What does it mean to live sociology, rather than just study it? This week, I’m honored to welcome my mentor, Dr. Martina Sharp-Grier, to the mic. We explore her journey into the field, how she translates complex sociological theory into real-world action, and the vital work she’s doing with identity, to create change on a national scale. Tune in to hear how one educator is redefining passion in the classroom and empowering others to see the world—and themselves—differently.
Martina's Contact information :
Email : mlg16@uakron.edu
Follow Why Sociology on Instagram : @Whysociologypodcast
Four speakers : Angela Adkins, Daniela Jauk-Ajamie, Martina Sharp-Grier and Estrella Lemus
Angela Adkins : Welcome to
Dani Jauk-Ajamie : Why Sociology
Angela Adkins : A podcast series featuring many interviews with sociology majors who have taken Career Pathways beyond academia in applied and clinical careers,
Dani Jauk-Ajamie : And who show
Angela Adkins : Not only tell
Dani Jauk-Ajamie : Why and how sociology matters in today's world. We are
Angela Adkins : Angela Adkins from Stark State College and
Dani Jauk-Ajamie : Daniela Jauk from the University of Akron,
Angela Adkins : Both located in rubber city, Akron, Ohio,
Dani Jauk-Ajamie : But we feature sociological movers, change makers and shakers from all over the US and the globe
Estrella Lemus : Hello, everyone. If you remember me from last time, it is Estrella, as promised, I will be hosting this season of why sociology and we're going to get our first interview going. I am so happy and honored to have Dr Martina Sharp-Grier here today with us. Dr Martina Sharp-Grier is a sociologist with a research and publication background in the sociology of work, education, inequalities and qualitative inquiry. Her experience as a higher ed educator, criminal justice professional, forensic social worker and brief therapist guide her interest. As an educator, Martina has designed and taught courses including social psychology, criminal and juvenile justice, sociological methods and racial and ethnic relations. She is an author and public speaker, and has addressed audiences of educators, medical and mental health clinicians and industry and Educational administrators on topics including educational parity, workplace culture and multicultural approaches to clinical intervention. Martina co-authored the 2017 anthology, feminist pedagogy, practice and activism, improving the lives of girls and women, and is the co author of the upcoming project, impacts of cultural mistrust in education, work and identity politics. She has collaborated on multiple national curriculum initiatives involving parity in STEM in career and technical education, and works closely with a local county developing and delivering professional in development trainings. Martina is the mother of two adult children and an honorably discharged member of the United States Army Reserve. She approaches her work with the desire to identify, name, and dissect the social and historical realities that have affected access to social mobility for many. Her passion is driven by her scholarship and lived experience and by the knowledge that if given a real opportunity, all people can meet their potential. Hello, Martina, and welcome in.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Hello. And that was like, really a lot, really a lot.
Estrella Lemus : You do, a lot. We needed to include everything, right? How are you today?
Martina Sharp-Grier : I'm well, and I'm really glad to have been invited, and I am honored. It's just a delight to see you doing this, and I'm so happy for you.
Estrella Lemus: Thank you. Thank you so much. If we're all set, we're gonna get right into it. So the first question is, what is your current field and your job or role within it, and what is your elevator pitch for your job, essentially?
Martina Sharp-Grier : okay, thank you. So I have like, a couple like, Okay, so first, first and foremost, I am an educator. And so I identify as an educator. I teach at a local community college here in North Canton, and I teach as an senior lecturer at Akron, both sociology and I teach all kinds of different courses here at Stark and at Akron, I teach generally just sociology, the intro to sociology. I also do work, and you have alluded to it in the bio. I do work with a nationally known organization who's funded by the National Science Foundation. And they we do work all over the country, kind of educating administrators and people who teach students of all kinds on like making sure that there's equity in the fields of STEM and CTE. I also work with a local organization here in Summit County, making sure that they have good, what do you call it? I can't get it out. Professional Development. Couldn't get it out. And, yeah, I'm forgetting one, but that's okay. So that's my elevator pitch. I just do a lot of work in kind of like spreading the sociological word and making sure that it's applied. I'm very much an applied sociologist.
Estrella Lemus : Spreading the sociological word. Don't I know it? That was the second half you're talking about your the organization nationally, that was what we did with the jobs for America?
Martina Sharp-Grier : No, that was something different when, when we went and did the presentation that we did in Columbus, that was for jobs, USA, Ohio.
Estrella Lemus: Jobs. Okay, I was so close.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Very close, very, very close, but that was, I mean, that's along the same lines, but it's just a little different. It's a different of an organization.
Estrella Lemus : Okay, yeah, I was just wondering that. And how does sociology inform what you do and all of the things that you do, I guess, all of the million hats that you wear?
Martina Sharp-Grier : It informs every single bit. Like, you know, and it's interesting because, and I guess we'll talk about this later. I I didn't come into my professional self as a sociologist, as a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, I dropped my first sociology class, my only sociology class, as an undergrad, and never went back to it until grad school. But I came to realize that soc is everything, everywhere, all the time, right?
Estrella Lemus : Yes
Martina Sharp-Grier : I sound like that movie, but that's kind of what it is. And so when I'm working with students, clearly, right? Kind of talking about sociological principles and those kinds of things, and have getting them to kind of get their get their critical analytical chops on and when I'm working with the educators and the ways that I do, and even for the local company that I know, the local organization that I do, I'm really kind of infusing all of the tenants of critical thought and kind of helping them, trying to help them understand how everything is interconnected and encouraging. You know, just a way for them to understand things in ways that they hadn't before.
Estrella Lemus : Yes, right. It's like connecting your everyday life to the sociological imagination of understanding all of the historical context and lived experience plays a role into everything we do, and the reason why we do it, you know,
Martina Sharp-Grier : Everything everywhere, all at once,
Estrella Lemus : Exactly. I had somebody recently, one of my best friends, she's starting college, and she's taking an intro to search course, and she's like, What is the sociological imagination? I'm like, it's everything. It's everywhere. Exactly, right? So I feel the same exact way about sociology. I feel like once that worm is in my brain, it's everything for me. I think about it in every single thing that I do, the way that I open a door, and the way that the way that I speak, you know, everything for me is so sociological after I have that worm my brain.
Martina Sharp-Grier : No, that's real. I mean, you mean it doesn't come out. I mean, and that's the thing I remember, when I was in grad school, my kids were little. I told them, I'm sorry, Mommy is ruining life for you. She is ruining life. And they tell me, now, when they're in their 30s, they're like, Ma, I can't even watch television, but it's but it's a good problem to have right where you can really,
Estrella Lemus : oh, no, I'm too much of a critical thinker.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Exactly. Oh no, What can I do? But it's a skill that I think a lot of times, even the students that I have in class now, I had to explain to them, you don't realize what kind of marketable skills that you are learning at this point, right now that are transferable in so many ways.
Estrella Lemus : 100% Yeah, I totally agree, and just once you kind of like open your brain up to sociology. There's no going back. So also too, why did you gravitate towards sociology and what did you learn as a sociology major that helps you most today?
Martina Sharp-Grier : So that's funny. Like I said, when I was undergrad, I literally dropped my class so I was like, not even thinking about anything associated with that. I started getting the bug when I was in my early 30s. I think it was early to mid 30s, and I was a parole officer at the time, and I may have told you this story, I had people on my course, on my caseload, that were of a particular religious background and came from a particular location, and I was salty, and I found myself, I mean, it's really hard to even admit it, But I mean, real is real, and right is real, and right is right, right? I was salty, and I found myself being very bigoted,, in how I approached even just considering them, I'm like, yo, this is not who I am. And, oh, by the way, you don't even know these people, so you might want to figure out what the situation is before you start casting aspersion. So I took the moment to, like, learn about their culture and about the religion, and I really began to kind of delve more deeply into look. I said, if this is not what I what I would what the reality is, as opposed to what I thought right? Why did I think that? Right? What was it that put me on this pathway to consider these individuals?
Estrella Lemus : Where did I learn it?
Martina Sharp-Grier : Exactly? And so that's where the soc came in. That's where I kind of like began to understand the nuances and being really kind of pulled towards soc. Again, that wasn't where I started out, and it wasn't where I thought I'd be. But ta, da, no, I'm grateful for it, though I really, really am.
Estrella Lemus : I know completely what you mean about like having to explore where your own personal ignorances were and where I was uneducated and miseducated and things like that, because I had a similar experience of just realizing, why am I judging somebody? or something?, or the way that we do something?, and then when you start to learn and unlearn things have been taught to you, it's like, this is sociology. It's like, you've like, found the key, you know. And so I completely resonate with that
Martina Sharp-Grier : That resocialization process is everything.
Estrella Lemus : Yes, exactly. And then what is one thing that you wish you had known as a sociology major that you would pass along to current students? Ie myself, almost not, but still a student
Martina Sharp-Grier : Once removed, right? Yeah, it's hard. I think that what I didn't know was that two things right? One it's not a race. Your journey is your journey, and you do not have to follow anybody's script, blueprint, plans or suggestions. You do what it is that you do. And part of the whole you know, kind of exploration process is learning who you are as a person. And that takes more or less time, depending on how much we have to unlearn, relearn, be re socialized, right? That's number one. Number two is kind of making I would recommend that people who are kind of in the position where I have been and where you're kind of at now, is that you give yourself grace, right? You've got so much to learn. You've got so many doors to open, and the doors that you need to open, you don't even know that they exist yet, right? And that was something that that I had to kind of grapple with, was that I thought I knew, which is why I ended up in soc the first because I thought I knew all about the people that I thought I knew about. But when you realize that there's a cacophony, and that's not even the right word, but a plethora, a myriad of doors to open. You want to see them all, and you have to give your help yourself time and space to do that. So let yourself go at your own pace and learn what needs to be learned, and embrace everything
Estrella Lemus : That's really encouraging, because I feel like where I'm at right now is I don't know when I'll get to grad school. I know that I'll get there, but it's not yet, and I've been struggling with being a student won't be a part of my identity when I graduate. So it really is just been telling myself that there's no time limit. Like you said, I'm on nobody's script. I'm going to finish my BA and I'll get to grad school when I get to grad school. And it's encouraging, you know, just hearing somebody who didn't start their sociology experience right out of high school and they had their their PhD by this time, you know, it's, it's good to hear human stories of like, I was in my mid 30s, you know, I didn't know where I was going to go or what I was going to do, and it's really encouraging to me, and I'm sure our listeners, that there is time and there's no rush, no and just take your time. And like you said, to learn what you need to learn. Don't rush through that too.
Martina Sharp-Grier : And I found in the classroom that, like, that's that that's one of the most important things, when you were able to bring your authentic self in, right? And taking the time. Because I was seven, it was 17 years, I think, between the time 17 years, Lord have mercy, 17 years between the time I graduated with my bachelor's, and then when I graduated with my master's and another, I don't know, 12 years until I graduated my PhD. So that again, you got the time, but giving yourself the opportunity to explore what you need to explore when you need to, and how you need to is super important.
Estrella Lemus : Thank you for that. I feel like that was just a question directly to me, because I feel like that's just how I feel right now, of like I'm losing that part of my identity. So what am I going to learn in the process you know? And then how, what's that going into that, you know, finding yourself at 30 and things like that, how did you find your current position and career?
Martina Sharp-Grier : It was a little fluke. It was, it really was a fluke. I had, I was working at a community organization, working with individuals who were in distress, and I wanted to teach. I knew I liked it. I liked it in grad school, but I just didn't know how to go about doing it in the way that I wanted to. And so I saw, I saw an ad for an adjunct professor here at Stark, and I applied Long story short, and I've got many, many, many stories, as you well know, long story short, I ended up, applying for the adjunct position, but was hired on full time, and that was, gosh, 2009 so I've been doing this, yeah, since then. And it's kind of cool, because it's been a transformational process. I had my master's whenever I got the job, and I actually went through, you know, grad school, getting my PhD while I've been here. And that was interesting as well, because it informed, I think it really did inform everything that I did. Like this work informed my dissertation process, my the studying process, the whole thing, it was informed by what I do, right?
Estrella Lemus : So, like the time that you took from getting your Bachelor's to your master's to the PhD, you learned important lessons in adult and in human life on the way. Ya know? And that's interesting too, that you say that, like being a teacher, informed some of your dissertation too. I know what your dissertation is about, but do you want to talk a little bit about what your dissertation is about?
Martina Sharp-Grier : A little bit? Yeah. So my work really kind of is couched in identity and role performance, right? Identity Development, identity maintenance, role performance. And so I looked at I did a qualitative piece, because that's what I do. I can add, subtract, multiply and divide, but I prefer not to sometimes. So I spoke with many women who are black, women educators during covid actually, about their experiences as black educators, as women educators, as mothers, black mothers, and as individuals navigating the covid sphere. And it was wild. It was just I have so much data, so much rich data that I'll have to massage for later on, but just the narratives. Because I do, I did narrative voicing as my method and again, that's that's kind of my gig, and I love it. I I've done it all my life. Even when I was a parole officer. That's what I did when I was a therapist. That's what I did, just that narrative voicing, couching the individual kind of stories in but that's what I did. I kind of was able to put myself in into my own dissertation without inserting myself as an as an auto ethnographic, kind of, you know, endeavor, but I was able to see myself in my participants and what I learned along the way, like you just said, between the time that I graduated with my masters and then I was kind of endeavoring in the PhD, everything that I learned just was like, laid in front of me, And I was like, whoa, whoa. Whoa, I get it. I know I get it. And that was kind of thrilling.
Estrella Lemus : I really like that, because I think one day I'll probably end up doing a dissertation about myself too, because I know some of my research that I do right now is roles and identity. And I do a lot of like, as you know, role conflict and identity formation is so interesting to me as well. And I just, I love to hear about your dissertation. Every time I get a chance to tell somebody about I'm like, I know this you know? So thank you for sharing with our listeners as well.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Absolutely.
Estrella Lemus : And then finally, for someone looking to enter the field of sociology, what are some important pieces that you would offer to them? And also, too, I'll add on to this, what are some important pieces for people specifically looking to go to grad school? This is very self serving.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Nothing wrong with self serving plug. So like, the very first thing, and I think, is self, be nice to yourself. Be nice to yourself. I wasn't very nice to me for a variety of reasons. I wasn't, and I think it's important to be because, you know, especially when you're in that sphere, in that space, you're looking around, and you see all these brilliant people around you, and you they have all kinds of good questions to ask and all the stuff. And you're like, Well, what about me? I don't I'm not as brilliant. Yes, you are. You're just as brilliant, you're just as capable, you're just as interesting, and your questions are just as important. So be nice to yourself. Give grace to yourself. And I don't like I don't use that word very, very, you know, often, but give that you know, also remember that when you're in that space in grad school and when you're in that space of going job hunting, rejection sucks, but you ain't for everybody, and everybody ain't for you,
Estrella Lemus : rejection is redirection.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Now you've given me a nugget. I'm gonna write that down, but that's true, right? You'll be you will land in the spaces where you should land. You will land with the individuals and the organizations that will value you for who you are and what you bring. And those that do not? Deuces. and it's okay. It is okay. That was one of my most difficult lessons, because I am very much a perfectionist, to my own detriment, and I am very difficult on myself. And when I don't succeed or don't get whatever I think I should have, I get very hard on myself, and that is the worst thing you can do because you're muting yourself. So that's an important thing to remember. And when you're in those grad school rooms, when you're even in your undergrad, you know, ask the questions. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to ask a question that pops in your brain, because it might be the path. Put you on the pathway to something that you didn't know was coming later.
Estrella Lemus : Yeah,
Martina Sharp-Grier : Ask the questions.
Estrella Lemus : That's really great. I like that about just and also just, like, not giving up, like, with the rejection, you know, try again. Like you said, somebody else is gonna, like, ya, you're gonna be put somewhere else. You know, whether you like it or not.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Not whether you like it or not. But that's true, because you'll find your people, right? You'll find your period
Estrella Lemus : That is amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I know, just to let some of our listeners know, Martina is one of my personal mentors, and it is a privilege to have her in my life, honestly. So sharing her with you guys and sharing her with our listeners is really great to me, and I just wish that she could be in everybody's ear like she's in my ear, you know. But thank you so much. It is really I thank you a million times over for doing this with me and being my first interview, you know, so I could be more comfortable.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Hopefully you're very comfortable.
Estrella Lemus : But no, thank you so much. I really appreciate you today, talking.
Martina Sharp-Grier : You are most welcome, and the feelings that you have given to me, the sentiments you have expressed, they're just Ditto. I mean, I've watched, I've watched you come up as a youngin sociology, and just to see we are now, I am blown away, and I'm so, so unbelievably proud of you.
Estrella Lemus : Thank you so much, and goodbye to our listeners.
Martina Sharp-Grier : Goodbye.