Daily Inspiration: Meet Dillon Jones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dillon Jones.

Dillon, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
To tell my story, I think I should start with a little bit about who I am today. My name is Dillon Jones. I am a biologist, science communicator, and budding entrepreneur. Late in 2021, I started Learn Adventurously in order to connect people to nature and science through conservation focused tourism, community-led competitions, and engaging science workshops. This snapshot of who I am is based on years of learning about the natural world, developing myself as a communicator, and embracing failure.

I was born and raised in Texas. My family operates a small business building custom aquariums and small animal displays for pet stores, high end clients, and educational facilities. During my childhood, we also owned several Pet stores in the Dallas Fort Worth area. In high school, I managed the reptile and amphibian department of one location caring for upwards of 200 animals at any given time. Little did I know that this pet shop was the most influential aspect of who I am today. It taught me how to manage a business, it gifted me a love for animals, and it gave me a love for educating people about these incredible animals!

Partway through my junior year of high school I formally dropped out to take my education into my own hands. In short, I felt that my education was more focused on taking tests and not on actually learning, and I was working long hours at our shop. During lunch breaks in the back of the pet store, I took classes through online learning platforms, studied for the SAT, and ultimately was accepted into Texas A&M University in 2014.

MY undergraduate degree was in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. My time in undergrad was spent learning about wildlife biology while also gaining as much experience as I could. I began doing undergraduate research my first semester and my first college spring break was spent in Panama assisting biologists capture snakes and look for aquatic insects. In what free time I had, I volunteered with a local wildlife education organization that brought birds of prey to schools, libraries, and events all over Central Texas. With a few members of this group, I co-founded my first business, Snipe Hunt Games, to design board games based on concepts in nature. Our flagship game VIXIV, a game centered around ecosystem interactions, was my first failure as a business owner! We launched a kickstarter to fund production but never reached our goal. Recently we have actually revived this Snipe Hunt with to produce games at a lower price point and with simpler mechanics, such as our new game based on Scared Guppies.

I graduated from Undergrad with honors in late 2018. The following year I spent 6 months in Belize conducting wildlife biology research and leading biology interns at the Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society. Although my jungle internet connection left much to be desired, I continued to produce educational content on Instagram under the name DillonTheBiologist. Here I learned that communicating science and showcasing my work is what I was meant to do. I continued to develop my craft while also searching for a graduate level program to continue my education.

While in Belize, I was admitted to San Diego State University’s Masters in Evolutionary Biology program, which I am currently finishing up this year! On top of this program, I was still producing content and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it. In 2019, I was connected with Mammalz, a nature focused live streaming company that I have been working with ever since. My collaborations with Mammalz ultimately made me decide to take this content creation seriously and pursue it as a career. Since January 1st 2021, I treated my social media presence not as a side hobby but as a career. I started taking it seriously, producing more content, learning how to produce better content, and striving to improve with every post.

This ultimately led me to create Learn Adventurously. Learn Adventurously is a company founded around one simple idea: get people connected to nature. In early 2021, we created the Virtual Ecology and Evolution Conference that had scientists from all corners of the globe present their research for free through a digital platform. I’m happy to say that we had participation from all 7 continents including penguin research from Antarctica!

Through June of 2021, I ran a global competition for people to discover wildlife in their city using the citizen science app iNaturalist. In 30 days we made over 8500 observations and identified some 2600 species from all over the world. We are currently planning the 2022 competition and are partnering with undergraduate classes at SDSU to increase the number of participants.

Around this same time, I began planning 2 trips to Belize for the Summer of 2022. These trips were designed with conservation in mind. We are staying at active research stations, connecting with local conservation groups, and providing an opportunity for anyone to learn up close and personal what biologists do on a regular basis. This is the first of many trips, with plans to expand to Peru and the South East United Stated in 2023.

The last leg of Learn Adventurously is my own science communication. While I do provide services for teaching science communication, running workshops, or giving presentations, my biggest endeavor at the moment is Naturalist Showdown. Partnering with Mammalz, we are hosting a live-streamed nature game show on March 10th to raise money for conservation groups. In short, 3 contestants are competing for a non-profit of their choice in 3 rounds of nature focused trivia and games. The audience will have the opportunity to donate to the chosen organizations, and I have secured $1000 to match donations acquired during the event.

And that’s a little snapshot of who I am and what I do. Along the way, there have been countless failed projects, deviations in my path, and opportunities that I am forever grateful for. 2022 is looking to be my best year yet. I cant wait to see what it has in store for me.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has 100% not been a smooth road!

Even though today I’ve worked with all sorts of animals, from mud turtles, to venomous snakes, to birds of prey, I used to have a massive phobia of all things nature. I basically refused to go outside for most of my childhood. This phobia wasn’t resolved until I was around 15, and boy am I glad I got over it!

Even though today you can find me livestreaming on a weekly basis and posting videos of myself, I absolutely still am a self-conscious introvert. It took a lot of work and pushing myself out of my comfort zone to do what I do now. If you scroll all the way to 2016 when I started my Instagram, you would be hard-pressed to find a picture of myself. Nowadays that’s most of what you will see!

Even though my current research involves complex biogeographic models and programming, It has been a massive obstacle for me to learn how to operate a website. I had to teach myself everything from the design, to the payment processing, to newsletter management. It’s honestly a skill that I am still not great at, but hey, at least the website is functional!

Even though my first job was selling pets and products, I still don’t feel like I am a natural salesman. Its been an exceptionally hard challenge for me to learn how to price products, sell them to an audience, and even request payments for my services. While I don’t feel great at it still, I can tell that I am improving constantly.

Even though I appear to have a bunch of success at the moment, there have been plenty of failures along the way. I mentioned a failed Kickstarter, but I’ve had numerous events with little attendance, I once spent months planning a sustainability conference that went nowhere, and have had numerous research projects fail before I collected even the first bit of data. I’ve learned from every single one of those failures though, and they’ve been extremely helpful in my current success!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I introduce myself on podcasts and interviews as a biologist and science communicator. Given most people know me through Instagram as DillonTheBiologist, I think that is a totally fair assessment!

I specialize in breaking down complex biological topics into easy to understand posts and videos. I will basically explain anything that interests me at that moment! No matter if its simple biology 101 definitions or complex evolutionary theory, I aim to educate people on the incredible biodiversity we have on this planet.

I think what sets my content apart from others is that I try to be both a person and a resource. There’s this perception that scientists are cold, logical machines, who peer down at others from their ivory tower. Being in the sciences for so long, I can guarantee that is a false reality. Scientists are some of the most eccentric, goofy, and borderline insane people I have ever met. I want the public to see that scientists are people too and I think I have made really good strides to change that narrative.

Additionally, I try to take a no-nonsense approach to science education. I’ve absolutely ruffled a few feathers from all sides because I am not scared to tell someone they have the wrong information or that I disagree. For Pride month of 2021, I made a series of posts about LGBTQ traits in animals and the biological origins of non-heteronormative behaviors. I have also been very vocal about identifying and challenging misinformation and propaganda regardless of where it comes from. The flip side of this is that I am also very willing to admit that I am wrong. I’m very public whenever a make a mistake on a post or say the wrong thing. Doing all this absolutely results in some internet arguments, but I think it also provides trust to my audience. They know that I research what im saying and that I am willing to own up to mistakes.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Oh gosh so many.

I use Canva to do most of my design work.

Notion is absolutely my best friend for organizing my entire life.

Mint has been my best friend in terms of managing finances and planning budgets in the future.

Contact Info:

• Email: dilljone96@gmail.com
• Website: learnadventurously.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/DillonTheBiologist
• Twitter: twitter.com/BiologistDillon
• Other: patreon.com/DillonTheBiologist

Image Credits
Dillon Jones (@DillonTheBiologist)