Living Up To It: Stories about parental expectations

In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers struggle to live up to the expectations their parents set for them.

Part 1: Growing up, Kat Arney was always told by her mom that she wasn't creative—that she was destined to be a scientist instead.

Part 2: After his father's unexpected death, Kevin McNulty becomes an investment banker, convinced it's the life his dad would have wanted for him.

Kat Arney is a multi award-winning science writer, public speaker and broadcaster. Initially starting off as a scientist, she left the lab to work in science comms at Cancer Research UK, where she helped shape the charity’s public voice around cancer research. During that time she co-founded CRUK’s ground-breaking Science Blog and became a principal media spokesperson, translating cutting-edge research for journalists and the public. She is the author of three acclaimed popular science books — Herding Hemingway’s Cats, How to Code a Human and Rebel Cell — and has presented numerous radio programmes and podcasts including Ingenious and Bug in the System on BBC Radio 4, and Genetics Unzipped. Today she is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of First Create The Media - a life science communications and marketing agency that helps pioneering innovators in the life sciences find and tell their stories to the world.

Kevin is a New York-based comedian who writes and performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade. The hour long version of his solo-show, Half-Orphan, will be at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. He previously spent nearly a decade as an investment banker and economic researcher, where he formed an unhealthy attachment to telling stories through charts.

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