How sexy is biotech?
Before I came to Los Angeles, I carried many preconceived notions about the nature of its inhabitants — mostly that they were cheap, plastic, celebrity-obsessed, and, well, shallow. I can thank Entourage and Beverly Hills Cop for that. So I told myself when I arrived nine months ago that I would steer clear of any “Hollywood” types and look for the few other fashionably nerdy in the midst of Southern California. Fast forwarding to the present, one of my very best friends here is Robert, a brilliant, talented and deeply spiritual… movie actor.
Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be brought by Robert to a dinner party at the home of a fairly well-known movie actress. As I hate to bore others with work, I stuck to more relatable topics, such as how much I enjoyed Porgy & Bess this week, and why I think Pinkberry sucks. A couple of hours in, Actress asked me if, like Robert, I was an actor.
Now, when I go out with my friends to parties in order to meet new people, as I love to do, the dreaded “What do you do?” question comes up pretty often. I have friends who prefer to give smart-ass answers, but unfortunately I love talking about myself too much to do that to a stranger. Depending on how I feel, I’ll usually answer one of the following:
- “I work at Amgen.” — Sadly, despite being one of the 100 largest companies in the world by market cap, few in the general public have heard of us, even in Los Angeles.
- “I work in biotechnology.” — Even sadder, sometimes people have no idea what biotechnology is. “Kinda like pharma. You know, drugs. But harder to make and much more expensive.”
- “I work in marketing.” — Always a winner, and gets us in the right ballpark.
I chuckled at Actress’ question and said no, I work for a biotechnology company called Amgen out in Thousand Oaks. Actress then asked me some fairly pointed questions about our recent ESA safety problems. I stammered out a response, a little surprised to hear her ask me about it so eloquently. Actress smiled and said, “Admit it, you thought I was stupid, didn’t you?”
If my friend Eric had been in the room, I think he would have leaned over to me, held out his thumb and forefinger together, and said: “She got your number right there, boss.”
Turns out Actress is dating a very famous Nobel laureate scientist. Oops. Maybe Hollywood and science can coexist after all.
What do you think? Is biotech a socially relatable industry?
