The Importance of Mentorship and How It Can Transform a Career

My journey into the realm of scientific communication began by pure chance. I had been focusing on video creation for my YouTube channel for several years prior and sharing gaming-related content. As much as I enjoyed playing video games, I was eager to explore my passion for science and enrolled in a chemistry class at Università degli Studi di Milano. I grew more and more fascinated in the subject with every lesson I attended, and the shift from posting video game content to sharing my newfound academic knowledge began.

Emergence of New Horizons: From Hobby to Career through Mentorship

When I started my channel in 2015, there were only a few noticeable names in Italy who managed to earn a living as content creators. Due to this, I felt the notion of turning scientific communication on social media into a profession was beyond consideration. My initial content was mostly improvised and not well developed, so, for me, circulating educational information was limited to a small circle of like-minded friends. No matter whether you create content for fun or try to make it into a career, you’re always learning and improving your skills.

As my channel began to grow, I had a greater interest in not only the subjects I was covering, but the quality of the content I was producing. There were smaller scale events taking place in Milan for YouTubers who only had over a thousand subscribers – a rarity today. It was at one of those gatherings that I met Dario Bressanini, an established Italian chemist, science writer and communicator who authored books, maintained a blog and contributed to scientific magazines. It was largely thanks to him that I broadened my horizons and dove into the works of many other science communications professionals across Italy. This is where my mentality shift began to take place, transforming my career and facilitating personal growth. In a sense, Dario served as my mentor, and it was during this period that I knew I wanted to pursue scientific dissemination. It made such a difference having someone I could exchange ideas with, explore social media dynamics, contemplate future prospects and dissect potential challenges. I knew I had to keep building momentum, so I chose to study the theory of scientific communication and became fully captivated by its charm.

Elevating Work Through Mentorship: Learning from a Master Communicator

Around the same time I was studying, I was introduced to individuals who propelled my work and professional growth. An Italian TV show was seeking young talent for a new scientific dissemination program, with the goal of being published online. I was fortunate enough to be selected among the five people for the program, called Superquark+.

This was the online platform for Italy’s premier scientific communication TV show and was curated by Piero Angela, who unfortunately passed away in August 2022. Throughout my time on the show, I soaked up the skills and art behind writing science scripts for television. Working with Piero and his team of writers was an immense privilege. One thing about Piero that I will carry with me for the rest of my life is the profound respect he held for his audience. He always made it clear that science communicators serve their audiences with the utmost rigor and diligence to ensure complex concepts are understandable.

Nurturing Excellence and Aspiring to Inspire

I have been a science communicator for over eight years, and there’s one thing I am certain of: If you surround yourself with skilled, respectable and efficient people, your professional work and personal growth will improve. Working in synergistic collaborations will result in a product that is unparalleled to individual contributions. And, in my role as a Lenovo Innovator, I take pride in utilizing their technology to generate content that helps people learn more about science.

I have been fortunate enough to benefit from learning directly from remarkable figures such as Dario and Piero. Looking to the future, I hope to guide and inspire others along their career paths. For now, I’m committed to giving my best to my followers and honoring the trust of those who have believed in me over the years.

If you’re interested in my work and want to keep up with my #LenovoInnovators journey, follow along on Instagram @RuggeroRollini.