Episode 108: Tiffani Teachey — Inspiring kids towards STEM careers

Tiffani Teachey is a Senior Mechanical Engineer, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) advocate, professional speaker, and author of the children’s book “What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z.” She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, as well as a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management, both from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As an engineer with more than fifteen years of experience, Tiffani has a passion for inspiring the next generation to engage in STEM careers.

On this episode, you will hear Tiffani talk about:

• What inspired her to write a children’s book about STEM careers
• How she chose STEM careers to match with each letter of the alphabet, and how the “STEM Crew Kids” help children see themselves in each career
• What it’s like to get classrooms of young kids excited about STEM careers
• Her future writing plans for teenagers and young adults

If you want to know more about Tiffani and her work, you can check her out on her official links down below!

Website: www.tiffaniteachey.com

Facebook: @tiffaniteacheyauthor

Facebook Group “STEM Books for Kids”: facebook.com/groups/STEMBooksforKids/

Instagram: @tiffaniteachey

Twitter: @tiffaniteachey

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A full episode transcript is available below.

Carolyn: Today on Beyond 6 Seconds.

Tiffani: They see the different careers and they get excited. They are like, oh wow, I can be that too! Then they start asking the questions, because it challenges the parents too, to step up a little bit, and it makes them have to maybe do some research afterwards. But it’s allowing them to be able to ask those questions because that’s a part of it as far as, you know, the curious mind, the innovative mind and asking those type of questions.

Carolyn: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds. The podcast that goes beyond the six-second first impression to share the extraordinary stories and achievements of everyday people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Tiffani Teachey. Tiffani is a senior mechanical engineer; science, technology, engineering and math or STEM advocate; professional speaker and author of the children’s book, “What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z.” She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering as well as a Master of Science Degree in Engineering Management, both from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As an engineer with more than 15 years of experience, Tiffani has a passion for inspiring the next generation to engage in STEM careers. Tiffani, welcome to the podcast.

Tiffani: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Carolyn: Yeah. I’m excited to talk to you about your new book and learn all about the inspiration behind that. What inspired you to write “What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z?”

Tiffani: Well, what inspired me was, as you have stated, I’m an engineer. I’ve been 15 years in engineering field, and so from that I’ve always done a lot of talking to the youth, going out to the schools and visiting them. And so a lot of times a lot of them haven’t seen an engineer, so when I go and talk to them, I expose them to the different STEM careers, how they can be this and do that. So from that, I say, why don’t I put it in writing? And so this was a great opportunity. I always wanted to be an author. I didn’t know when or what it was gonna be, but I knew I want to tie in, you know, STEM in that aspect. So, I decided to do “What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z” because a lot of them haven’t seen these type of fields, and I think it is a great opportunity to start early. So I decided to do K-2, 5 to 8 year olds, because third grade is that key time frame when they are starting to look at the kids and decide what are they are gonna do as far as their future. So I said let me write a book K-2, 5-to 8-year-old kids. And this is for older kids too as well as adults, but that’s the time as far as where I said let’s go about doing it. So, it is inspiring kids to be able to learn early on about science, technology, engineering and math careers.

Carolyn: That’s fantastic. And is this your first book?

Tiffani: This is my first book. This is my first book, yes.

Carolyn: Very cool. So I know you mentioned you wanted to write a book mainly for younger kids before that critical third grade period where they start really thinking about what their options are for things they might wanna be. How did you get the idea to do an A to Z type of book?

Tiffani: So what got me was, there was a book coach. I saw someone on Facebook and she was a book coach who said “I can teach you how to be able to write a book” and there was a 5-day challenge and so from that discussion I learned the process of being able to write a book and put it together. So, as far as the writing part of it, I said, what can get them to know the different careers? So that’s when we said, why don’t we don’t a career book which is A to Z. And so I had to be creative because there are so many different types of careers, but picking the different ones — and I could’ve started with just engineering and did a whole book on it but I said no, let’s tie in all the different careers. So, I decided to pull different letters from the alphabet starting from A is for astronaut all the way to Z which is zoologist and it just shows all the different type of careers from the science. Of course you see the doctors and nurses, but you see another side of it because some of those letters, you couldn’t do, you couldn’t put a dentist and a doctor, so I said let’s do an orthodontist. So you get to see different types of careers that they may not be able to see and then that’s what really guided me to pick some of the different letters. Now, one of the letters as far as alphabet which was tough was Y. Y was the hardest one out of the alphabet to find a career. And I ended up picking yacht designer. So that was what I decided to use in the field of STEM itself. But choosing those different letters was interesting and then providing descriptions to be able to describe it and not be too technical but still teach them, that’s what made me decide to do an alphabet book.

Carolyn: And it really gives a real wide range of careers. Having to pick one career per letter really makes you think broadly. So like, yacht designer would probably never have occurred to me if I was thinking of STEM careers so it’s great to put that in there.

Tiffani: Right. I mean it’s the design part of it. I mean even with engineering we deal with design and I’m a mechanical engineer, and that’s one of the careers I made sure was in there for M. So, when you talk about designing, you still have to be able to problem solve in general, and a lot of these careers it challenges them to learn that these careers tie in with math and science but you are also problem solving in the process.

Carolyn: Yeah. And then throughout the book, you also have a common theme of the STEM Crew Kids.

Tiffani: Yes.

Carolyn: Cartoon kids who appear throughout, acting out and demonstrating the different careers. So, how did you get the idea to integrate the kids with that?

Tiffani: So I start out the book, when they open it up they get to see the STEM Crew Kids. And it is showing all the different ones from Bobby, Charlie, Emily, Mary, Ruth and Thomas. And it is all diverse kids, they are of different races and different genders and so it shows how all of them can work together throughout the book. They will see some of them by themselves but then you might see some of them that are working together and there might be some three of them, four of them, two of them but they all get to see the different diversity of them working together. I wanted to make a diverse group because that’s what I deal with when I work in the field of engineering. You work with all different types of genders, cultures and we just have to be able to work together. And so they get to start out early by seeing this and working as a team because that’s a part of working together as well. So it just shows the different diversity of characters. And it was interesting with the whole process of deciding what they need to look like, and working with an illustrator to be able to design it. And that was a process in itself but it all came together and I wanted to make sure it was kid friendly and so that’s what it shows with the different STEM Crew Kids that is in the book.

Carolyn: And then having that diversity among the STEM Crew Kids, I would imagine it helps the kids themselves who are hearing the story, who are about the same age as the STEM Crew Kids, helps them envision themselves in those types of careers by seeing that.

Tiffani: Yes. Yes. They get to see it. For example, I think one they see is the robotics engineer. They see a robot with the kid and so they can take that and start getting some activities. The parents could take them and there’s robotics clubs. There’s different things that can stem off from those type of different careers if they think about it. A lot of kids love pets and animals. They get to see a veterinarian and then they see a zoologist. So I’ve got a lot of feedback from parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles they said, yeah their kid loved animals and then they got to see it and they said yeah definitely they want to be a veterinarian. And so it’s very interesting when they get to see themselves in those characters and what they like and they could say, oh, this is something I would like to be. So, that’s what the takeaway is from seeing and visualizing it.

Carolyn: Absolutely. I think that’s so important for kids to be able to see themselves in a variety of different careers and have that role modeled. Before you wrote the book, you were already very actively talking to kids about STEM careers and now that you have the book and you continue to have those conversations. So what’s have been like as you have been sharing the book with different groups of kids?

Tiffani: It’s been a good experience. I mean now I have to change it up a little bit but when we were going out doing skills as far as showing the book and doing book readings, it’s been great! It’s a great experience because you get to test out all the different types of personalities with the kids. A lot of them they get all excited, they keep jumping on all you and stuff too! But they get to see the characters and they get excited with it. And I will say x-ray technician that’s in this book, they seem to recognize x-ray. For some reason that one seems to stand out a lot of times, but it’s just interesting. And then the different grade levels, like I said, a lot of them they can see it, but then as you get to the older ones, they can start reading it and understanding it and start picking it out a lot more. So, it’s open to a lot of kids of all ages could be able to really see the different careers that they really didn’t know that existed and so it’s just been a great experience to teachers and parents and then the reading of the kids, they really enjoy it. And then at the back of the book when I show it to them, there’s a picture of me in it, they are like, “you made it?” I’m like, yes, this is what did…

Carolyn: Aww!

Tiffani: …yes, this makes my day and I will say, yeah, so they get to see that they can be it too and then they see that I made this book as well. So that shocks them too, when I say I made this book and they see my picture on it. So, yeah, it’s been a great experience just being able to talk to kids and see them smiling and enjoying it, it’s been great too.

Carolyn: Yeah. Well, that’s awesome. Yeah, I was curious about what kind of feedback you’ve been getting from your readers, whether it’s parents or kids. I know before you had been actually going to schools and sharing, I mean now I guess a lot of us really aren’t going out much at the moment, but you’re still continuing to talk about the book and share it, so what kind of feedback have you heard about it?

Tiffani: I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from it. It’s interesting, when they take the pictures with the kids holding the books and everything, that always makes my day too, when they send the pictures of them and they get excited. They are like, yeah, they enjoyed it! They couldn’t wait! And a lot of them, they go back to the book, they are like, “can we read the book again?” And so it was like they get better at it because they’ve seen it, so a lot of times they wanna read the book again and it gives them to expose to it as well with it. So like I said they see the different careers and they get excited. They are like, oh wow, I can be that too! Then they start asking the questions, because it challenges the parents too, to step up a little bit, and it makes them have to maybe do some research afterwards. But it’s allowing them to be able to ask those questions because that’s a part of it as far as, you know, the curious mind, the innovative mind and asking those type of questions, so it’s just a good initiator. A lot of the kids said they’ve enjoyed it. Parents said they’ve enjoyed it too. And then like I said, it’s been amazing to see the pictures of them holding the book and said that they enjoyed the book. It’s been great feedback from it. Now, it’s just more pushing it out into the schools. I get it into the library. I’ve got it into the local authors section. I was getting it into the library. Right before this happened, I got it right into the library. So I’m pushing it all over the place trying to get it exposed with a district, like all over so I can get it, you know, bulk size and get it out there. I am pulling a teacher’s edition. I’m working with a curriculum writer so then I can have a teacher’s edition so then they can start doing some more activities with the kids. So with the home schooling and all that, this is a great opportunity to tie it in from an educational standpoint for math, science, social studies and English, and pull the different careers and start really going into depth with it is the next step that is going with the book as well.

Carolyn: Wow, that’s fantastic. So it sounds like this is really the start of a whole new type of career.

Tiffani: Oh, yes.

Carolyn: Certainly an expansion of the career that you’ve had as, you know, as an engineer for many years and then expanding and sharing your knowledge through writing and learning.

Tiffani: Right. And it’s a lot of spinoffs. When we talk about what’s next, they are like what’s your next book? So, I feel like now I’ve got to get going on the next book. So this time frame has allowed me to sit down and try to start working on the next things. When I asked the illustrator for the color drawings or the illustrations of images, I also ask for the black and white portions of it, line drawings. So now I’m able to do a coloring book and activity book to go alongside with it as well as a journal, guided journal so then they can start doing writing prompts to tie in with the different careers. And then spinoffs for the different characters. I’ve been told, let’s do a series. Let’s start talking about each of the different characters with those careers. So there’s a lot of stuff I can pull from this series as well with the book. So that’s what’s in the works and it’s coming as far as things I can do next with the book.

Carolyn: That’s amazing. Just so many different ways that you could branch out and expand on that.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm.

Carolyn: So cool. So what are your long-term goals for your writing? I know starting with this book, you have a lot of plans in the works right now, but do you have any sort of broader goals for what you want to achieve through writing?

Tiffani: Well, definitely I wanna continue to make a difference. Ultimately, I’m all about that paying it forward. That’s really why I did what I did as well as being able to share the STEM careers and see that they can do it too. And so, continuing to write. I don’t even have to just focus on the children’s book. I’ve been told, you can do the older generations as far as also tying in it with it. So, I can see myself writing for maybe the teenagers and stuff too, at that standpoint, for young adults as well. So the sky is the limit. It’s a learning process with the writing. I will let you know, when I thought I could write the book, I said, oh, I’m gonna try make it rhyme. I was like, oh no, this is tough. The analytical side of me, I was like, writing is a skill with it too and this is like, I wasn’t ready and prepared to do rhymes. I tried it for the first letter and I was like, no, I’m not ready for that yet. So, trying to be creative is the thing when you’re talking about the writing piece. Like I said, I tried to tie in with rhyming, but I might work with someone who can help me get that skill portion of it and build it. That might be something I can do in the future as well.

Carolyn: Yeah, a lot of different options there, absolutely.

Tiffani: And then ultimately, and I wanna mention I’m doing speaking engagements as well. I get asked to do that a lot. So presentations and doing all of that, I mean that’s the next thing as well I wanna do. Of course, I’ve been doing book vending, you know, going out selling the book as well at different events and stuff too and festivals and stuff like that. But definitely I wanna continue to do speaking engagements with the book and definitely could be able to pull that as well with the experience.

Carolyn: Yeah, definitely. So yeah it sounds like your book is a really great introduction for the younger set of kids into STEM careers. And a lot of parents are kind of home with their kids right now and trying to find different ways to educate them, and especially with little kids where it’s really hard to keep their attention, you know, learning things. Do you have any advice for kind of how to introduce really young kids to the idea of STEM careers or trying to get them interested in STEM?

Tiffani: Yeah, so like I said I’ve gone and talked to kids and talked to them and tried to show them hands-on activities. So when we talk about visualizing, a lot of times it is good while they are at home, use a lot of the stuff that’s already at home and they could start doing some hands on activities with the different careers, with the different types of things. So for example, I’ve done a video where I’ve read the book and then I’ve also done an activity tie-in with one of the careers. So one of the careers is civil engineering. So, civil engineers they build, design and construct roads, buildings, structures and all that and transportation. So one of the activities they could do is what I call is “the towers.” They can use spaghetti and marshmallows or toothpicks and they can build the tallest tower just out of those little bit of materials. And it’s just causing them to start thinking like I said the problem solving side of things. Designing, draw it out, how do you want that tower to be? How do you want it to look? And just think about how that career plays a role with those activities and just thinking about out the box. I also created a Facebook group specifically called STEM Books for Kids — and STEM Books for Kids is what the Facebook group is, and I’ve included parents, educators and STEM advocates. Those are my key targets. Those are my targets in general for this book. And so I’m asking them to come aboard, start sharing different things they see online, different materials, anything that can help parents, teachers, educators be able to expose the kids. So, just trying to have that type of dialogue and background, it also is me trying to connect with the community to try to say how they can tie in STEM as well. So, it’s been a good journey of just even doing a Facebook group where we can have the dialogue and talk and pass forward all different activities they could be doing. Like I said, they are at home now, so there’s different activities they can look at online that can guide them to the different hands-on activities associated with STEM.

Carolyn: That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s such a great idea to incorporate things you have around the house and hands-on experiments and activities and especially, well I guess with kids of all ages!

Tiffani: All ages, yeah. All ages. And there’s slime, there’s different ones, I mean it’s very creative with just a little bit of materials they have at home. They can make slime, they can make all different things just with the little bit of materials they have.

Carolyn: Wow.

Tiffani: And that’s what we teach a lot of the kids. Whatever limited resources you have, this is how it is at the job. We are told, this is materials you have to work with and you’re on a time schedule and we time them, and you say okay, by this time we’ve got to be able to work together as a team and then who can build the biggest thing or whatever tied-in activity, but that’s how it is at work. And I tell them you work as a team, you also have a deadline so with the materials and resources you have, and this is how you start the design process, the thinking process of how you deal with STEM. And so that’s really what I push to try to tell them about how you can really push it with STEM.

Carolyn: Yeah, because, you know, in business, to your point, you have a limited number of resources, often a limited amount of time, so it’s good practice and really that’s what drives innovation.

Tiffani: Mm-hmm.

Carolyn: Tiffani, how can people get in touch with you if they wanna learn more about or buy your book or just learn more about your work?

Tiffani: So my website is tiffaniteachey.com. So, T-I-F-F-A-N-I-T-E-A-C-H-E-Y.com and that’s really where you can get all the information about myself, the book itself and where to go and get it, but it is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. And I will put that plug in, on Christmas Day, I actually found out and got a gift that it was number 1 best seller in STEM Education.

Carolyn: Wow!

Tiffani: So that was a gift for me! And I had a deadline to try to get it out right before Christmas and that was my goal, and so, it is a number one best seller in STEM Education in Amazon but it is available also like I said Amazon, Barnes & Noble. And you can find me also at Facebook at tiffaniteacheyauthor and then I’m also on Instagram and Twitter at tiffaniteachey. So I’m all over the social media platform as well as like I said my website you can go to.

Carolyn: That’s fantastic, yeah, and congratulations on hitting number one in Amazon in your category! That’s so awesome.

Tiffani: Yeah, thank you.

Carolyn: I’ll put those links in the show notes so that people can access them. Does your website have a link to your Facebook group?

Tiffani: Yes. And it’s called STEM Books for Kids, and they can just look that part up, and there’s a Facebook group separate from our author page, which is like I said tiffaniteacheyauthor, but I separate it and had a group so then we can have the different dialogue and talk. So, thank you, yes.

Carolyn: Awesome. Fantastic. Yeah. So, Tiffani thanks again for being on my podcast. As we close out, is there anything else that you would like our listeners to know or anything that they can help or support you with?

Tiffani: Definitely. Just make sure to support, go purchase, go share “What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z.” It’s a great book, it’s a great tool to be able to get the initiation of starting the kids early on about exposing them to STEM careers. It’s important and it’s just letting them know that they can see themselves in it and so a lot of representation that’s in there, and so it is important that they be able to see themselves in it. And so definitely check it out. Like I said, it’s available on tiffaniteachey.com. Shaping our future generation through STEM is really what the goal of the book is, and my goal is as well in life.

Carolyn: Absolutely. Thank you. It’s a great book and kids will love it, so check it out! Thanks again Tiffani for being on my show.

Tiffani: Thank you.

Carolyn: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help us spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend. Give us a shoutout on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of our episodes on our website and sign up for our free newsletter at www.beyond6seconds.com. Until next time!