My Story
Basic Background
What's up Steemit! My name is Alexi Papakyriacou and I am a recent graduate from Marquette University with a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
I have a teeming passion for clinical/health sciences and any overarching fields including, but not limited to, genetics, immunology, and biotech. With that being said, my life has reached a crossroads post-graduation whereby I have to choose whether to enter the medical field and pursue a career as a physician or explore a graduate degree such as a PhD in a science in order to equip myself with the necessary tools to explore the realm of research.
I believe that hobbies are the motivators of life - find something you love to do on the side and you will find that stress is alleviated. Obviously being your own boss and not "working for the man" is a fantastic goal, but for now I am taking my education seriously and surrounding myself with enjoyable activities that may prove to be lucrative in the future.
Interests
Now, for the fun parts!
Lifting
A hobby that has now become a lifestyle for me is fitness. I workout approximately four days a week utilizing a full-body regimen every other day while attempting, yes, attempting, to do cardio as well. I will make future posts about the health and muscular benefits of full-body workouts as opposed to a split routine and other fitness-related discussions. Overall, I try to maintain a clean diet (high protein, low sugar, low fat, and no white flour) while adhering closely to my fitness routine.
My childhood best friend, Dominic, and I began our joint social media venture in the fitness industry. We commenced knowing that it was a saturated industry but still tried to press on with it. Using different Instagram tactics to grow our page, we reached around 1,500 followers along with nearly 100 Youtube subscribers, but we soon learned that advertising our growth in such a way was not the route we wanted to take. Below is a sample of our introduction video before we ended the adventure.
Rock Music
Since I could remember, my dad exposed me to classic rock and alternative music. I grew up on bands and artists like Santana, the Eagles, the Cure, and U2 to name a few. This slowly evolved into me independently exploring the rock and alternative genres, attending concerts, and shortly after, picking up the guitar. I've been playing the guitar now for almost seven years now and have created a fairly in-depth understanding of past and current artists of this music scene through learning their music to play as covers for bands or just by mere exposure. To date, my favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers with their previous guitarist, John Frusciante as my favorite musician.
I have several ideas for music blogging including possible songs, artists, or albums of the week in order to create dialogue with other members of the Steemit community. I feel this would be beneficial for all parties as we could suggest music to one another and develop an inclusive sub-culture.
Sports
Cubs. Blackhawks. Bears. Bulls. (Apologies to Packers or Cardinals fans).
Sports are a huge part of who I am, whether it's learning to kick a soccer ball from the moment I was able to walk, proudly making the fantasy football championship nearly every year for seven years, or just playing (insert sport) recreationally with friends. Ultimately, I am looking to blog about recent events in athletics, and create open discussions amongst other fanatics and devout fans. On the podcast, discussed below, I have slightly began this motive but I intend to incorporate more in upcoming episodes.
The Podcast - Nash Bros
"Let's make an app." "Let's get into the fitness game." "Let's make a podcast."
My childhood best friend, Dominic, has been the person hard at work with me trying to bring these ideas to fruition.
Dom and I always had ideas stored away whether it was in our individual notes, a Google Doc, or other means. We would scribble down app ideas we thought had the potential to be the next big thing. Looking back, the creative energy was always present and the ideas did have strong foundations (will be discussed in further blogs). It became therapeutic as we were separated by college but remained infinitely close through innovation. As soon as a new idea would come to mind we would alert each other and thoroughly plan out formatting, which audience the app would target, and potential/hopeful buyers of the idea. The ability to bounce ideas off each other and create that happy energy was unparalleled. Once Dom confirmed his impressive major and drive for computer science, we knew these concepts could not go to waste.
As stated earlier, we did make an attempt at the fitness world which we found to be slightly underwhelming and extremely time consuming. Not to say hard work is avoidable when seeking profit, but it was not work that we collaboratively enjoyed. The decision unfortunately began to feel more like a burden in many regards. However, the benefits included getting our feet wet in front of the camera, script writing, and the invaluable lesson of not caring what others think. For instance, I would be filmed at an extremely large fitness facility doing exercises in front of people on steroids or enormous athletes. You quickly learn not to care what people may or may not say about what you are doing, and in fact, most of the paranoia is mental.
Our most recent move is into podcasting. The reason behind this media was to capture our personalities in a way the fitness industry did not allow us to while also being able to completely improvise when necessary and utilize Dom's coding abilities for post-production. We have created a company, Nash Bros, which can be found at nashbros.net (link in my personal bio) as well as on Youtube, iTunes, and SoundCloud. We have created two signature segments, Nash Talks, where we discuss anything from current events, to hilarious personal accounts and The Pregame, where we prepare to go out on a Friday or Saturday night usually while comically attempting to coherently host a productive podcast. Both of which we genuinely enjoy making.
The podcast is our strongest and highest priority venture to date. We are looking to continue with it for as long as possible with great visions in store. Below is the first part of an episode we created with our friend, Chris, where we discuss his business ventures as a successful entrepreneur, how to profit on social media, and the best means of online marketing.
Dominic's Steemit account is @dominicdigi. He is an absolute mastermind when it comes to visual editing, audio editing, and anything coding or software related that I simply cannot wrap my mind around. Check out his journey!
Thanks everyone for the read! Please comment below any and all constructive thoughts! I absolutely love feedback.
Cheers!
Welcome to steemit :)
Be sure to check out the #science tag, great posts are always appreciated there!
Oh and be sure to check out @dtube, it might be better for your vids than youtube!
Resteemed you via @welcoming, my page for showcasing promising newcomers!
Greets, @theaustrianguy
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment and also for the resteem! The #science tag is definitely something I now will be reading and contributing to in the near future! My business partner @dominicdigi has told me how great dtube is so we surely will be looking into that too. I also followed both of your accounts. Please keep in touch!
Hello there @alexipapa
Welcome to Steemit. I want to welcome you to this exciting world where quality content is well rewarded.
You'll soon find out that this can be a truly addicting experience, and publishing content here is better than anywhere else.
Trust me, I know.
Here's an upvote to get you started.
Cheers!
I appreciate you reaching out! I am so pumped to be a part of this growing community! Keep in touch!
Will do Alex, again if you need anything or have any doubt, reach out.
Cheers!
Welcome Alexi
Much appreciated!
Heyhey and welcome, fellow biochemist, rock and sport lover!
When it comes to pursuing a PhD, I can't really advise you...some people like it, others don't. It also depends a lot on the working group you're with, and of course your topic. I belonged to the first group and I'm glad I did it (although everything looks less dramatic afterwards I guess^^)
Should you write scientific posts, make sure to use the "steemstem" tag. Steemstem is a curating initiative by scientists for scientists, if they upvote your post this gives you a significant boost. Also, u should probably read this for a start.
Wow! I did not expect to receive actual professional advice - thank you! For someone who has just received their B.S., this means a lot!
During my time off, the decision between med school and grad school has really been quite daunting, and I completely understand what you mean regarding the variables of a research profession. The aspect I am sure of is I am seeking a position with a clinical aspect whether that be strictly a physician or pursuing a research career that has a basis in the clinical environment (ex. arthroscopic surgery research). With that being said, I will be exploring all different graduate degrees as well as MCAT prep courses.
I will definitely be exploring the "steemstem" tag and the guide you included! So glad you commented on this post - your help is greatly appreciated!
Keep in contact!
Welcome to Steemit @alexipapa!!
If you're interested in science you can check the @steemstem community project, you will find lots of amazing authors under the #steemstem tag.
Also, there is a Greek community here, @greek-trail. You can give it a look if you like :)
Enjoy your Steemit experience an see you around! :)
So thoughtful! Thank you for that!
I had no idea there was a Greek community - I'll be sure to check it out now thanks to you. Please keep in touch!
Excited to see where steemit takes us! I think your perspective on fitness, rock music, etc is going to be helpful for the community.
Thanks Dom! I'm excited to be part of this!
Welcome! Hope you love it here as much as we all do - I've really enjoyed it over the last few months, and have definitely found real support for my work (I'm a singer-songwriter if you're interested in looking at my work on my blog). All the best in 2018! xx, Kay
Thanks for the motivation! I will definitely check out your work - I love hearing new musicians!
You bet! Steemit is a great place for musicians of all stripes.
Welcome alex!
Great to see another scientist here, can't wait to see more of your posts too!
I'm a med student from Aus, though I did my undergrad up in Michigan. I'm always trying to push undergrad science kids into med so if you're still tossing it up and want some unsolicited advice... med bloody rules! It's hard work but it pays off big time, the courses are rewarding the students are down-to-earth and at the end of the day when you tell someone you're a doctor you don't have to follow up with "but not that type of doctor" :)
Keep up the good work!
Thanks so much for the advice! Funny you bring it up, I actually am currently in the process of MCAT studying! I made the decision a few days back to take a crack at medical school and I frankly am extremely excited. Being at the crossroads of research and medicine forced me to consider my life without one or the other and I came to the consensus that I would feel unfulfilled not pursuing a career in medicine. Michigan is a great college; congrats on your medical school acceptance by the way! I'll make sure to follow your account - thanks so much for the kind remarks!
Thanks man, best of luck with the study and make sure to nail that physicals! Everyone skimps on it so it's easy marks :)
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STOPwelcome ! :)
Excited to be here!
Nice vid bud!
Why thank you!
A sports enthusiast :)
Good to know ;) something that is playing a huge part in my life.
That's not the point ^^
Great that you are here.
Steemit is an excellent community.
I wish you all the best here :)
Just checked out your page and followed you! How cool - professional football player! Soccer/football is something that I have always loved playing.
I'm looking forward to reading your blogs my friend! Thank you for the welcome.
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STOPHello WELCOME to steemit my friends.
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