Jaida N. Elcock, who is working toward her PhD in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Woods Hole, is young, Black, female and passionate about sharks.
In May last year, Ms. Elcock and three other Black female shark researchers who had never met watched an online video seen all over the country of a white woman threatening to call the police on Black bird watcher Christian Cooper in New Yorkâs Central Park.
As a result of that incident, these four shark researchers found each other through #BlackinNature on Twitter.
One of the four women joked that they should start a club for Black women in shark science, which is currently a white male-dominated field.