Community Features: Camille Smith, B.S. (She/Her)
A 20-something multi-hyphenate senior scientist navigating life and figuring it all out along the way!
This week’s Community Feature (formerly our #WomanCrushWednesday in STEM or #WCWinSTEM campaign) is Camille Smith, a multitalented Senior Upstream Process Development Scientist, content creator, podcast host, and Founder of STEM So(ul)cial. Camille is committed to building communities that support Black professionals in STEM. Her journey shows that success in STEM isn’t just about technical expertise — it’s about embracing challenges, fostering community, and staying curious!
Responses may be edited for clarity and brevity.
Where did you go to school?
B.S. Chemical Engineering with Minors in Biochemical Engineering and Ethics, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania
What do you do right now?
I am a Senior Downstream Process Development Scientist at a pharmaceutical company. I started working in July 2020, soon after graduating, and I was recently promoted to my current position.
In my job, I work with special cells from animals, like mice or humans, to help produce important proteins called monoclonal antibodies. These antibodies are used in medicine to treat diseases like cancer, infections, and autoimmune conditions. My role involves finding ways to make creating monoclonal antibodies more efficient by testing different methods and improving how the antibodies are developed.
What is your favorite aspect of your current role?
I love that I’m able to develop a level of competency over a period of time. I can rely on your previous experiences to provide transferable insights to new projects, while always having a problem to solve. In my opinion, the positive of working with living things is that they will always keep you on your toes. I like the consistent intellectual stimulation it provides me. It is very hard to get bored!
What made you choose your STEM discipline in the first place?
When I was in middle school, I was in academic science–which was the basic level of science. When I moved forward to 8th grade, my dad advocated for me, overrode my teacher’s recommendation, and placed me in honors science. That year we learned about earth sciences and it sparked my first interest in STEM.
In high school, I continued on the science honors track taking biology and chemistry. Honors chemistry was incredibly difficult for me, and for some reason, it did not click regardless of how many office hours I attended. Until one day it just did. I had an amazing teacher that year–Ms. Gould, who was incredibly patient and encouraging. I ended up loving chemistry and eventually took advanced placement (AP) Chemistry my senior year. Between my love for chemistry, physics, and math, I decided to major in chemical engineering because at the time I thought these subjects were what the major consisted of. I soon realized it was way more than that.
Having a professor in high school tell me I wasn’t smart enough to major in chemical engineering gave me the extra fuel I needed to pursue the degree.
I continued with my chemical engineering curriculum, and during my senior year of college, I took two courses: Gene Therapy and Research Methods. I was amazed by the idea of using living organisms and technology to create medicines and treatments. I now work with the very things that blew my mind all of 4 years ago.
What piece of work are you most proud of (publication, presentation, project, etc.)?
Most of my work is confidential or only available to my company, but I’ll share this: I use cells during the process of creating the monoclonal antibodies. It was a big achievement for me when we finally got a very difficult type of cell to grow in our system, especially after it took much longer than we expected. That was a huge win for me. I learned how to look at the results, understand what they mean, and use that information to make smart decisions about how to move a project forward. Now that same cell line or asset is on the fast track to commercialization!
Outside of my 9–5, I am a founder, writer, and podcast host! The Diary of a Multi-Hyphenate is my ode to the jack of all trades of the world! Each month, we dive into topics highly specific to help multi passionate people refine their ideas, plan their execution, and achieve success in whatever form that takes for them! My newsletter is available via LinkedIn and my personal email list found on my website at iamcamillesmith.com.
The podcast I host is called ‘STEM Talks on Tap’ which is a go-to podcast for everyone. We cover a wide range of topics, from personal growth and professional development to technical development in STEM! Listeners can expect to learn in every single episode in a low-pressure and fun way. Episodes drop biweekly and we will have in-person recording activation quarterly!
What’s one piece of advice you wish you had when you started your STEM journey?
I wish someone told me failing is a part of the journey. To fail forward and to fail often.
All good science stems from failure. The earlier you can shift your mindset to welcome failure the better off you’ll be! Then you’ll be on your way to asking a billion questions!
How did you find support within your institution or field?
My company offers a variety of employee resource groups, but when I first started, the programs available didn’t quite align with my needs as a Black professional and beginner in the STEM field. To foster a sense of community, I created a group chat for other individuals who identified like me and organized monthly happy hours, which I named “For the Culture.”
The best thing I did for myself at my job is to create the community I wanted to see.
STEM Noire is another great organization that has helped me connect with other Black Women in STEM. National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCCHE) is another organization that has also helped me meet more Black chemical engineers.
What do you think the field can do to make STEM more equitable?
I think the approach should be 3-fold. One, exposing younger students to STEM as early as possible. At my company, I coordinate volunteers to go to a nearby summer camp for 4th through 6th graders to see science experiments. There is absolutely nothing like seeing the spark in a child’s eyes when they start to understand a concept! Introducing young students to STEM early on through experiments or programming is crucial to our future and I’m so excited I can take part in enacting that change!
Two, continue to recruit diverse talent. Recruitment from different places is crucial to ensuring underrepresented groups are included.
Lastly, creating sustaining systems in workplaces and academic institutions that support underrepresented professionals personally and intellectually. I’m currently working on these types of efforts at my company and share them on LinkedIn! I’m very active in programming for Black people in STEM in the workplace. I am the program manager for our DEI efforts and in this role, I am in charge of setting the organization’s DEI efforts.
My best advice is to create goals that are measurable and create programming that can be implemented within the normal ways of working!
What else are you passionate about and how do you make sure to make time for your other passions?
I’m very passionate about the social enterprise I run–STEM So(ul)cial. It is a hub for aspiring and established Black STEM professionals that offers year-round programming — social networking events, personal and professional workshops, and scholarships. STEM So(ul)cial. STEM So(ul)cial has allowed me to connect with Black professionals in STEM across the U.S.
I am also passionate about being a content creator, making content about being a Black woman in STEM and the many dimensions of my identity, in hopes that others don’t pigeonhole themselves into just one thing.
I also love to see the world. My interests in traveling ignited when I had the opportunity to study abroad for 6 months in Rome during my undergraduate studies! Since then, I’ve been to 13 countries and I am currently plotting on my 14th! Travel, both solo and with friends, has been such a pivotal part of my life since college!
It is okay to have multiple interests! The “Master of None” concept used to haunt me as a kid, but it truly has become one of my many strengths. Try that thing you’re interest in, and feel free to join me on socials so we can do it together!
You can find Camille, STEMSo(ul)cial, and STEM Talks on Tap on Instagram!
