By Cheryl V. Jackson
Blue Sky Innovation
Dima Elissa's advocacy for underrepresented groups in science and tech is getting a national audience, thanks to a road trip for which she didn't even have to travel.
Elissa ⇒, founder of biomedical printing startup VisMed-3D, will represent the Chicago tech community in a PBS-syndicated TV show airing in September focusing on women and minorities in computer science.
She'll dispense wisdom during the upcoming season of "Roadtrip Nation," a docu-series that has young adults roadtripping to talk with people in a search for inspiration. The interviewees talk about their experiences in their fields and interests. This season's theme is "Code Trip."
"How cool is it that somebody put together this project and recognized that there are deficiencies? I was really impressed with the whole project," said Elissa, a Lebanese woman born in Beirut and raised in the Midwest. "It's an innovative approach to helping students meet some really cool and innovative people."
Elissa met with the show's three young adult hosts at Matter in August 2015. She was the only entrepreneur interviewed for the Chicago episode.
At all the other stops — there were eight from Los Angeles to Boston — three to five people were interviewed.
She said she was told the two women roadtrippers shared a passion for coding and tech but were apprehensive about choosing careers in computer science.
Elissa herself went on a pivotal road trip years ago, not long after graduating from Hanover College in Indiana with a chemistry degree. Driving from her parents’ home in Florida back to Indiana, she decided to focus on her passion for business.
"I used that time to really reflect and evaluate and really listen to my own inner voice to say, 'Hey! What makes me happy?'" she said. "That's how I got started in international marketing, at NutraSweet. I created a job for myself — during a hiring freeze. You will find a way."
Elissa's insights were appreciated, said Robin Maxkii, a 30-year-old Native American who's one of the roadtrippers featured in Code Trip. She cohosts the show with Natalie Melo and Zoed Mora.
"Talking to this woman, who says, 'It doesn't matter what other people are saying, continue on' — that's been an incredible piece of advice that I took with me," said Maxkii, a resident of the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and information and technology and psychology student at Salish Kootenai College. "I feel motivated and encouraged, and I see I can do this."
This season's first episode was released digitally Sept. 1 onroadtripnation.com and pbs.org. A new episode will be released each week until Sept. 22.
The episode featuring Elissa will be released digitally Sept. 15. It'll air locally on WYCC-TV Sept. 18 at 9:30 p.m and again Sept. 22 at 4:30 a.m.
Cheryl V. Jackson is a freelance writer.
Twitter @cherylvjackson
