Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People is coming full circle for this tenth episode!

The woman I first encountered via her podcast, is now a guest on my own show! Regular listeners will know the name of my career coach, and fellow multi-passionate, Jenni Gritters.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of community, the evolution of our career paths, and the significance of embracing your complexity without apology (along with tips for explaining that complexity to others). We go off on delightful tangents around systems thinking, the role of coaching in our careers, and the power of intuition and imagination in decision-making. We connect the dots to neuroscience and etymology —two topics we both adore —and discuss how they can help us understand where we’re going.

And I found out a few juice nuggets that even Jenni’s most loyal followers might not even know about, so stick around to the end!

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community
2. Jenni’s Book The Sustainable Solopreneur
3. Waters Center for Systems Thinking – Habits of a Systems Thinker Cards
4. LinkedIn post about teen specializing in the summer to prepare for college applications
5. The Serendipity Mindset by Christian Busch
6. World Builders podcast episode with Lindsay MacMillan
7. An incredible study on imagination
8. And another fun piece on memory & imagination
9. That’s What They Say, Michigan Public Radio podcast
10. Grammar Girl podcast
11. Telepathy Tapes (Season 2 especially for the early science of more "woo" practices)
12. The Latest Science of Growth Mindset with Carol Dweck ("The Psychology Podcast" on YouTube)
13. The Clearing Jenni's"free monthly community gathering and community coaching session designed help you create meaning, release what isn’t yours to carry, and ignite new (collaborative) insights — timed with the seasons”
14. The World Builders podcast | website

Follow Jenni on Social Media:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Substack

A few things Jenni and I discuss:

3:59 How Jenni helped inspire this podcast

5:18 Jenni’s many iterations

8:46 How Jenni created spaces of belonging as a multi-passionate

11:01 The appeal of journalism for multi-passionates

13:16 Pattern recognition and systems thinking

18:40 How naming eras can help explain your expanding identities

22:00 How freedom makes you magnetic

27:33 Thinking of our career as a non-linear journey

31:02 Thinking outside the box and using imagination to find inspiration

33:02 Trusting intuition and getting out of your own way

42:27 Improv Game

45:43 Shout out to our supportive husbands

47:14 Rapidish Fire Questions

50:39 Our shared love of etymology and neuroscience

54:0 The athletic and growth mindset in Renaissance People

Quotes from the episode:

(Jenni) We had children at the same time. We were like drowning in the pandemic at the same time. We were leaving our careers at the same time. So it's just, it's very much an honor to be here. And I feel like I've been with you for all the transitions that birthed this podcast too, like you said. So pretty damn magical.

(Jenni) I'm also the founder of a company that I am currently building called World Builders, which is basically an ecosystem, a hub for people like us to come in and learn how to step into our wealth and our visibility and all these things that come back to the fact that we were told probably for most of our lives, that our brains were not normal. And so it's a whole space of people like us, who are very explosively creative, who change their minds a lot. Who can't be summed up in one phrase. Right? I always joke, I change my bio on my social media profile like every three months.

(Jenni) But I'm not trying to make people like me anymore. Like I just think it's a zero-sum game. I don't think I'm ever gonna make sense to people, Sara!

(Sara) Yeah. We're too much. That's what I have in my LinkedIn About section, you know, I'm too much for some people and that's OK.

(Jenni) Totally!

(Sara) You've talked about a level of magnetism that I think comes about when you become more confident in yourself and stop apologizing for the complexity. Because other people want that confidence. When I've had career coaching clients, when I did my Renaissance Readers and we read the book Range, that's the number one thing people tell me that I am able to provide them, is increased confidence in their value as Renaissance People.

(Jenni) Mmm hmm. I know.

(Sara) Because the world has been telling them, you're too much. You're overwhelming me. For me, it was “you're the teacher's pet” because you want to be friends and you wanna please the teacher, which, OK, there's problems with the teacher's pet side of things. But, there's also the fact that I LIKED my teachers and they were interesting people and they're older than me and they know more than me. So I wanna learn from them!

(Jenni) And you love learning, right? I mean, I think that it's exactly right. People who are free are very magnetic.

(Sara) Your career is a journey with multiple stops. And you don't have to go one place and stay there forever. You go to all these places and you learn something there. And then you take it with you to the next place and then you make it even more fun and more exciting. And so that idea of “niche” implies one spot and you're just going to get even more and more specialized. And that's NOT where it's at! And that's not who's going to think outside the box because they're completely trapped inside the box! They're not the ones who are going to be innovative.

(Jenni) I love the phrase magic is focused intention. It's like that idea that yes, we get those downloads, right? Yes. We have these like flow states. I think our brains are just really primed to be that way. Us neurodivergent, multi-passionates, we're very creatively iterative, but you still have to do the action things, right?

Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

This episode is a family affair! I’m joined by my younger brother Brian Skellenger, the voice and creative spirit behind this podcast’s theme song. I also view him as a Renaissance Person, a label we debate over the course of the episode (in true sibling fashion). In this show, I share how my thoughts around the term “Renaissance Person” and the idea of a “Renaissance Mindset” have been morphing.

We also talk about the pros and cons of having a Renaissance Woman as an older sister, how our parents’ careers influenced our mindset, the power of improv, and being drawn to fellow Renaissance People (and NYC as a hotspot for finding them). Plus, I think you’ll be intrigued by Brian’s thought process as he designed this show’s theme song, at least I was!

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community.
2. Episode 7 Stephanie Castillo
3. Range: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David Epstein
4. Review of the play “Vestibular Sense” from Minnesota Public Radio
5. Take it With You newsletter for job seekers
6. Packing Your Skillset Suitcase newsletter issue
7. AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies downloadable list of “the 100 greatest American movies of all time” (released in 1998 and updated with a 10-year anniversary list in 2007, which isn’t actually 10 years so I don’t understand their math)
8. What are Overtones? YouTube Short video by Eric Martin
9. OVERTONES! What are overtones? What do they sound like? Longer YouTube video explaining the science of overtones more deeply by KHensenMusic and all sorts of awesome examples from singing groups
10. Water Whys Spring 2026 Visual SciComm Seminar Series
11. Making Math Inclusive for Everyone with Microsoft 365 blog post by Peter Wu
12. LinkedIn post by Sara Shunkwiler about the new #Microsoft365Math hashtag with link to recording of talk about math accessibility (and the post she’s resharing talks about being a survivor, even more serendipity)
13. LinkedIn post by Ailee Dixon announcing her new role as a Blind Disability & STEM Equity Advocate
14. Magnet Theater in Manhattan, NYC. Performance schedule for Brian’s improv team, Lil’ Spoon.

Follow Brian on Social Media:

Instagram | YouTube

A few things Brian and I discuss:

2:09 Brian’s rejection of my potential terms for his identity, why he feels like a “survivalist”, and he defines the term.

6:22 How my definition of “Renaissance Person” and the “Renaissance Mindset” is morphing

9:02 Big sister Sara embarrasses her little brother

11:44 Living in the shadow of a Renaissance Person older sibling and finding theater

14:52 The impact of our parents’ careers on our mindset

20:55 The power of improv (and why Renaissance People are particularly good at it)

25:20 Rejecting hyper specialization

31:35 Brian’s performance in the show ‘Vestibular Sense” and how his Renaissance Mindset helped him land the lead role’

34:50 The toolkit of skills we bring with us throughout our career

36:05 How connecting the dots means being empathetic in the arts

38:27 Being drawn to fellow Renaissance People

42:06 Brian’s though process in creating the Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People theme song

48:28 Improv Game with the snarkiest response yet to “You know you’re a Renaissance Person if…”

50:27 Rapidish Fire Questions

52:10 Why our childhood jobs at a movie rental store were great Renaissance Person jobs

56:07 The challenge of math accessibility for blind or visually impaired learners (and Sara’s upcoming free virtual seminar speakers on the topic)

58:07 Why you should go to Magnet Theater if you’re in Manhattan on a Thursday evening to see musical improv (and possibly Brian’s improv team)

Quotes from the episode:

(Brian) Well, of course I couldn't pick anything that you picked for me!

(Sara) Oh, course not! Big sister can't tell you what to do.

(Brian) I have to be an original.

(Brian) At least maybe other people like you would say that I am a Renaissance Person or something. But I picked a word and then I like looked it up and it has a completely different meaning. So I'm changing the meaning of this word...

(Sara) Do it!

(Brian) Like, beware Webster's Dictionary. You're getting a new entry!

(Sara) He's in a fighting mood!

(Brian) Exactly!

(Brian) I do agree that, while I don't necessarily consider myself a Renaissance Person, I do think that I have a well-rounded skillset and mindset. And I think part of that was like, I mean, I'm sure some of that is just genetic or whatever. But I think having you as an older sibling to model sort of like, you can be good at everything if you want to be. If you have the aptitude for it. That set the bar pretty high, which was both daunting, but also freeing in a way

(Sara) Yeah.

(Brian) I didn't feel super self-conscious about like being interested in a wide variety of things when some other kids were sort of hyper specializing.

(Brian) I figured out that I could sort of turn something that was an insecurity into something that made people laugh, which is, 'cause I was cast as this really nerdy character. And I was a dork, as a kid and I still am. I was so nervous that the other kids were gonna laugh at me in a "make fun of me" sort of way.

(Sara) Yeah.

(Brian) But then, when I was able to like, oh, I'm entertaining these people. They're laughing with me in a way.

(Sara) And you have control over the laughter. I'm making it happen.

(Brian) I think improv has a lot of good applications outside of just being entertaining because improv theaters do workshops and stuff for businesses and it's a great tool to just learn how to “Yes, and...” somebody else's idea that might be completely different than what you had in mind.

Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

Welcome to Queued for Thought, a curated podcast playlist!

I'm Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, host of the podcast Connecting the Dots with The Renaissance People.

Queued for Thought is a project I've created where I get to practice that skill of connecting the dots between conversations happening in different realms.

In this episode, I explain how these playlists will work and my personal philosophy on populating my podcast queue.

This first playlist connects the dots between conversations around loneliness, healing and connecting. It features podcast episodes from A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek and Inquiring Minds.

Check it out on the Listen Notes website and from there, subscribe to it on your favorite podcast streaming platform.

Queued for Thought will come out sporadically when I’m feeling inspired. If you’d like to know each time a new episode drops, sign up for my Renaissance People Community listserv.

This episode is what happens when I spend an hour chatting with a grad school friend about some of our favorite topics! I'm joined by Jess Rowell, a fellow Renaissance Woman, who teaches 6th and 8th grade science and STEM in Maryland. Jess discusses how her industry spanning career and world travels have impacted her teaching philosophy. We talk about the unique challenges the pandemic has created for her current 6th grade students and how she's connecting the dots for them during the school day. Jess shares her love of space (and not-so-secret desire to bring more space education to schools). Plus, we learn why boats are so important in her life.

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community
2. Book the poster “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten” is based on
3. Critique of phrase “Learning Loss” and another perspective on “learning loss”
4. Knowles theory of Andragogy (adult learning theory)
5. Obituary for UW-Madison Plants and Man professor Tim Allen (yes, I’m recommending you read an obituary) and another article about him which describes the “sandbox” I was honored to be part of briefly.
6. Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
7. Sisbro Productions Main Page | Kids Stuff ("The Marvelous Musical Report of the Marine National Monuments" is a video Jess shows every year on the last day of school) | “The Riddle in a Bottle” Trailer
8. The Science of Thinking video
9. Dr. Derek Muller: The key to effective educational science videos | Veritasium Channel
10. Episode 3 Melissa Vining
11. Jenni Gritters: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram
12. Episode 2 Nancy Scales Coddington
13. Next Generation Science Standards introductory video by fellow MSSE graduate, Paul Andersen
14. NASA Spinoffs Game | Main Page | Technology Transfer

Follow Jess on Social Media:

LinkedIn | Instagram (Full Circle Wins) & Instagram (STEMJourneys)

A few things Jess and I discuss:

4:23 Our virtual grad school as preparation for COVID-19 pandemic adjustments

5:57 Jess’s Venn Diagram

8:09 Science vs STEM (and other acronyms)

12:27 Integrating academic subjects across student’s school day

18:21 Unique COVID impacts on current 6th graders due to kindergarten disruption

21:37 The problem with the phrase “learning loss”

24:44 Sharing the “why” behind what students are learning to get buy in

31:18 Science integration resources

38:17 Making people curious about you

41:59 Telling stories to bring meaning to your message and work

43:40 Improv Game

44:27 Sara’s "Brain Dump" idea

48:05 Rapidish Fire Questions

53:16 Combining game development ideas with teaching/learning

Quotes from the episode:

(Jess) If you're a science teacher, you can be talking with the math teacher. You can be talking with the art teacher. You can be talking with the social studies teacher. And going at bare minimum, to see what their lessons are doing at that time. Looking at the whole day of a sixth grader and how we can be giving those bridges. I've been saying bridges, just for lack of a metaphorical term, how we can be working together to at least make that student's experience more cohesive.

(Jess) What we're seeing now is just a completely, just unpracticed group of students. So I joke that we've just spent the last four months just getting these kids ready to do school. And that's something we do in September and Shocktober and not necessarily through January. So just now seeing our students develop those basic maturities to be available to learn.

(Jess) If they're asked to write a claim, well that's a claim in one class, but a hook in a different class or vice versa. Like maybe we should just call it all claim or call it all hook. Because if we can make those things a little bit more similar, then they at least have that connection

(Sara) How do you introduce your Renaissance Woman's self to somebody new who you're maybe hoping will fund your next big, way out there, wonderfully woven, connecting-the-dots idea. How do you introduce yourself to them so that they realize that you are this like complex, multi-passionate person, but not overwhelm them and talk their head off for 45 minutes when they just ask you, so tell me a little bit about yourself?

(Jess) Oh, you always ask the hardest questions, Sara.

(Sara) You know me, I like to jab it in there.

(Jess) I've tried all sorts of different elevator speeches. I resonated with things like I help bring science and media full circle. That's one that's kind of worked for me because then that allows them to ask whatever question that they want, that they happen to get in that moment, to ask me the next question. Because if I try to push it all down somebody's throat, they're not gonna get it. So if you've got a little teaser aspect to it, then that seems to help a little bit.

(Sara) Make them curious. Inspire curiosity.

(Jess) Yeah. Make it their idea. Make curiosity their idea, not your idea.

(Jess) Just about every major life-changing decision I've made has been on a boat. With somebody who has less than average access to a boat, I'm not near a boating community. It's not part of my life. I'm feeling like there's some tie in there. And I carried an elk out of the forest by myself once.

(Sara) Wow! OK. So with the boat one, I think there's a metaphor. And I'm expecting a really well thought out blog post or LinkedIn post about that because I feel like there's gotta be some sort of metaphor going on there.

(Jess) Challenge accepted.

Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

This week’s guest is the third person on this show from the realm of science communication (if you include me). Stephanie Castillo is a Jill-of-all-trades multimedia producer who creates science videos for YouTube. But the path to get here wasn’t easy. We discuss how she overcame her academic adversity to successfully pitch her own interdisciplinary PhD. We talk about our lives as lifelong learners, full of curiosity and a desire to do everything (and the importance of supportive parents for this lifestyle). Common themes from past episodes, include crossing boundaries, identity work, neurodivergence as well as our roles as dot connectors, arose as well.

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community. Find our latest activities on my website.
2. Generalist vs Specialist vs Versatilist article
3. ComSciCon program for graduate students
4. Three Star Coloring critique from the Occuplaytional Therapist
5. Collaborations Across Scientific Disciplines, commissioned lit review for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
6. Great science communicators on Instagram to check out (many are other platforms too): Alex Dainis, Maynard Okereke, Naomi Kohbelic, Harini Bhat, Jessica Knurick, Scientific America
7. Reimagining STEM Workforce Development as a Braided River paper
8. SciComm Hotline podcast hosted by Stephanie Castillo and Reyhaneh Maktoufi
9. Stephanie’s website

Follow Stephanie on Social Media:

YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok

A few things Stephanie and I discuss:

1:36 Being a Jill-of-all-trades and the icky feelings around “generalist”

5:32 Science communicators and versatility

8:01 Stephanie’s bumpy ride from chemistry PhD to science communicator

15:46 The importance of being interdisciplinary

16:57 Lifelong learning, curiosity and creativity

21:37 Communicating across boundaries

27:26 Connecting the dots for scientists who want to use social media

32:23 Using the umbrella term of “multimedia producer”

34:21 A life of doing everything

36:36 Neurodivergence in Renaissance People

40:10 Parental support for experimenting and exploring

41:58 Improv Game

43:05 Identities and moving from “I am” to “I do”

46:54 Rapidish Fire Questions

Quotes from the episode:

(Stephanie) How do you feel about the term generalist?

(Sara) Interesting that you brought it up! Because I have a book club right now going on, called Renaissance Readers and we're reading Range by David Epstein. So the title of the book is Range: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World. And the first question that I asked everybody in the group is, "What do you think of the word generalist? And across the board, everybody had icky vibes from it. And I too felt the same way.

(Stephanie) I was told by my first advisor when I brought up my struggles that like, maybe I should just master out. I should just do my master's, you know. Maybe I'm not cut out for the PhD. And I'm like, that's not what I came to grad school for.

(Stephanie) I've just always been like a lifelong learner. I just always like to learn and do different things. And so, growing up I tried every sport that I wanted to do. Like I always tried to teach myself how to craft different things. And so I felt like I was just always a curious and a tinkerer in the sense of I always wanted to be doing something, so I'll try everything. And so even now, I finished like a really large, exhausting gig. And I'm like, I'm gonna pick up embroidery. Like why not?

(Stephanie) I think that's what kind of also lended itself for me having to force myself to be a Jack or Jill-of-all-trade. Especially as like a freelance science communicator. I'm often just a one woman band. And so I have to film myself. I have to edit myself. I have to pick the music. I have to write the script, fact check this. There's so much skills that go into just producing one video that can just be like a minute long

(Sara) People underestimate...They have no idea how much...

(Stephanie) Exactly! So much decision making goes into it. And even for those content creators that are just like in their rooms posting. It still takes effort and time and planning to make something that's worth people stopping their scroll to engage with.

(Stephanie) It's just also knowing when to pivot. It's just like, oh, no one can help me with this thing? How do I help myself? And, oh, I liked photography and I love YouTube. It's probably the same thing. Let me just pick up a camera and learn how to video edit. You know? Like, it's just comes from a place of, I can figure it out. And I'm going to figure it out. And if I don't how to do that thing, I'm gonna teach myself how to do it because we have YouTube and I'll figure it out.

Follow me, Renaissance Woman Sara Kobilka, on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

I'm back to having guests after two solo episodes! In this week's episode, multipassionate Renaissance Woman, Marika Luneau joined in the fun.

Marika is a fellow solopreneur dedicated to supporting purpose-drive professionals. Like me, she hosts LinkedIn Sprints and is a community builder. Our conversation ranged across numerous topics including LinkedIn strategy (focused on authenticity and community building), the importance of finding our people, neurospicy tendencies amongst Renaissance People, finding the right balance when telling your story and so much more. Speaking of stories, Marika shared a number for her life that even many of her friends and frequent collaborators don't know! So sit back, grab a drink of your choice, and enjoy the show!

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Sign up for updates on my podcast and what's happening in the Renaissance People Community and find our latest activities on my website.
2. Jenni Gritters: Website, LinkedIn, Instagram
3. Research on ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) diagnosis differences between girls and boys
4. Research on the overlap between diagnosis of PMDD (premenstrual dysmorphic disorder) and ADHD
5. Sandy (Sandra) Bean: LinkedIn
6. Jamie Cox: Website
7. Andrea Reeves: Website
8. Alex Alcon: Website
9. Maggie Blackburn: Website
10. Jamie Hamre: LinkedIn
11. Michelle Obama says 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' is the worst question you can ask a kid Business Insider article
12. Patrick Meaney’s LinkedIn post about shaping your career like a bramble
13. Marika’s website
14. Videos of Marika performing basketball tricks as a child: spinning a basketball in a show at 1-year-old, doing tricks at 6, spinning 5 balls simultaneously, and dribbling 3 basketballs in a show at 7

Follow Marika on Social Media:

LinkedIn | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube

A few things Marika and I discuss:

1:52 Finding your people

2:53 Jenni Gritters Lovefest

6:28 Repressed women’s voices in STEM and business

10:17 Perfectionism vs good enough

13:35 Repelling people who aren’t right for you

15:38 Fear of visibility while craving community

17:04 LinkedIn strategy

22:14 Secret Life of Marika pt 1 and 2 (end-of-life doula and wedding venue owner)

23:53 Focused messaging using umbrella terms

27:34 Uniting business and non-profit people

28:29 Venn diagram lovefest

30:38 Toxic bureaucratic slowdowns

33:46 Neurospicy tendencies in Renaissance People (and how ChatGPT helped Marika realize she had ADHD)

39:09 Resources for women and non-binary Renaissance People who are entrepreneurs

42:17 Small talk struggles as Renaissance Women

43:17 Embracing our many iterations

48:04 Improv Game

50:00 Rapidish Fire Questions, Secret Life of Marika pt 3 (basketball trick performer)

Quotes from the episode:

Honestly, I think in community with other Renaissance, multi-passionate people, one of the biggest things I've learned about having this personality type and this type of brain is we cannot take advice from people who don't have this type of brain. We cannot take advice from people who are like in the traditional mold, one path, niche down, value prop…all of those really strict guardrails that come with traditional business practices...not good advice for us. (Marika)

(Marika interacting with Chat GPT) I was like, just randomly, do you think I have ADHD or even autism? Like could I be on the spectrum? Just so randomly said it. And it was like, “You might wanna sit down for this…” No joke. That was the line. (Marika)

You've got a saucy ChatGPT there! (Sara)

Yes. She reflects me. She reflects my voice. So she is very sassy and girly for sure. (Marika)

I never wanna be like, 'No Marika, focus. Don't make an archetypes quiz right now. You have bigger fish to fry.' It's like, no, make the types quiz if it feeds your soul. Because your soul is what generates all of this work to begin with. As soon as we lose our buzz and our spark and our motivation, the whole thing kind of fizzles out. (Marika)

It's so funny. Because I'm talking about all these things that I'm like, don't tell anyone you're doing this. But that's what I'm doing! I'll give an example. Like full transparency... (Marika)

This is the space for it, though. (Sara)

Exactly! (Marika)

We're all Renaissance nerds here! (Sara)

Sometimes I've misread the room and I think we're about to go so deep. I'm like, “Yeah, let's talk about…death! Let's talk about the experience of it. What was the most beautiful death you ever witnessed?” And everyone's like, “Uh... uh... What do you do for a living?” (Marika)

“I just came here for the wine and free hors d'oeuvres...” (Sara)

Yeah, I don't know. But again, I think with this type of brain we don't necessarily have an off switch. (Marika)

Follow me on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

This is another unplanned mini episode thanks to illness. In it, I talk about illness, injury, and caregiving and the impact it has on Renaissance People.

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Check out Jenni Gritter's CREATE program.
2. Join as a guest on my show! If you're a Renaissance Person, complete this quick form and I’ll get back to you as I’m scheduling recording dates.
3. Sign up to get updates about this podcast and the Renaissance People Community I'm building.

Follow me on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

1. Join as a guest on my show! If you're a Renaissance Person, complete this quick form and I’ll get back to you as I’m scheduling recording dates.
2. Sign up to get updates about this podcast and the Renaissance People Community I'm building.
3. Thank you to my amazing guests, Ep. 2 Nancy Scales Coddington and Ep. 3 Melissa Vining.
4. SciGirls from Twin Cities Public Television
5. Interesting interview with Kimberlé Crenshaw, the professor who coined the term "intersectionality".
6. Learn more about two-spirit from an award-winning podcast episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild.
7. Have thoughts about question regarding other terms for Renaissance People? Email me at [email protected].

Follow me on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

If you're extra curious, check out Renaissance Woman Consulting to learn more about some of the many types of work I do.

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

In this episode, I am joined by Boundary Spanner Melissa Vining. In a multi-faceted conversation, Melissa and I talk about many topics of shared interest aka our significantly overlapping Venn diagrams. The conversation weaves its way through music, teaching, storytelling using a golden thread to support your message, career coaching, neurodivergence and motherhood, and our mutual past as people who grew up in Minnesota and moved away.

We explore some of the unique contradictory qualities of AuDHDers who have both an autism and ADHD diagnosis and the challenges of neurodivergent job seekers. Melissa delighted me by offering a challenge to one of my rapidish fire question about using metaphors.

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

• CliftonStrengths Assessment
• Sara’s episode on Melissa’s podcast, Job Search for High-Performing Misfits
• Sara's Find Your Golden Thread offer
• The Neurodivergent Woman Podcast
• CSCCE Series on Gardening as a Metaphor for Community Management
• Range: Why Generalists Thrive in a Specialized World by David Epstein (misspoken during the podcast)
• Neurodiversity in the Workplace: website and podcast/YouTube
• The Anxious Achiever podcast with Morra Aarons-Mele
• Dialect Quiz (warning, this inaccurately guessed where I’m from, but it does mention the bubbler)
• Find Your Local American Job Center

Follow Melissa on Social Media:

LinkedIn | YouTube

A few things Melissa and I discuss:

• 2:45 Being outside-the-box
• 4:02 Music and teaching (and “flutist” vs “flautist”)
• 7: 18 CliftonStrengths
• 10:27 Finding your golden thread
• 11:40 Renaissance People thrive in innovative spaces
• 13:28 Goal focused vs process focused environments and the issue with school systems
• 15:31 Overlap between Renaissance People and “neurospicy” folks
• 16:20 Changes in ADHD and autism diagnoses
• 20:53 Neurodivergence and the job search
• 22:16 Misfits finding their place
• 26:11 Explaining your complexity with stories and a golden thread
• 32:20 Using caution around AI and telling your story during your job search
• 34:57 Improv Game
• 37:06 Rapidish Fire Questions

Quotes from the Episode:

• "Where a lot of people tend to approach things as, ‘oh, this is how we've always done it’. Or maybe even if they don't explicitly say that, they're thinking of, ‘how can we build off of what we have?’ What I tend to do is just want to level the thing and just start from the ground up, and I find that when I approach problems or projects in that way, I tend to get a lot better results." (Melissa)
• "I think as a boundary spanner or Renaissance Person, you end up taking pieces of each thing and kind of incorporating it into everything that you do, which has definitely been the case for me." (Melissa)
• "So if we were to draw a Venn diagram of your interests and my interests, the amount of overlap would be amazing. Like your background, your experience, when I went on your podcast (which we will also link to in the show notes, take a drink) I was like, this is like... this is my sister from another mister!" (Sara)
• "The other thing that's so interesting that I think happens so often is that when you're AuDHD, you have autism and ADHD, those things kind of cover each other up or compensate for each other in different ways. Which also ties into your idea about being kind of a contradiction because they're kind of contradictory neurotypes essentially." (Melissa)
• "People always are like, how is it that I can remember a song I learned when I was six, but I can't remember my password? And it's like, well, you know, learning things through music does something different in your brain." (Sara)
• "When I first started talking about my career path and the fact that I had more than 20 jobs before I was 30 years old. I was so freaked out to go tell everyone about it on my webinars, but then I got such a positive reaction because people could relate to it. And they were like, OK, she understands me." (Melissa)

Calling all Renaissance People!

If you’re a Renaissance Person who’d like to join the conversation as a guest on my show, complete this quick form and I’ll get back to you as I’m scheduling recording dates.

Follow me, your host, Sara Kobilka on LinkedIn, where I put most of my social media energy and Facebook.

Stay updated about the Renaissance People Community I am building. This podcast is just one part of a multifaceted project because that’s how Renaissance People roll!

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media

In this first guest episode, I chat with my longtime friend and collaborator, Nancy Scales Coddington. Nancy is a multipassionate, operating at the intersection of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), creativity and fun.

In a wide-ranging conversation, we cover topics including what it means to be a Renaissance Person, responsible science storytelling, refusing to niche down, the fun of blowing things up with liquid nitrogen, where creativity is found in STEM, and combining dance and movement with STEM.

Promised Show Notes Materials (take a drink):

• Nancy's Galaxy Goddess Dress Instagram posts: Reinvent Magazine, Making the dress and fashion show, ONE-SPACE event and Costa Rica Yuri's Night  
• Nancy’s Anti-niche/on a tangent Instagram post
• SciComm Solutions website
• SciGirls and National Girls Collaborative Project
• WSKG's Science Pub YouTube Channel
• Nancy’s Trees with mist Instagram post
• Sara's LinkedIn rant on the left brain, right brain poster
• Integrating Science and Dance from the Kennedy Center for the Arts
• WSKG's YouTube Videos about movement
• BONUS - Not discussed, but check out the Dance Your PhD contest winners (warning, MAJOR rabbit hole of videos) and local organizations like the NYC-based STEM From Dance.
• WSKG's YouTube video Women in Entomology: Meet the Superheroes of Insect Science
• Princess Awesome – Maker of Sara’s pi dress and other clothes that smash stereotypes
• Sara and Nancy having fun (and Sara’s pi dress)

Follow Nancy on Social Media:

Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | X | YouTube

A few things Nancy and I discuss:

• 4:09 Science Storytelling
• 4:28 Defining "Renaissance Person"
• 8:02 Where Nancy thrives as a Renaissance Person
• 9:40 Being anti-niche
• 12:43 How Nancy connects the dots for STEM curious educators and youth to build STEM identity
• 15:16 Working in science museums and the fun of blowing things up and making food with liquid nitrogen
• 16:20 Building science communication skills
• 20:05 Using emotion in storytelling including responsibly using negative emotions
• 24:15 Increased distrust of science during the pandemic
• 25:03 Creativity in "left brain" and "right brain" activities
• 29:46 Creativity in science and math vs engineering and technology
• 37:14 Dancing and movement with STEM
• 40:44 Explaining your complexity without overwhelming the listener
• 44:53 Improv Game: "You might be a Renaissance Person if..."
• 47:23 Rapidish Fire Questions

Quotes from the Episode:

• "When I hear somebody say, stay in your lane, I'm like, oh...that sounds like a challenge. (Nancy) Challenge accepted! (Sara)
• "Visually, how do you translate the story of the universe into an outfit? You know, not a collection? One outfit... (Nancy) This is not Project Runway folks. This is, you know, one episode. (Sara) Make it work! (Nancy)"
• "I love weather because I call it the gateway drug to STEM. And I can talk to a 3-year-old and I can talk to a 93-year-old with dementia. And it's that word relevant. It matters in their life." (Sara)
• "But people, I know this is a spoiler people, normal people don't read white papers. (Nancy) Except for Renaissance nerds who read it for fun like me. (Sara)"
• "My elevator speech is that I help to bridge science with storytelling. I help the STEM curious to find their STEM identity and space in out-of-school or afterschool spaces." (Nancy)
• "Where there's gonna be STEM and creativity and fun is where you're gonna find me." (Nancy)

Calling all Renaissance People!

If you’re a Renaissance Person who’d like to join the conversation as a guest on my show, complete this quick form and I’ll get back to you as I’m scheduling recording dates.

Follow me, your host, Sara Kobilka on LinkedIn, where I put most of her social media energy and Facebook.

Stay updated about the Renaissance People Community I am building. This podcast is just one part of a multifaceted project because that’s how Renaissance People roll!

And should you care to support the production of this podcast, I'd love it if you'd buy me an oat milk cappuccino, the caffeinated beverage of my choice.

This podcast is hosted and edited by Sara Kobilka.

Theme music is by Brian Skellenger

Podcast distribution support provided by K.O. Myers of Particular Media