Biologist, science communicator and digital content creator Sofia G. Martinez-Villalpando is a speaker, book reviewer, and international celebrity and influencer in the field of science communication. Her Spanish-language science communication videos as The Biologist Apprentice, an online resource featuring blogs, videos, and photography about biology, have garnered over 2.5 million views on YouTube and 200K followers on Facebook! I chatted with Sofia about creating a science communication platform from scratch and pursuing a career in scicomm.

You’ve garnered quite an audience through your science communication work! Tell me, how did The Biologist Apprentice come to be and what is it like to be a part of the YouTube science education community?

Throughout the years, The Biologist Apprentice has evolved from the hobby of a nineteen-year-old to setting the basis of my career as a professional science communicator.

While pursuing my formal education in biology, I noticed that many people related very little to biology and science fields in general. I think this happens because these disciplines are full of technical terms that are hard to understand for laypeople. This experience inspired me to start a platform that could deliver information in a much more dynamic and easy way, make it fun and engaging, and, along the way, make people become more conscious about our natural world. Over time I started using social media with the purpose of promoting my website. That is how my blog – now turned YouTube channel – The Biologist Apprentice began.

Nowadays, I love getting to be a part of the science education community on YouTube and I feel a great responsibility because I know there are a lot of people watching my content. I always make sure to source all the information I provide on my videos and be as accurate as possible.

I’m incredibly proud that I’ve been able to build my own project, shape it in the way I want, bring together my own community, and provide myself a platform where my voice matters and in which I am able to influence others to create action to protect the environment. This allows me to try new things with my content, even outside of the digital world. For example, I developed my entrepreneurial side during my undergraduate senior year, where I developed a business plan to print ecological t-shirts made with water-based ink on cotton fabric with the purpose of creating awareness and obtaining funds to make the activities of The Biologist Apprentice economically self-sustaining. I’m also incredibly grateful for my family, friends, and colleagues who always encourage me and support me in all my projects.

Speaking of offline activities, you’re a highly coveted speaker at science communication festivals in Mexico and around the world. Has the recent pandemic put a stop to that or have you been able to get in front of audiences in other ways?

It has been almost the same except for the fact that I’ve been busier and because of the travel restrictions I have had to do all my live presentations online. That said, the pandemic has also allowed me to develop new strategies to create more content to keep my audience watching, such as uploading videos more than once a week, making interviews with my scicomm friends, and, of course, start creating shorter videos for TikTok. Overall it’s brought me the opportunity to continue learning to increase my skills in storytelling, production, and filmmaking to improve as a science communicator.

“I want to keep making science a relevant topic of positive impact, particularly for new generations, and so I’m focused on giving each of my videos a meaning that can inspire anyone, motivate conversations, or even encourage them to take action.”

Sofía Villalpando
Science Communicator

You’re certainly a model to follow in the science communication world, having created such a large platform for science outreach from the ground up. How do you see the future of the science communication industry developing well as your role within it moving forward?

I don’t know what the future holds for me but I’m already excited about it. I would like to keep creating and developing innovative strategies to produce better content and be able to bring value to new projects that may come.

A big personal moment for me came when I had the opportunity to attend SMASH (Science Media Awards & Summit in the Hub) as a fellow in 2018. It was a great experience and was the first time I realized that there’s a whole industry where it’s possible to pursue a career doing science communication. It was at that moment when everything clicked together. I’m focused on continuing to develop my career as a science communicator in order to become a leader in the field. I want to be a competitive professional and keep working on social digital platforms that are constantly evolving. I want to establish new ways to disseminate scientific knowledge for the good of society at large.

What’s next for The Biologist Apprentice, as well as your communication projects at-large?

I have been developing some ideas for future projects. One of them is a series about some animal species from my home country of Mexico. I want to tell their stories before these species go extinct while adding some new and exciting elements in the development of these stories to make them more relevant and engaging. I hope that this will encourage their protection and conservation because some of these animals are already endangered.

Additionally, I continue to work every day to understand my growing audience in order to improve my science communication techniques and to make my content more engaging. I want to keep making science a relevant topic of positive impact, particularly for new generations, and so I’m focused on giving each of my videos a meaning that can inspire anyone, motivate conversations, or even encourage them to take action.

You can learn more about The Biologist Apprentice and Sofia’s upcoming projects at her website, Twitter (@sofiabiologista), TikTok (@sofiabiologista), Facebook, and on YouTube.