Meet Emonthebrain | How I became a neuroscientist 🧠

Welcome to my YouTube channel. I am a YouTuber now. Hi friends. Welcome to my YouTube channel. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for probably you came from my Instagram or my TikTok. So thank you so much for all of your support. I wouldn't be doing that right now without you, so thank you. This is a long awaited About Me introductory video. It's been brought to my attention by many people that a lot of you guys don't know who I am or my story or really anything about me aside from the tips and neuroscience content that I post about. So today is the day that we change that and I'm really excited just for all of you guys to get to know more of my personality because there's not a lot of room for that in 30 second videos, which is what I usually share. I'm just going to start with probably the story that everyone really cares about, which is how I got to where I am and how I got to be doing what I'm doing right now, how em on the brain came to be and where I'm going with it. So let's dive into that and we can leave other life stuff for other videos because YouTube is gonna hopefully be something that I continue with, so. Or scratch that, we're not doing, hopefully we are continuing. It's all about the mindset. Okay. Okay. Well, let's dive in. So growing up, I had a lot of chronic health issues that I really didn't know what the cause was. And doctors didn't know what was wrong either until eventually I was diagnosed with PCOS and adhd. But before that, doctors could really just never help me with my issues. And my mom, she also had health issues. She's blind in one eye. But that didn't just happen overnight. And I just saw doctors not able to help her. And to this day she's very much still managing symptoms and no one can really help the actual problem. And I always felt the same way with my health issues and even with adhd, like just throwing drugs at it and not actually like helping the problem. It was something that I saw from an early age and it was something that kind of drove me away from being a medical doctor. No hate toward medical doctors. We need you guys and I love you guys. But it was something that I just knew from the beginning I did not want to be an md. So anyway, I went to undergrad, I went to UT Austin and I majored in biology because when you like science and you don't know what else to do, that's what you do, you major in biology. So that's what I did. And I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I had the opportunity to ask people. I was like, so I hate biology. What should I do? And someone was like, oh, you should switch your major to neuroscience. And me being me, I just do things. So I switched my major to neuroscience, and I immediately fell in love with neuroscience. I got a 100 on my first exam, and I like, I. Not that I barely studied, but I really. I just found that neuroscience came very easy to me, and I. Because I was really passionate about it. And so I. My professor emailed me because I got 100, and he was like, you couldn't have done better. And I went to his office hours, and I was like, dude, I love neuroscience. I want to get involved in research. And so he kind of helped me, like, get in contact with a few of the faculty at UT Austin. And I had did some interviews, and I ended up choosing the lab that I wanted to be in, which was a neuropsychology lab studying learning and memory. I actually worked on five studies in this lab, but we studied learning and memory throughout cognitive development using fmri. So I got to work with people with and kids, which was just super awesome. And. And I got to scan their brains, which, as undergrad, Emily was just so into that. It was so cool. I fell in love with research. I was like, this is what I want to do. Research is so cool. I love being on the cutting edge, the front lines, like, being able to figure out new information and new ways to help people and then spread that information to people and doctors and just create a butterfly effect in that way, was something to me that just felt. Felt so meaningful and so purposeful because I. I really. My core value is like, I want to change the world through helping people. And I really saw that that was a great opportunity to do that. But learning in memory and what I was studying. Exactly. It wasn't 100 what I wanted to study for the rest of my life. I knew that, but I knew I loved research. And I didn't know what I wanted to research until I took a class on the neurobiology of drug addiction. In that class we went. We read a paper about why the current treatments for nicotine addiction don't really work and how they're just treating the symptoms and not the problem. And the light bulb, a light bulb clicked so hard in my head. It was so bright, and it was just like, oh, another example of how we're treating symptoms and not the actual Problem. And so I decided I am going to cure. Cure drug addiction. This was my plan. I was like, I'm gonna cure addiction. This. I. I told this to everyone, everyone in my life. Like, if you knew me, like, you knew, like, that's all Emily wants to do. Anyway, so I applied for PhD programs and I got in. And this was my senior year of undergrad that I did all this. And at the same time, about winter time of my senior year, I went through a breakup that honestly really shook me. And I took the time that I now had alone. And instead of being lonely, I used it toward personal development. So I dove really deep into spirituality, into self improvement, self development, like entrepreneurship, all the different ways that I can become better and improve my mental health. And I was also really getting big into philosophy and learning about all different sorts of religions and learning all this stuff. I started to incorporate all these things into my life, and I started to connect dots. Like, all these dots started connecting in my head, and I was like, whoa, neuroscience can explain all of these things. I felt even more in love with neuroscience because I realized that you can use it to just explain so many different things. Our entire life is experienced through the filter that is our brain. And so it's all relevant to neuroscience. Our whole lives are. And for me, that's one of the coolest things about neuroscience. So anyway, during this time and doing all these things, I started to improve my life and my mental health. And my mindset took just a complete 180 spin. I was on my morning walks in the morning, getting my sunlight, jumping for joy, smiling like, I could have. Like, you would have thought I was on drugs when you saw me. And so all of these things were helping me. And so naturally, I wanted to share this information with others. And I started posting just little stories on my Snapchat, like, oh, go outside in the morning, because, like, vitamin D and the sunlight is great for regulating your circadian rhythm and setting the timer for melatonin release at night, things like that. And people started swiping up on my Snapchat stories like, wait, this is so helpful. You should start, like, please keep posting. Like, post this more. I was like, okay, I didn't even have Tik Tok at the time, but I downloaded Tik Tok and let me start this off. So that was 2021 when I started posting videos on Tik Tok. And it started off very slow because that was not my priority at the time. My priority was the PhD, but that is how M on the Brain was born. I graduated from UT Austin in 2021 and I graduated with my BS in neuroscience with distinction. I was a graduate of distinction. I was nominated by the Dean of Undergraduate Studies for my research and I was awarded the distinction award for research for a project that I co led and co presented at the Undergraduate Research Forum. We won all the awards you could win. It was so cool. But yeah. So I got to graduate with distinction and I graduated with university honors semester after semester because my neuroscience GPA was pretty much perfect. And from there I graduated and took myself to Arizona and I went to the University of Arizona for my PhD in neuroscience and I was doing my PhD minor in medical pharmacology. I went to get my PhD in neuroscience and I ended up joining the lab, the exact lab I wanted, doing the exact research project that I proposed in my application essay. Which is honestly insane looking back because of how many things factor into finding a research lab and what like you don't really necessarily get to just choose your project, but the way that I just ended up doing exactly what I said that I was gonna do, that's manifestation at its finest. I was really happy at first. I was loving my classes, loving the research, loving what I was doing. And I was also posting on M on the Brain and Am on the Brain started growing, I think it was about a year ago that I really started posting More regularly on TikTok and M on the Brain. And as my account started growing really rapidly, I started getting a lot of opportunities. I had a videographer reach out to me and talk to me about potentially doing a documentary. I was, I had. My first big sponsorship was Calm the Calm App, the Meditation app. It was a big deal for me when I got that sponsorship and I started to really, really get more passionate about the social media side. And I was getting invited on podcasts and I was sharing all this information and I was getting reached out to by all of you, you people that are watching this right now. Like everyone's saying how much like my videos were helping them and stuff. And I really felt like I was making a difference and I didn't necessarily feel that way in the lab, although I do know that research is more of a long term vision. And so during this time it wasn't just the social media, it was also academia and the politics of academia. Faculty at the school started to realize and wake up to my social media page and let's just say it was not met with positivity across the board at all. And that was really hard for me to deal with. I was set. A lot of things were said that just were not supportive and that was fine. You know, like everyone has their own view, support and their own opinions. I pushed through it and I reassured everyone that like, research was my priority. And it was, honestly, it wasn't until I had a, a friend, someone that I've been really close with since the fifth grade. He passed away in the spring and I went home for his memorial. And honestly, when something like that happens, it really changes your, your entire perspective. Honestly, I realized that I did not want to be stuck in a lab for the rest of my life. I wanted to be working with people and I wanted to have time to spend with friends and time to talk to my family and I wanted to be available to travel and I wanted to be able to go on podcasts and do all of these opportunities that I was turning down for the PhD. I realized that literally any day could be my last. I didn't, I didn't want to be so long term minded that I wasn't taking advantage of the present. And I ended up talking to my supervisor and she told me that I was in a position with my credits because I had a 4.0 and I finished all of my courses that I could master out of the PhD program where I would just get my master's degree in neuroscience with a minor in medical pharmacology and just peace out. And that was something that really kind of blew my mind at first when she told me because I had my mind so set on this PhD and I honestly, looking back, I had a lot of my identity wrapped up in getting a PhD and a lot of my self worth was dependent on this PhD and being Dr. Emily. It was scary. It was really scary because even right now I have no idea what's going to happen to me two months from now, six months now that safety security blanket is gone. It was not an easy decision, like I said at all. There were faculty members telling me, don't leave. Like you shouldn't leave. You're already halfway through. Like you're in a position where you can just write the papers and leave and get your PhD and go. But I was like, no, this is what I want and I'm ready for this next step. That was the right decision because so many amazing things have happened since. And this was only three, two and a half months ago that I graduated. So I mean, since then I actually was doing a little bit of coaching while I was in the PhD. I had the wonderful opportunity of coaching someone that I didn't know at the time, but now we are friends. I took her from an undergrad into getting research experience applying for PhD programs like where to apply, how to apply. I coached her through the interviews and now she is in a PhD program like the PhD program of her dreams, the exact one she wanted. She's there. So I'm super proud of her and I'm super excited because it gave me a lot of confidence and my coaching abilities. But I also started a consulting business and I've consulted for entrepreneurs, hypnotists. I've consulted for a wellness journal. Super excited for that to be coming out probably in the beginning of next year. I even have consulted for other scientists. I've gone to different events where scientists ask for my advice because I have research experience in different areas than they do. I consult for neuroscience based information as well as social media and digital marketing because by default of doing this I've learned a lot about social media and how to go viral and how to create really good content. And so I've done all that by default. And I've also been published in the News. I was published in the New York Post, I was published in Newsweek, I was published in the Daily mail and about 10 other places that I'm not going to name right now. I wrote an article I was reached out to by Courtney Kardashian Barker's website Poosh. They asked me to write an article for the website and it's now published on the website. It's how to heal your brain after a breakup. Really awesome. I'm also still independently contracted to do research. So that's honestly one of my favorite things since I've graduated is realizing that I can still be a scientist. I just don't have to be a scientist full time. I was flown out to LA by a neurotech startup to measure brain waves of people while they meditate at a meditation retreat using eeg. And that was so cool. I hadn't done EEG research before and now I have experience with that and so I am just broadening my scope of research experience and what I'm knowledgeable about. And that's really something that's super important to me is always to be learning and growing and I'm definitely not doing the same thing day to day. So it's really exciting. Share all of this information to let all of you guys know like who I am and know a little bit more about me. But also because I hope that it can be inspiring that if you're doing something that you think other people want you to do or that you should do or because you said you do it now you have to stick to it. Like, no, that's not the case. Our dreams and goals change and we change all the time. And so don't be scared to step outside the box and do something that scares you. Because getting my master's was something that absolutely terrified me and there were a lot of tears in that process. But I'm now living in Miami on the beach, like two blocks away from the beach. I've been swimming every morning. So don't be afraid to follow your heart because I truly believe that where we are going to serve the world the best and be the most successful is by following our passion and doing what our intuition tells us to do. And I'm in this new season now where I get to try new things and do new things. And if you're seeing this and you want to work with me, go to my website, shoot me an email. I would love to talk to you. I would love to work with you. Thank you so much for watching my introduction video. I am going to be posting a lot on my Instagram stories, doing polls of like what you guys want to see for long form content and I'm super excited about this channel and I can't wait to see you guys in the next video. Until then, stay blessed. I love you. Peace.