This is the first episode of the Career Exploration Podcast
by the University of Guelph's
Experiential Learning Hub. My name is
Natalie, I'm a Career Services Peer
Helper and I'm joined today by the
lovely Ashley Meyers, Chief Operating Officer of AntoXa Corporation
and Director of Special Projects at
PlantForm Corporation. Welcome Ashley, it
is so good to have you here.
Thank you Natalie, happy to join. Awesome.
so if you could launch into this, could you tell us a little bit about
your background and what
or rather how your path has led you to
where you are today?
Sure, happy to. I have
followed opportunities as they have
presented themself
and I really, truly
believe that's kind of the credit for my
success or at least that's
how I look at it. So I did an
Undergraduate degree in Molecular
Biology and Genetics at the University
of Guelph, and through that program I had an
opportunity to do
a thesis project with Dr Chris Hall
in the School of Environmental Sciences
and so I followed that
and really enjoyed it and a couple
months in, he offered me an opportunity
to do a Masters and
I've never really thought about doing a
Masters, but I thought well, I enjoy this
so I
might as well give that a go. I did
that and
was successful at that and then
I always had a passion for
you know, antidotes, and drug development, and human health, but not in the sense
that I wanted to be a doctor,
more in the sense that I wanted to be
the one developing the cure. If you
can think about
outbreak or World War Z or Contagion or
something like that. That's kind of my sweet spot.
So when I left Chris, he actually got
some contracts with the Canadian
Department of Defense
working in areas like that and he called
me up
and offered me a job to
not only do research on it but be a
project manager for it. So I gladly accepted that, came back
to work at the University of Guelph as a
Research Associate
and then Chris decided to retire
and really, that was a great opportunity
because he'd started PlatForm
Corporation
which was focused on biosimilar drug
development
and he and I pitched to the PlantForm
board,
an executive team, bringing on all of
the defense related projects and their
staff and contracts and funding and I would
lead those. And so, I brought them in and within
18 months, the company was spinning out
AntoXa
because the programs were so successful.
I got to grow
with those programs, really.
That's amazing. So, learning on the job,
really.
Oh absolutely, one of the things with
a small company is you wear multiple hats. So you can be
a dishwasher one day, and you can be the
president
the next day it feels. And it's really
good for people like me, I'm very
independent and I learn
well on my own, and I
like working with people but I'm also
eager to,
and hungry to, kind of learn and grow so
for me it was an excellent opportunity
because I could-there were lots of new challenges that
were always being presented and you
could grow with each of those.
That's fantastic. And so about your
current positions then,
in a few words, can you tell us about
what your work looks like
as Chief Operating Officer of AntoXa Corporation, but also
Director of Special Projects at PlantForm
Corporation?
Sure. With PlantForm Corporation,
the Special Projects basically means
anything outside of its
primary pipeline so that's not a
biosimilar
product. I do a lot of our
contract research projects with
different clients. We've had some
mid-size pharmaceutical companies, we've
had
some startups, academic groups,
all reach out to us and want to try to
express their protein
in the plant system that PlantForm has
developed, and so I'm the one who
prepares the proposals, does the project
management,
the budgeting, the reporting, all of that
kind of management of those activities.
For AntoXa though it's a little bit
different,
I'm the Chief Operating Officer there
and really I
get the opportunity to look both
outwards and inwards. What I mean
by that is I'm doing a lot of negotiations with
clients or potential clients or
collaborators, so I do a lot of
license negotiation, collaborative
research agreements,
but I also manage a lot of our
projects,
and products, product development
internally.
I manage our lead products and kind
of work together
with the PlantForm team to to see those
along their way. It's kind of a nice
balance of
business development activities as well
as product development.
Did you have any prior experience
with the business side of things or is
this something that you just picked up
as you were
going along in the job?
It's something
I've picked up. I think I really started honing those
skills a little bit with the project
management,
and so I started to dabble that when I
came back to work for Chris Hall
in 2012. Through that, I got a lot of
experience writing grants,
dealing with the clients, doing a lot of
budgeting,
dealing with subcontractors, negotiating
different agreements, and then it just
kind of-
One minute, you feel like you're
doing project management,
the next, you feel like you're doing
business development, so it was kind
of a really
natural transition.
Right, absolutely.
As a woman in a STEM related field,
what specific advice would you like to
give young girls and women who are exploring
their careers in STEM-related industries?
Go for it, Simply put.
I didn't have role models
in my family and in my direct circle
that really pushed me towards Science. I
came from a very business
oriented family and
I didn't have that role model, but I
always had a passion for
for Sciences right from Physics all
the way to
to Biology and I think
going to the University of Guelph and
having some of the opportunities I had
there really pushed me and nudged me in that
direction. But I will also say that I had some great male mentors
as well. And I think they
didn't look at me as a young woman in a
STEM field, they just treated me like I was
a young student in that field and so I
never had to deal with
some of the issues that other women have faced.
So my advice would just be if you've got
an interest in it, go after it because
we can certainly use more women.
There's still a lot of men at the top
but it's becoming more and more
common to see young women and it's
certainly a pleasure to work with them. I
think, women, we bring a little bit of a
different perspective.
We tend to be a little more open to
feedback-constructive feedback-and I've
had
some positive feedback myself
about that working with some men in some
accelerator programs
where they've said, you know, it's the
women who really
sit down, listen to the feedback,
have a discussion about what - question it, have a discussion
about it, and then take the best
approach
forward. As opposed to some of the men
who are just like
nope, this is why I'm doing it this way. So
women we bring a little bit of
a different approach to it. I hope
that there's lots of women out there, young girls, who
are considering STEM, and
I think our Government is also trying to
do more to promote that as well.
Go for it is my my advice.
That's great advice, thank you for that. 
For our listeners
who might be beginning to explore
careers in the biopharmaceutical
industry, what direction do you believe the
industry is heading in and do you think
COVID-19,
the pandemic, has impacted the
direction?
Absolutely, COVID-19  has
impacted the direction In my field
specifically. AntoXa
is a biotech company that is focused on
delivering medical countermeasure solutions so
these are things like antidotes or
even diagnostic kits and that type of
thing. And I've given many pitches where I've
had to say it's not a matter of if,
but when you'll see the next
chemical warfare attack or you'll see
the next emerging virus or something
like that. People kind of nod their head
and they would agree because
yes they do know that it's not
a matter of if, but when
but I think this last
10 months even has been a real
eye-opener.
Everyone from
pharmaceutical professionals to
government professionals to even my
parents, who have nothing to do with
Science like I said, they're all
recognizing that this is important and
kind of
wishing we had done more. 
- Yeah
And so I think
we're going to see governments and
institutions
do more. I think it's an exciting
time to be in this field for that reason.
I think the pharmaceutical industry
and the biotech industry
are going to come out of this on top.
I don't mean that in the sense that
oh you know, something horrible has
happened,
and we're going to win, I just mean to say
that we're finally going to get some of the
attention in this area that I think
we've been lacking because
it's often when you're faced with the
choice to fund a program
where people are dying today from Heart
Disease
or suffering from Alzheimer's, or
whatever their medical condition might
be, those people are impacted today
versus planning for a threat that
you hope never comes. 
-Exactly,
It's a harder sell, and I think
people are now realizing that it really
is just around the corner.
Exactly, absolutely I think every
industry is feeling it.
I know the students of University of
Guelph are definitely feeling it,
so absolutely I think you're right,
there's going to be a huge
change in the industry and I'm very
excited to see that change.
So what would you say are some
of the biggest challenges that you face
in your work?
Again, kind of going back to it is
getting funding for these programs. It
has been hard to convince your
traditional venture capitalists
that this is
relevant. It should be funded. And not
only because it's a matter of
it's like if and when, but it's also
their smaller market sizes.
When you're trying to convince
somebody that they need to provide an
antidote to a chemical warfare agent
that's impacting a handful of people
on the other side of the world and maybe
your armed forces,
you hope that you have somebody
listening who's altruistic
but at the end of the day, unfortunately
a lot of the venture capitalists
have investors who are looking for the
next blockbuster
drug. They're looking for the
herceptin they're looking for
the humira they're looking for those big
big returns on
investment. So that has been the
challenge is
convincing people that this is
worthy of making an investment. I
think, going back to the previous question,
COVID-19
is going to help show that it is worth
it. This is important research and it needs
to move along,
otherwise we'll be left exposed again.
Absolutely. In your
experience, what skills or attributes do
you think contribute to someone's success in any
management position be it in the
Biopharma industry or otherwise? 
I really
believe communication is probably the most
important skill.
I think your ability to communicate with
different types of people
is really important. I once took a
leadership course
and they talked about red,
green, and blue communicators. People
who are red are very direct and they
only want to hear
the absolute essentials and they don't
want to hear all the soft fluffy stuff.
And then there's
green communicators who are very
analytical and blue who want to share
their life story with you.
I think when it comes to being a
manager, you have to know-
you have to be able to pick up on who
needs what from you and how to communicate with them because
that's part of building a good team
and being there for those different
types of people. But I also think communication is
really important to articulate your
ideas
and it comes in from your day to day
email writing,
to the way you communicate in reports,
it's so much more important than just
putting a bullet line on your resume
that says
'an effective oral and written
communicator'.
You have to be able to go beyond and
really truly demonstrate
the importance of it and how you can
excel in that.
Then if I can add one more thing, I
would also say being really
reliable and dependable. Getting along
with people because
I can train you to come and work in my
lab
but I can't reprogram you to be reliable
and dependable and to get along with
people. So when I'm hiring people, I'd much rather have someone who has
part of the skills I'm looking for but
is going to get along with my team
than somebody who has all the
skills I'm looking for
but isn't a team player and is going to
rock the boat.
I know that's not kind of a manager
type of thing but I think it plays into
it quite well.
What advice do you have for students
who want to become better communicators?
Are there any programs you would
suggest, any kind of teamwork activities
you would suggest?
Talk to somebody. Ride the bus and have a
conversation with them.
It really can be as simple as that. I
think
too often, we're guilty of putting our
heads down
and kind of being on our phone, and we
don't take the opportunity to talk to
those around us anymore. There's so much to
to learn from everybody but it also is a
great opportunity
to practice that
elevator pitch, as silly as it might
sound. You kind of roll your eyes when
you hear that because you're like. oh
when am I ever going to need this?
But there are going to be times when you
just have one or two minutes to tell
somebody about yourself,
and if you can't effectively communicate
who you are or what you're doing in
those
couple minutes, you're at a
loss and you're doing yourself a
disservice. I really think taking those
opportunities to talk to people and meet
people
are really important. Not
being afraid
to put your hand up and ask
questions too. That's a good way to
learn to communicate. I know
there's a lot of people who struggle
with English, it may not be their their
first language but I think
taking those opportunities are pretty low risk and so that would be
kind of my advice to start there. Yes, I'm
sure there's all sorts of fancy
toastmaster courses and things like that
that you can go and do and
I'm not trying to say that they're not
going to be helpful, but for most of us
we can get by just by talking to those
around us.
Explain what you do and what you're
passionate about to your grandmother.
There's a really good one, right? 
-A really good one. The number of times I've
tried to explain to my grandmother what
it is I'm doing,
nothing gets by. 
Yeah because you can't use the same language
that you would use with your peers or
with your professors,
so you have to be able to speak about
the topic you're doing in a way that's
simple and if you can get your
grandmother to understand
and follow you then you you're going to
be good.
That's good to know.
Now, if you could go back to the very
beginning of your career and start over
again, is there anything that you would do
differently?
I'm pretty proud of my
accomplishments and the path I've taken, but I do have one small regret,
and I wish that when I had the
opportunity to do my PhD,
I wish I had taken that. I think that
I don't need my PhD
to get where I am or to
excel at this point, I think my experience
kind of speaks for itself, but I feel like I missed an opportunity.
And I think I didn't take it at the
time because
it was an opportunity to roll up into a
PhD at the University of Guelph
and I felt like I'd done my Undergrad there,
and I'd done my Masters, and I wanted to
do something different,
but then by the time I'd realized that, I
was already neck-deep into my career and
enjoying what I was doing, and the
thought of going back to being a student
was just not as appealing as continuing
the path forward. I think
if you have that opportunity, give it
some serious thought, because 
that's a small regret I have.
But at the end of the day, I'm proud
of where I've gotten
and I don't think not having it has held
me back but I think I've
had maybe exceptional circumstances that
have allowed me to excel.
Well it's wonderful to know that without having a PhD, you've been
able to progress so far in your career.
It's really uplifting to hear that, I
think to a lot of people, because there's probably an
assumption, I know between a lot of
students that
'Oh, if you want to get really high and
climb that career ladder in a Science
related industry, then you need to have a
PhD.'
But it's wonderful to know that if you're passionate about what you do,
then you can get very far without it. Thank you for sharing that!
-No problem. 
Now just a final question for you before we move along to the
student submissions. What is your top career exploration tip
for our student listeners?
Don't be afraid to try something and not
like it.
There's a lot of merit in learning what
you don't want
just as much as you might learn what you
do want to do.
I think some of the best ways to
explore that are really to
start reaching out to people and asking
questions so instead of just asking
'Well what do you do for a living?', Ask that question but say 'Well
what do you like about that,' 'How
did you get into that,'
Go scratch a little deeper. For me, I didn't have a lot of
people in my circle that were in the
Science community
so it was difficult to really figure
that out.
But I think once you get out and you can
kind of talk to people,
you can really start to get some of
those answers because
it's not like a University classroom.
University is really there
to teach you how to be a self-learner
and to give you the skills and the
background and the foundation to do that
but you need to figure out how you're
going to apply those and what you're
going to apply them to because
most degrees don't come with a
profession. We're not all going to be
nurses or doctors or dentists, we don't
go into those professional programs. A
lot of us are taking biochemistry or molecular
biology or marine biology or whatever we might take
and aside from marine biology where
there are some actual Marine Biologists,
most of us don't settle in our
field that we studied in. So you have to find a way to
explore what else is out there
and I think talking to people and
scratching beneath the surface is
important.
Absolutely, thank you for that. Okay so
we're now going to move along to two
questions that students submitted through the
University of Guelph's Experiential
Learning Instagram account.
The first question we have for you is, "Did you ever think you would end up
where you are today?"
Wow, no, not at all.
At one point, I thought I wanted to be
a doctor
and so that was pretty high up on my
list of
things I wanted to do but then
I started doing research
and I realized I want to be part of the
healthcare profession,
from a broad sense, but I really don't
want to deal with patients.
I like interacting with people but I
don't want to deal with them when
they're at their worst. I'd rather be helping to innovate
and kind of solve that problem
at a research level.
So that was eye-opening for me in about
fourth year and kind of the first year
of my Masters was that, Oh
I don't want to be a doctor anymore.
I think my place is somewhere
beyond the traditional healthcare
system and even
You know, even today, I'm at times kind of
surprised
where my career has led me but I'm very
proud of it and I
really enjoy what I do. I like that it's a little different too.
That's awesome. A second student
asked, "How did you decide
what career path to follow?"
I'm a little embarrassed to admit this
but I really just followed opportunities.
I had a mentor who gave me great advice,
"Follow the money," and so I
followed the money through these
government contracts
and opportunities and they
had money for particular research, so I
followed that and I just kept on it and
as a result I was able to be a
founder of a subsidiary company for
for PlantForm.
It also helps that I aspired as a child to
be like some of those actors on
Outbreak or Contagion, but I don't
think I ever truly saw myself in that
kind of field, I just kind of got lucky and
followed the opportunities to be there.
-Well that's fantastic advice if
it's gotten you to where you are today.
Thank you for sharing that and I
think that will do it for this 
episode of the Career Exploration Podcast.
Ashley, thank you so much for being
here and for talking with us today.
I'm sure our viewers are going to think
your advice was amazing so thank you.
-Oh it was my pleasure, Natalie.
If you would like to see more podcasts, then please give this one a thumbs up
and leave a comment down below, just
letting us know who else you would like
us to see interviewed. Thank you again Ashley,
you were a fabulous guest
and I hope I will get to interview you
again sometime soon in the future!
-Great thanks Natalie, take care.
-You too, bye
