Bookpleasures.com welcomesas our guest, Jacquelyn H. Berry, Ph.D. Jacquelyn is a writer,cognitive scientist, and tech entrepreneur devoted to the study andpractice of expertise.

An advocate for augmentedlearning and a founding member of Artificial Intelligence for Africa,she has spoken before the United Nations. 

She recently traveled toEgypt as a Fulbright Scholar where, in addition to her research onhuman-computer interaction among Arabic-English bilinguals, shetaught a class about achieving outstanding goals, which led her towrite FIND YOUR CARROT.

She is also an also anavid Tetris player, golfer, and birder, as well as a mother andbeauty pageant competitor, currently holding the title of Mrs.Dutchess County, New York. 

Norm: Good day Jacquelynand thanks for taking part in our interview.

Your bio mentions that youare a cognitive scientist. Please explain to our readers what is acognitive scientist? How does one become one? As a follow up, couldyou tell us about people or books you have read that have inspiredyou to embark on your own career?  

Jacquelyn: Thanks so muchand good day to you as well. I am happy to be here!

A cognitive scientist isinterested in how the brain processes information. Whether that’sthrough attention, visual perception, or language, people areconstantly bombarded with outside information which their minds mustsort and make sense of. Cognitive psychology is concerned with howthis all happens in the brain, and one would become a cognitivescientist by enrolling in one of the many doctoral programs meant totrain young scientists in the study of the human mind.

I embarked on my careerpurely due to curiosity. One book that stands out to me, however, isThe Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck.

Norm; If you could relivea moment in your life, which moment would you choose and why?

Jacquelyn: I like themoment I’m in, thank you, and I hope I’m meeting it well!

Norm: How many timesin your career have you experienced rejection? How did they shapeyou?  

Jacquelyn: Countless.Countless times me or my work has been told no. Now I just recognizeit as part of the process.

Norm: What has beenyour greatest challenge (professionally) that you’ve overcome ingetting to where you’re at today? 

Jacquelyn: Getting myPh.D. was difficult, as I explain in the book. I was already marriedand a grown up with a young family. I lived a long way from campus.Budgeting time for everything was hard and I also was distracted byother interests. My advisors were not a fan of my style and rejectedme as I got towards the end. In the end I had to stretch to make ithappen.

Norm: How did you becomeinvolved with the subject of FIND YOUR CARROT?

Jacquelyn: I chase mydreams. I gave my students in Egypt the opportunity to do so as well,for course credit, and they blossomed as a result. I think it’s achoice to live that way as much as possible.

Norm: What were your goalsand intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achievedthem? 

Jacquelyn: I intended tobe a conduit for the message to pursue one’s dreams as a way oflife, and I can’t wait for the readers to tell me what they think!

Norm: Can you share somestories about people you met while researching this book?  Whatare some of the references that you used while researching this book? 

Jacquelyn: I think theconcept of grit is super important. Identified by Tammy Duckworthit’s the ability to stay with tough, long term goals for the longhaul.

In my book I refer to discipline as grit incarnate, in otherwords all of that will and resolve manifesting as the disciplineneeded to carry out the day-to-day activities that will get us closerto our goals, or resist the ones that will hurt us. I spent a lot oftime talking about individuals who are champions in their givenfield, people like Serena Williams, Tiger Woods but also people whohave chosen something obscure or done something popular in a uniqueway, such as >.

One of mystudents took on the challenge of becoming a triathlete and she metOmar Samra, the first Egyptian to reach the top of mount Everest. 

Norm: What is the mostimportant thing that people DON'T know about the subject of your bookthat they need to know?  

Jacquelyn: One topic thatcould have used more detail is the concept of currency. I definecurrency as our own personal gifts that we must express and use tohelp others in exchange for the things we want in life. I will becovering that topic in depth in my next book, Find Your Currency, sostay tuned!

Norm: Did you learnanything from writing your book and what was it? 

Jacquelyn: That youhave to be vulnerable to be authentic.

Norm: Why do you thinkthis is an important book at this time?  

Jacquelyn: Two reasonsthat are closely tied to recent events. First, COVID has made so manythings up in the air. For one thing, many people are stuck at homeand looking for the next journey they should take which could lookvery different from the old journey or from a traditional journey.

It’s hard to judge someone for taking a different path when it’sall people can do these days to stay healthy and employed. Second,the social justice movement reminded everybody, poignantly, that noteveryone is treated the same. The Harvard educated bird-watcher whohad the police called on him for asking a woman to leash her dog, andso many other examples.

Marginalized people may have to take adifferent path to find success if their talents and gifts are ignoredwhen following the standard pathways. Find Your Carrot can help withthat, suggesting that doing what you love, and not what looks good onpaper, is the path to a better, more fulfilling life.

Norm: What makes your bookstand out from the crowd? 

Jacquelyn: Idon’t spend a lot of time on personal stories, though there aresome, because my life is just one perspective. There’s enoughscience to support my statements but it will not read so densely asto alienate the reader.

Finally, my talk is real, I takeresponsibility for “being the one to tell you” that maybe yourway isn’t working. I am matter-of-fact but loving in what I say andhow I say it.

Norm: Where can ourreaders find out more about you and FIND YOUR CARROT?

Jacquelyn: Go to my WEBSITE  I am also on Facebook, Instagram,YouTube and TikTok under the handle @jacquelynhberry. I love people!Come visit! Stay awhile!

Norm: What is next forJacquelyn H. Berry?

Jacquelyn: My next book,Find Your Currency, is in the works as we speak. I am continuing myacademic work as a scientist as well and I am running for the titleof Mrs. New York this summer.

Norm: As this interviewdraws to a close what one question would you have liked me to askyou? Please share your answer. 

Jacquelyn: The question Iwould have liked would have been why did you write the book to whichI would have answered, because of that one muse who poked me in thechest and said write this story.

Norm: Thank you so muchfor taking the time to answer my questions. It's been an absolutepleasure to meet with you and read your work. Good luck with FINDYOUR CARROT.

Jacquelyn: Thank you. Bewell and stay healthy!

FOLLOW HERE TO READ NORM'S REVIEW OF  FIND YOUR CARROT