Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Jasmine Graham explains how her love of sharks and ocean life grew from fishing with her father into a career in marine biology, then into a deliberate exit from academia’s exclusionary culture. She discusses the diversity and biology of sharks, the harmful stereotypes both sharks and Black people face, and how co-founding Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) created a more welcoming path for underrepresented researchers.
Main Topics: Early love of the ocean and path into marine biology (Priority: 5/5): Graham traces her interest in marine biology to childhood fishing trips in South Carolina and a formative marine science camp that showed her science could be a career. Shark biology and public misconceptions (Priority: 5/5): She highlights shark diversity, the bonnethead as a favorite species, and common myths that flatten sharks into a single frightening archetype. Parallels between shark stigma and anti-Black racism (Priority: 5/5): Graham compares the way sharks are demonized and misrepresented to how Black people are stereotyped and punished in the U.S. Leaving academia to do science differently (Priority: 5/5): She describes academia as culturally competitive and hierarchical, then explains her choice to pursue science outside institutional structures. Founding Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) (Priority: 5/5): MISS began as a social-media interaction and became a nonprofit community for researchers of color in shark science around the world. Inclusive fieldwork and collaborative learning (Priority: 4/5): Graham says MISS prioritizes respect, psychological safety, and freedom of self-expression during field trips and workshops. Signs of progress in shark science diversity (Priority: 4/5): She notes that the visible diversity in search results for shark scientists has changed, which she sees as proof of broader access and representation.
Key Arguments: Exposure matters: being told as a teenager that she could get paid to study fish turned a childhood passion into a scientific career. Sharks are vastly more diverse than the public stereotype suggests; most are small, and the average shark is about four feet long. Shark fear is driven by perception and media framing, not by the full reality of their behavior or ecological role. The stereotype and criminalization of sharks parallels how Black people can be misread, feared, and harmed simply for existing in a space. Academic science often reinforces hierarchy, competition, and exclusion, making it harder for marginalized people to thrive. MISS was created to offer a humane alternative: a community where people can bring their full identities into science and learn without being judged. Representation is measurable; seeing a diverse set of shark scientists in search results signals that the field is slowly changing.
Data Points: Number of shark species: about 500 - Graham notes the size of shark diversity, emphasizing that most sharks do not match the public stereotype. Average shark length: about 4 feet long - She says the average shark is much smaller than the large species most people imagine. Bonnethead diet: 40% to 60% seagrass - She explains that bonnetheads were the first shark discovered to be omnivorous and can eat more plants than fish at times. MISS membership: about 500 members - She says the nonprofit community has grown to roughly this size. Countries represented by MISS members: over 30 countries - She describes the organization as international in scope. Time since MISS formation: four years - She notes the organization’s growth since starting from a social-media conversation.
Pivotal Quotes: "Maybe there's just another way to do science. Let me try that." — Jasmine Graham: Her explanation for leaving academia and building an independent scientific path. "This is not a test. We do not expect you to know everything. You're here to learn." — Jasmine Graham: Her description of the supportive culture she aims to create within MISS fieldwork and workshops. "I used to Google shark scientists and take a screenshot ... and what would show up in Google Images was a beautiful kaleidoscope of people." — Jasmine Graham: Her evidence that representation in shark science has improved over time.
Implications: The interview shows how inclusive, community-based science can broaden who gets to participate and thrive. For marine biology, it suggests diversity efforts are not symbolic—they reshape research culture, access, and who is seen as belonging.