Feb 11 2025 29 mins
Don’t want to commit to just one career path? Being flexible can lead you on some amazing adventures.
On today’s episode, Katy and Emma speak with Mark Leiren-Young who was UVic's second ever double major, in Theatre and Creative Writing and who currently works as a UVic professor in the Writing department, among many other roles.
We chat with Mark about:
- Working in creative fields as diverse as writing award-winning movies The Green Chain and the Hundred-Year-Old Whale
- Hosting the Skaana podcast, where he covers ocean-related environmental issues
- Touring Canada as half of the comedy duo, Local Anxiety
- Teaching classes on the Marvel and DC universes
…and much more!
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- (00:00) - Music intro
- (00:32) - Welcome and host intros
- (02:18) - All about Mark Leiren-Young
- (03:20) - Stumbling into a journalism job after graduating in the late 80's
- (05:42) - Why it's important to study something you love
- (06:56) - A cornucopia of all the jobs that Mark has done in the arts
- (09:17) - What's the common thread in careers by creative people?
- (11:02) - How Mark started writing tv scripts in the 90's, starting with an episode of The X Files
- (12:22) - How Mark landed the writing gig for the Orca Exhibit at the Royal BC Museum and became "the whale guy"
- (16:05) - How Mark became a podcaster focused on stories about Orcas
- (20:15) - How Mark helps students from all disciplines tap into their creative side in FA 101 "Creative Being"
- (23:43) - Mark's advice on how to translate your passion for the arts into a career you love
- (26:02) - Rapid fire: what's something on campus that's stayed the same since the 80s
- (26:51) - Rapid fire: best place to grab food on campus