and why is it important to you?
I signed up as a STEM Ambassador while at university - I feel that STEM is often misunderstood, or seen as only limited to lab work but there's so many jobs that come under the STEM umbrella and I always wanted to shine a light on them.
I felt like it was another way for me to give back, to help students and the wider community to learn more about STEM. Often schools have so many competing priorities and trying to find new ways to make science 'fun' can be hard - but tapping into those who work in STEM can make it that much easier.
How do you engage young people, especially girls, in STEM subjects?
Sometimes it's just about raising awareness - many people will still think of the stereotypical white lab coat in a lab setting when you ask about STEM jobs. So, by showing the breadth of what's available you'll find something to interest everyone.
It's also about being 'visible' - not everyone wants to be a pioneer in a certain area, so for young girls seeing someone already doing the job they might want to do, that can help broaden their horizons and show them what's possible!
For me, as a STEM Ambassador it's about engaging young people where they are and broadening what they're exposed to, challenging their preconceptions and combating any misconceptions they might have.
What are some misconceptions about careers in STEM that you’d like to challenge?
I studied Biology at undergrad then an MSc in Science Communication and Public Engagement. For me, the big one is that STEM is a niche field.
STEM covers so much and is such a broad spectrum - engineering, big data analytics, lab work, working out on a salmon farm... all these types of jobs are looking for very different skills, so it's about finding where your best fit is.
There's also the misconception that working in STEM means you must be great at all sciences and maths. (I don't quite think my chemistry teachers would agree with that one...!)
Yes, if you're going into a lab role where you use chemistry, having an affinity for that analytical work is needed! But if that's not where your interests lie? Great - there's so many other roles for you to look into. Whether you want to get outdoors in what you do or share your passion in other ways, there's no one way to engage with STEM.
What initiatives or programs do you think are making a real difference in supporting women in STEM?
There's so many great programmes by the various sectors encompassed in STEM. There's been amazing pushes to increase gender diversity in engineering and robotics for example. For aquaculture, WiSA is fantastic (especially with their ongoing mentoring programme). For women already in STEM, I've seen a boom in networking opportunities highlighting the more 'hidden' roles and I think that support is vital.
It's not just about supporting women to choose STEM careers, it's about ensuring you're retaining them.
That's not only about flagship initiatives or programmes. That's companies making small, meaningful changes to be more aware of supporting women into historically male-dominated roles... that should also be welcomed.
What advice would you give to Women and Girls interested in pursuing STEM careers?
There's two pieces of advice I have:
First, find what interests you. It might not be the first thing you try, but there's so much on offer so you don't need to stay in something you don't enjoy.
Second, network. Whether that's finding a mentor who's working in a role you're aspiring to, joining a network such as WiSA or YAS, or following people on social media with the cool jobs you always wish you have (that's American astronaut Kellie Gerardi for me!), broadening the media you consume will show you what's possible in STEM. We'd like to thank Jessica for answering our question and be sure to check out the recommendations she has given!
Comments