CAMIRYAN TELL YOUR STORY Saskatchewan’s Cami Ryan finds herself in an interesting place these days — Missouri, where she works as social sci- ences lead with Monsanto’s Regulatory Policy and Scientific Affairs department. It would be an understatement to say she’s influential. Here’s some ways she’s helped redefine what a career in agriculture can look like, and also rede- fined how people in the seed industry think about consum- ers and their attitudes toward the food they eat. Limit Your Screen Time “I use social media every day, but there’s something pro- foundly moving about sitting with someone face-to-face and exchanging life stories. There’s never been a better time for women to step out and say, ‘Yes, this is my job, but it’s also who I am as a human being’. I suppose this story of mine has been percolating in the background for a long time. I like writing fiction and poetry, so I’m always thinking about the narrative arc in what I do.” Face Your Fears Ryan is known for telling her own stories not only as a form of personal catharsis, but as a way of illustrating how consumers form opinions that affect their viewpoints on things like the GMO issue. On her personal blog, she recently wrote about a car accident she was involved in during the 1980s, which resulted in the death of her unborn child. “It took several months (dare I say years) before I could travel down that stretch of highway without experi- encing anxiety. Our emotional responses shape our opin- ions and beliefs. Our opinions and beliefs are reinforced through our personal networks and once stuff gets stuck in our psyche, it’s pretty hard to displace it,” she writes. “There’s an enduring ‘stickiness’ to images and ideas that are synonymous with our emotional responses. That’s why the word frankenfood (and its associated images) has been so pervasive in how we view GM foods, and why people object more to GM food than to GMOs developed for other applications (such as insulin in the treatment of diabetes).” Never Limit Yourself Ryan is not what you’d think about when you hear the word “aggie”. She’s not a farmer but comes from a farm- ing family. She’s not a scientist in the traditional sense. Yet her influence is huge. “The minute you place boundaries around how you think, that’s when you have to push your mind to think- ing beyond that.” Social sciences lead, Monsanto St. Louis, Mo. 20 GERMINATION.CA JULY 2018 TOP 20INFLUENCERS