Her shows are already sold out in Canberra for National Science Week, which suggests Dr Chloe Lim is hitting the mark when it comes to her aim of making science fun.
The Twisty Science Show brings together Dr Lim's two careers, which sound like they couldn't be more different - scientist and professional balloon artist. Or maybe not.
"Science is actually creative problem-solving as well," she said.
"I think everyone has creativity in them - it's just finding a way to express it."
The Richardson mum-of-three, who appeared last year on Channel Seven's balloon-sculpting reality series, Blow Up, has a distinguished background in medical research, including coordinating clinical trials for a drug for metastatic breast cancer.
It was a call-out for help from her local church back in 2019 that set her on another path, as a professional balloon artist, now in demand for corporate events to school presentations to birthday parties across the national capital.
FROM SCIENTIST TO BALLOON MODELLER
"My pastor was looking for someone to twist balloons at a community event and no-one put up their hand, so I thought I would give it a go," she said.
"I went to Kmart and bought a pack of balloons and went on YouTube to learn how to twist the balloons, as you do when you want to learn something new.
"I made my first balloon dog and I thought, 'Oh, this is quite interesting and fun'. And then I tried a few more different things.
"I was looking for a business to start then anyway, so I thought, 'Oh, maybe I can try this'. That was five-and-a-half years ago."
She had also published in 2019 a children's book, What Makes You Unique?, explaining to young readers how their DNA makes each one of us individual and different.
"I thought, 'Oh maybe I can combine science and balloons and my book?' and create a story-telling show based on my book," she said.
"With The Twisty Science Show, it is using balloons as a way to engage children and keep them interested in the topic and also illustrate the concept of DNA as well and how everyone is unique because of our DNA.
"The kids love seeing how we create such amazing things with balloons. And when you present something in a fun way like that, they pay more attention and hopefully retain the information."
Dr Lim, 42, grew up in Malaysia and school was where she first decided to work somewhere in science.
"I was always interested in science and in school I always gravitated towards science subjects," she said.
"I've always been fascinated by how our body works. I worked really hard in school so I could get a scholarship to go overseas to study. It was one of my dreams to study overseas."
She did her undergraduate degree, a bachelor of biomedical science, at Victoria University of Wellington and had a chance to do summer research programs at the Australian National University in Canberra, eventually doing her honours and a PhD in medical science there.
She worked in medical research for more than 14 years and is still working as a scientist, for a government agency in Canberra.
THE SKYWHALE BALLOON BALLOON
Dr Lim said her most challenging work was creating a balloon sculpture of the Skywhale and Skywhalepapa hot air balloons for an event in 2021 for the National Gallery. It was early in her career and she lost count of how many balloons she used.
"I think it was trying to get the features, it was a really tricky thing," she said, with a laugh.
And being on Blow Up last year was "quite an amazing experience".
"I got to meet really amazing balloon artists. These are people I've followed from afar, seen on Facebook and that sort of thing, but to be able to work with them and learn from them, was really amazing," she said.
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