Ella Chan

About me

I was born/grew up in: I grew up in Hong Kong and Singapore and moved to Victoria, BC when I was in grade 10.

I now live in: Vancouver, BC

I completed my training/education at: I am in the Pharmacology program at the University of British Columbia. I expect to graduate in 2022

What I do at work

I communicate science through videos! I plan videos and activities that teach genomic technology to high school students. Sometimes this means interviewing researchers or volunteers. At other times, I animate and film videos. For my personal YouTube channel, I come up with video ideas, film them, edit them and post my videos. I enjoy collaborating with other science outreach organizations to showcase the amazing selection of science outreach opportunities in Canada. For both positions, I edit videos on Final Cut Pro and film them on my phone. I have recently started learning how to animate my videos as well.

My career path is

I started making videos when I was twelve years old on Sci Files. I had never expected video production to become something that I would be paid to do! I was never trained professionally in video development or editing. Instead, I decided to train in the sciences. My videos are not what many in film production would consider "professional". They are my own twist on science education. I was definitely influenced to pursue video production by other incredible science YouTubers. Some of my influences are Crash Course, Khan Academy, The Brain Scoop, and Bite Sized. I knew that I had to try video making myself as well! Check my LinkedIn profile for more information on my career path.

I am motivated by

I love making videos! It is a hands-on experience and you have so much creative freedom! The video ideas that are always bouncing around my head keep me motivated. I also like meeting people through video production. In Canada there seems to be such a variety of people in science careers. I find this very inspiring. I am someone who loves to work hands-on. I also love to meet people and chat with them about science. Video production is the perfect job for me because it combines these things. It lets me test out experiments that I want to try for videos. It also provides me with opportunities to chat with others about concepts for videos.

How I affect peoples’ lives

I enjoy seeing how students interact with my videos! It makes my day when teachers or students say that they have used my videos to help clarify concepts, understand techniques better, or learn how to conduct a new experiment.

Outside of work I

I recently started my very own mini-plant garden, which I love. During the pandemic, I have also gotten into running. I try to use my daily runs as a way to clear my head and get some exercise while I am at it. I also enjoy volunteering to do science in classrooms. I hope to get back into doing experiment demonstrations in the future.

My advice to others

If you would like to make videos, start now! There is no future point in your career that will be a better place to begin filming your journey.