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Our journey into science entrepreneurship continues! In this episode we speak to Dr. Maria Qadri, founder of Clearwater Leadership which specializes in data analysis, science communication, and leadership development training. As a new founder of her own company, Maria already has her sights set on the future–she looks forward to growing the company and bringing on additional people depending on how the portfolio for Clearwater Leadership develops and client needs. Maria admits she has always been afraid of entrepreneurship because of the realities of living with type 1 diabetes and the need to have reliable healthcare access. However, at this stage in her career journey she looks forward to the challenges that lie ahead in running her own company, similar to the intellectual pursuits in completing her doctorate. For those who are interested in following a similar career path, that pulls from education and work experience, Maria advises to ask questions about everything. She also explains, “Don’t treat [the journey] as closing doors, try to treat it as building bridges.”
Tune into this episode to hear Maria explain how she:
- Combined her scientific background with work experience to advance her career journey
- Started her own business as a solo entrepreneur
- Overcame the hesitation of becoming an entrepreneur
And, some tips if you are interested in following your own, independent science-focused venture
Reach out to Maria:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariajq/
Email: ceo@clearwaterleadership.com
If you enjoyed hearing about Maria’s work, you might also enjoy:
Reach out to Fatu:
www.linkedin.com/in/fatubm
Twitter: @thee_fatu_b
and LoveSciencePodcast@gmail.com
Reach out to Shekerah:
www.linkedin.com/in/shekerah-primus
and LoveSciencePodcast@gmail.com
Music from Pixabay: Future Artificial Intelligence Technology 130 by TimMoor
Music from https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Scott_Holmes: Hotshot by ScottHolmesMusic
Fatu Badiane Markey 00:00
What can you do with your love of science? We'll tell you! Hello everyone and welcome to the show, This is We Love Science, My name is Fatu.
Shekerah Primus 00:38
and I'm Shekerah, and today we're learning about program management, science communication and entrepreneurship.
Fatu Badiane Markey 00:47
Yes, we are! Joining us today is Maria Qadri. She previously worked in science communications at the Association of American Colleges and Universities and supported program management at the NIH and has now founded her own company, Clearwater Leadership. So welcome Maria.
Maria Qadri 01:07
Hi, everybody. Thank you for having me.
Fatu Badiane Markey 01:10
We're really excited to have you on the show. And we're really looking forward to hearing more about your work and your career journey. But before we jump in, we like to warm up talking about one of our favorite topics, which is food. For today's topic, we're going to talk about summer fruits and vegetables, so keeping it very seasonal. So what are some of the healthier things that you like to go for in the summer? Do you want to get us started Maria?
Maria Qadri 01:40
I love all fruits and vegetables equally but being from New Jersey I'm a big fan of blueberries. Fresh blueberries are where my summer fruits are at. For summer vegetables, I actually really like strawberry rhubarb pies. So rhubarb would be my my summer vegetable.
Fatu Badiane Markey 01:40
I like that, I like that
Shekerah Primus 01:45
I'm from Jersey too. So I also love blueberries. Those that are on my yay list.
Fatu Badiane Markey 01:52
Do you want to go ahead with yours, Shekerah.
Shekerah Primus 02:15
So I really love pomegranate. And that's technically not a summer fruit because it comes in like the late summer, so I'm still waiting for it to come in. I really love pomegranate. You know they are a pain to get all those seeds out, but once you do--oh my gosh. I love it so much, that would be my thing.
Fatu Badiane Markey 02:38
I guess it's worth the struggle?
Shekerah Primus 02:45
What about you?
Fatu Badiane Markey 02:46
I really like melons, like I love watermelon, cantaloupe, the honey dew, I've recently had something called like a golden melon. Those are definitely my go to summer fruits. For vegetables, I love corn but I feel like I don't eat it all that much. I don't know why, it just you know, doesn't doesn't happen. And peaches and I love peaches because it's summer it's also peach season. You know? All the good stuff.
Shekerah Primus 03:13
You mixing your fruits and veggies there girl
Fatu Badiane Markey 03:21
So let's get started. Maria, you're a newly minted founder of your own company Clearwater Leadership and you graduated from the University of Hartford with a bachelors, in Biomedical Engineering, have a master's in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and got your doctorate from Rutgers (shoutout) in biomedical engineering and biomedicine. So doing all the incredible things. I love that. And you have experience in science communication and working as a program manager doing work for the NIH. So Maria, we're going to jump into the work segment of the conversation. This is where we talk about what you currently do, what you enjoy about it and some of the challenges that we can add and anything else you want to share with us, particularly for audience members who might be interested in taking a similar path. So let's get started. So what do you do at Clearwater Leadership?
Maria Qadri 04:26
I do data--data analysis--scientific communication, and leadership development training.
Fatu Badiane Markey 04:34
So like all the fancy things, I really like that; and is a lot of this is built upon sort of, I guess, the experiences and like expertise that you've sort of built on just from your career right workings?
Maria Qadri 04:49
Yes, it is. And I would say that it kind of mirrors all the work that I was doing at the nonprofit at AACU. Before I left for my new role. I'm sort of going back to all that work.
Fatu Badiane Markey 05:04
Excellent. So kind of like going back to your roots, right?
Maria Qadri 05:07
Kind of.
Fatu Badiane Markey 05:07
Yeah, nice.
Shekerah Primus 05:09
Cool. I know that you've literally just started like a couple of weeks ago. Is it currently you know, a solo operation just you or do you already have employees are you hiring people?
Maria Qadri 05:21
Right now it's just a solo operation, like I need to get a couple of projects under my belt first, just me. But then I do have, I really do hope to grow the company and have people work with me or for me. And so we'll see what that looks like in another six months or a year but I'm hoping to bring on a couple of people part time by this time next year. Again, that's all born out of if there's enough work.
Shekerah Primus 05:22
I have no doubt.
Fatu Badiane Markey 05:40
Exactly, exactly. That's the disclaimer, but we are confident--150% even. So, what have you kind of maybe enjoyed, about starting your own company, or maybe what do, has that brought you a certain sense of like freedom, challenge or like opportunity that you know, you're kind of like looking to add to your I guess professional development.
Maria Qadri 06:32
I have always been afraid of entrepreneurship. So I think I mentioned this earlier, but I'm a type one diabetic. So every choice I've made in my career has been a little bit influenced by that because I've always thought about whether or not I would have health insurance. And so even now I'm terrified about the prospect of having to buy my own health insurance as a solo entrepreneur, and which is why I'm very grateful that my company has allowed me to do this sort of on the side. And so I don't have to worry about that hurdle just yet. One day when this becomes my full time gig then obviously I'm going to have to cross that bridge. And I wish that America wasn't the way that it is, in that sense, and we could probably spend a lot of time talking about it.
Fatu Badiane Markey 07:30
That would be a whole separate episode I feel but definitely I understand, yeah, what you're saying here.
Maria Qadri 07:37
I think I'm just looking forward to the challenge of having to manage my own time, which is very similar to what it's like getting your PhD right like you have a professor that is sort of guiding you but you have to decide how are you going to spend your time. So now that I have a daughter, my time is my most valuable resource. And so trying to decide; well, is it worth it for me to take on a couple of side projects, because it'll challenge me a little bit more professionally? For now the answer is yes.
Fatu Badiane Markey 08:13
Can we speak a little bit to kind of like, I know like this is, you know, like a big step and you're just getting started. But what parts of that are kind of like hard like if you're thinking about either like filling out the paperwork or like you know, any of the, I guess more detailed things that go into being the founder of an organization.
Maria Qadri 08:35
Well, I made, my husband who was a lawyer--he does intellectual property law--and I made him do my articles of organization. Fill out all that paperwork, and of course he's billing me, so I feel like we are, he's billing me his friends and family rate. I am very grateful that he did that because that's probably the stuff that I am the least well versed in. You know, building your own website is kind of the labor of love. Trying to decide you know, what it is that you do and how to describe it and tell tell your story as an entrepreneur can be a little bit difficult. I'm still figuring it out. But I had to come up with that, you know, elevator pitch pretty quickly. You know, why am I starting a company so I can do this stuff on the side of my day. My day to day.
Shekerah Primus 09:35
I love that you're keeping the money in the family. Just to pass it around.
Maria Qadri 09:43
That's how people get rich, I think.
Shekerah Primus 09:46
Exactly.
Fatu Badiane Markey 09:50
You mentioned you know kind of your ultimate goal with Clearwater Leadership, you know where you hope it goes to end up as maybe like a full time thing for you and maybe to have, you know, a couple of staff members are part of that as well. And I think that is you know, such an amazing thing to reach for and we definitely are just going to speak into existence, because we want this to happen for you, Maria. What advice would you give to others who are also interested in going, undergoing like the entrepreneurship route and sort of like taking some of what they've learned from grad school to maybe some work experience that they've had, and put it all together into like their own venture, to their own thing?
Maria Qadri 10:35
Ask a lot of questions and ask questions about everything. Billing and finance is one that we don't learn enough about as graduate students and so you don't really have to get that experience in a professional role. You kind of get that if you do like the budget side of Grants Management, but it's still it's very, very different in the professional world. Ask questions about how to win contracts, ask questions about, you know, every aspect of the work that you're already doing, and then try and see if you can do some of it on the side is the route that I'm taking. And then don't treat it as closing doors; and try to treat it as building bridges. So I am not closing a door with my current company. I'm hoping that one day we'll get to work together on a venture or two. They're always contracts out there with the government that need small businesses. And so I'm hoping that that's the route that I'll take to success at the moment.
Fatu Badiane Markey 11:41
Great. I love that. I think that's great, great advice. So Shekerah, do you have any additional questions?
Shekerah Primus 11:52
No, no, no additional questions for me. I really looking forward to see where you go with Clearwater Leadership, Maria, and you know, all of the good vibes and love and support from us. We feel pretty certain that you're gonna do great things. You've given some great advice and I can say honestly, that I learned a lot just was just listening to you talk about your experience.
Maria Qadri 12:22
Thank you.
Fatu Badiane Markey 12:23
Thank you. Yeah, so that Yeah, and I definitely wholeheartedly agree with that like 150 million percent!
Shekerah Primus 12:30
Your percentages Fatu, they are like out there!
Fatu Badiane Markey 12:35
It's like illegal math over here, but it's ok. Thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. It was really fantastic to hear that. But also, you know about this new adventure that you're starting you know, and I think we'll definitely keep an eye on where things go. If people are maybe also interested in kind of keeping an eye on what's happening with Clearwater Leadership. And, you know, maybe thinking about, I want to do something similar or maybe I want to work with you one day, what's the best way for them to reach you?
Maria Qadri 13:12
I would always say LinkedIn; that's, you know, where you and I connected, where you and I keep keep tabs on ourselves. Find me on LinkedIn or you can write me an email at CEO at Clearwater leadership dot com.
Fatu Badiane Markey 13:27
I love it! Awesome, awesome.
Shekerah Primus 13:32
Okay, so we'd like to say thank you to our listeners for supporting the podcast. If you enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe, like and share. To learn more about our guest's journey. Be sure to listen to the next journey episode. And you can reach out to us by email, at love science podcast at gmail dot com. Please send any questions or comments about the show, or suggestions for guests that you'd like to hear, you love to hear from you. Until next time,
Transcribed by https://otter.ai