It is widely known that telling science in story form, scientific storytelling, can double and quadruple the audiences, media reach and funding for research that scientists need. However, this method of communication is widely met with resistance within the science community. The average scientist still believes the saying, “Let the science speak for itself.” The problem is without a researcher, scientific communicator or organization telling others why they should listen to the research, the science is never heard. According to my exploration on this topic, the following three reasons for resistance are stated the most; (1) storytelling correlates with fiction and science is based in facts, (2) technical research is too complicated to be told in story form and thus “dumbing down” would need to occur, (3) researchers or science communicators should not put emotions or discuss themselves when discussing good science. All these beliefs have been shown to be false. This resistance of scientist to use storytelling is unwarranted and leads to good research not getting to those that could utilize it. Scientific storytelling is one of the best methods to get good science out to a diverse group of individuals, companies and organizations that need it.

Having moved around a lot as a child, Tonya Marshall has spent her adult life in the SoCal area, raising a family, building a career and becoming an award-winning environmental leader in her community. With a professional degree in Environmental Leadership (CSUSM) and BS in Biology (Conservation)(UCR), Tonya built her career with the belief that communities must be part of the conservation conversation and they deserve to know where to find, understand and apply good science. As a scientific storyteller she is reconnecting diverse and underrepresented human populations to nature and empowering them to be part of the conservation conversation.