Stephani Page, postdoctoral research associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), remembers her first exposure to science, doing experiments with family as a young child. “The first science experi­ment that I remember doing was with my mother. I was around four, and my brothers and I eagerly huddled around my mother as she lit a match, dropped it into a bottle with a tiny opening. There was sheer amazement as the large boiled egg she placed on top next was sucked into the bottle. I remember the way she would explain what was happening,” she shares. “Much to my chagrin, I walked out of the private portion of my disserta­tion defense to the sound of my mother telling the best and worst of my at-home science experiments to an eager crowd.”

Page was interested in science as a child, but planned an unconventional career. “I just knew that I was going to be a fashion designer. Not just any fashion designer, I was going to be a scientifically oriented fashion designer,” she says. “I was going to develop new textiles. I was also going to use my fame and riches to fund my research efforts. Lofty.”

Rather than pursuing that unique path, Page attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she earned her bach­elor of science degree in chemical engineering and her master of science in biology. She then went on to pursue her PhD. “During my PhD recruit­ment weekend at UNC, a figure who can only be described as a slightly aged Indiana Jones called out my name and those of three other applicants. That day, I bonded with Barry Lentz over the fact that I called my great-grandfather ‘PopPop’ — a name that Barry’s grandchildren had also lovingly bestowed upon Barry,” she says. “As I learned more in that conversation about biophysics, I began to see my background meld together. It was as if puzzle pieces were coming together, revealing a bit more of what ‘my sci­ence’ would look like.”

That summer, Page participated in the inaugural year of the Biophysical Society Summer Research Program, led by Lentz. The program had a pow­erful impact on her career. “It served as a transition into my PhD program. I met my dissertation advisor and the majority of my committee during the program,” she says. “My personal support system includes people from my cohort and from the cohorts that followed. The power in the program is giving students who need it the ability to do research, take courses, and net­work at an R1 institution. It’s one of the best designed summer programs for leveling the playing field.”

Page continued on to her PhD studies at UNC, earning her degree in bio­chemistry and biophysics in 2016. “Under the guidance of Robert Bourret and Ruth Silversmith, I studied microbial signal transduction in my disserta­tion work. My research interests were centered around functional variation within a family of protein and my discovery of a small molecule analog for a component of pathways we were interested in,” she explains. “Bob and Ruth introduced me to signaling and thinking about it from a more mechanistic perspective. I knew that I wanted to continue that while expanding to a more systems biology view — this is what led me to Henrik Dohlman’s lab and my current work.”

Now a postdoctoral research associate in the Dohlman lab in the department of pharmacol­ogy at UNC, Page’s primary focus is developing a method of simultaneously measuring different intracellular compounds. “I also have the plea­sure of working with a graduate student and an undergraduate student who are doing biophysical analyses of G-proteins and studying pheromone-induced autophagy, respectively,” she says.

“I get mesmerized when I am sitting through biophysics talks,” she says. “I think it’s the way you get to see things. It’s the way you can answer questions about the mechanisms that underlie the workings of the world around us. Tools are being developed because we find new ways to apply math and physics to answering biological ques­tions. I love it.”

In addition to spending her time in the lab and mentoring, Page has dedicated herself to fostering community for scientists and other STEM pro­fessionals of color. “I was partly inspired by the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity pro­gram at UNC. It made such a difference to have the community on campus. I also noticed that social media was being utilized to connect people of common interests and experiences. I wanted to connect and be a conduit for others to make connections around being black and navigat­ing STEM fields,” she explains. She initiated the hashtag #BLACKandSTEM on Twitter in hopes of connecting with others sharing experiences similar to her own. “BLACKandSTEM quickly exceeded my expectations in reach, in participa­tion, and in its ability to be a platform to amplify different voices. It has been a very affirming experience.” Through her online outreach, Page has also improved her own skillset and network. “A lot of the communication between science and society happens online. Communicating with 140 characters in a way that reaches people is not easy — but it is valuable,” she says. “Maintaining and building new relationships is a skill in and of itself, and it is a helpful skill to have as science is very collaborative.”

Michael Johnson, University of Arizona, was a mentor of Page’s during her PhD studies. “She was my first scientific mentee. She made me ap­preciate mentoring in a way I hadn’t before. This was very influential in my decision to pursue heading my own research group in an academic environment,” he says. “With BLACKandSTEM, Stephani has organically created a community that has hundreds of scientists both current and aspiring. She is an amazing person. I am happy to know her and be inspired by her.”

Page’s engagement with the topic of diversity in STEM is also encouraged by the role she values most: motherhood. “Raising a black child has caused me to interact with the topic of diversity, inclusion, and equity very differently. My passion has become intensified as my son grows and imag­ines himself doing different things. When he says he wants to be a scientist, I am proud, humbled, conflicted, and frustrated — the institution of biomedical research has not been effective in making the necessary changes that reflect TRUE diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she says. “As brilliant as my child is, I am not sure that his experience will be very different from mine or my colleagues who are from underrepresented groups. That’s not good enough for me. That’s not good enough for my son. It is, though, one reason for my continued work toward my goals. I love what I do. And I get to put forth my effort to see change for others like me. I get to make the way better for my son.”