thank you for being here. or at least…thank you for finding your way to my very small corner of the internet. in terms of entrepreneurship, this alone is a huge feat! so, thank you. make sure you leave your cookies here too (is that how they work?)
i believe there are a few reasons why you are here. why become a public scholar? and i hope i will get to hear your story soon enough. in the meantime, let me tell you mine.
[after many unfulfilling years on the tenure track punctuated by a worldwide pandemic, i realized life was too short not play an active role. i wanted more from life and work. i was watching my life go by, buried under the pressure i put on myself in a system that did not support me. it took a frank conversation with a stranger for me to even see life beyond the tenure track. what could i do with a sport management PhD outside of higher education? it didn’t matter. i left with out a plan in sight. but this allowed me the time and space needed to reflect on how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. it was during this ‘down time’ when a scholar approached me offering a freelance role helping build her public scholar profile. she inadvertently started me on a path to unlocking a future that would include building a company dedicated to making research more accessible to the public.]
tl:dr: i quit my tenure track job and eventually launched a company to support academics who want to become public scholars.
and now back to you. you are out here creating knowledge! what a superpower. and maybe you are feeling like the world beyond the classroom and academic circles need to hear what you have to say. if there is one thing you, dear reader, should know is…you have a unique intellectual perspective on the topic you have dedicated your life to studying. remember all those times our advisors told us to find the gap?! you did it! now you must make it known! and imagine the work you do impacting the very people it is meant for. no matter how niche or hyper-focused, your work is important.
and while all that sounds lovely and very clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose, where does one start? with what time? and to be a public scholar on Al Gore’s internet in these times!? sounds like there are more reasons to stay in your little corner of the world where it is safe and comfortable.
and yet…here you are. dipping your toe ever so slightly into the public scholarship waters, thinking about jumping in, but also considering what lies beneath the murky, but refreshing waters. you got yourself here, and that’s half the battle. you made the decision to see what public scholarship could look like for you. i don’t know you, but i’m proud of you for getting this far (literally and figuratively).
so let me tell you a little about how this works. while developing the framework for this company and the services we will provide, i recognized that public scholarship requires two distinct focal areas – personal branding and communication skills. we know: a) these are not skills we are taught in graduate school, and b) how hard it is to communicate the work we do without diminishing its rigor. this, coupled with working toward a publishable document, provides a foundation of skills that you can carry on far beyond our sessions. our goal is to ensure that you don’t need us beyond our base services. you can absolutely do this work, and we will show you how. we will work within a time-bound frame, as we know how valuable and precious any free time can be. and we will strategize how to keep that same energy as you and your research evolve.
if you want to talk more about where and how to start your public scholarship journey, you can schedule a free 30 minute strategy session, where we will (you guessed it) strategize how you can achieve your goals.
whether you choose to use our services or not, i hope the information in this space will help you achieve your goals. otherwise, i hope you will come back for my musings, some good public scholarship, and my continued refusal to appropriately use capitalization.
thanks for being here.
alicia
