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As part of The Money JAR’s ongoing series highlighting cool careers, Mindy and Rishika spoke with a chemist! Callie Sendek is a Method Development Chemist at Church & Dwight, a major American manufacturer of household products. In this episode, Callie offers advice on how to explore STEM careers. She emphasizes how personal passions and hobbies don’t have to take a back seat to a career in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. There are many important skills that contribute to a workplace, from activism to art, and people can find creative ways to work their interests into their careers. Callie says, “Just because you want to be a scientist, you don’t have to give up your other interests. You can also be an artist or an activist or a writer. There are so many skills you’re going to use in your job!”
Callie Sendek is a Method Development Chemist with over five years of professional experience in quality control laboratories. She has a BA in Geology from Scripps College and a Master’s in Geology from San José State University. Following graduation, Callie transitioned to working as a Chemist with a focus on elemental analysis of environmental and nutraceutical samples. Callie joined the quality control lab at Church & Dwight in 2018, performing routine testing on raw materials and finished products for their gummy vitamin product line. She became a Method Development Chemist in 2020, and currently works on developing and improving test methods on a variety of analytical instrumentation. Outside of work, Callie loves spending time outdoors and has been a search and rescue volunteer with Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue for five years.