Moiya McTier is an astrophysicist, science communicator and author in New York City, US. She was the first person at Harvard University to major in both astrophysics and folklore, and in 2021 became the first Black woman to get a PhD from the astronomy programme at Columbia University. In 2022 McTier published her first book, The Milky Way: an Autobiography of our Galaxy.
What skills do you use every day in your job?
As a freelance science communicator, giving talks, hosting podcasts and writing books, the skill I use most often is deciding where to start and end a story to most effectively explain a concept. It’s a fine line to walk, because I don’t want to insult the audience by beginning too early and basic, or lose them by starting too advanced.
I have to figure out what my audience already knows and guess at what they’re interested in to teach them something new. If I’m giving a talk, I’ll do this by asking if they’ve heard of a topic, and then I will adapt my speech based on their responses and questions. This skill comes with practice and adjusting to countless confused audience stares. My advice is to check in with your audience early and often so you know if you’ve lost them.
What do you like best and least about your job?
To me, there is no greater thrill than standing on a stage in front of a crowd full of curious people. I love the spotlight almost as much as I love sharing my knowledge with others. The attention is fun, but the most rewarding part is the moment when I can see the light of understanding flick on in someone’s eyes as I’m explaining a concept.
The thing I like least about my job is describing it to other people. Most people don’t know what a science communicator is, so I compare myself to Bill Nye or Carl Sagan, which works about 70% of the time. But when I keep talking, their confusion turns into “what do myths have to do with science” and “what do you mean you don’t teach at a university?”
Lately, I’ve just been calling myself an author!
What do you know today, that you wish you knew when you were starting out in your career?
I wish I had known how long everything would take. I never expected my dreams to come true overnight, but I definitely underestimated how long it takes to grow a podcast audience, write a book, or get a TV deal (I’ve been working on that last one for more than three years).
Now I understand that building something from scratch will always take longer and be a less direct path than you want it to be, so I’ve got to hone my skills and grow my platform while I wait. I’ve learned to be patient and think of the rejections as “not for now”s, but I would have saved myself a lot of frustration if I had known from the start that the timescale was years instead of months.
