LaShonda Herndon Raleigh, NC
Welcome to the professional hub of LaShonda Herndon of Raleigh, NC, a respected leader and driving force in the fields of life sciences and pharmaceutical operations. Based in Raleigh, NC, LaShonda is celebrated for her deep expertise in laboratory technology, project management, and regulatory compliance. This platform showcases her impactful career at the intersection of science, strategy, and innovation, where she plays a pivotal role in accelerating drug development and ensuring patient safety. With more than a decade of hands-on experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, LaShonda Herndon has earned a reputation for operational precision, leadership, and forward-thinking solutions. Her recent attainment of an MBA in project management has only sharpened her capabilities in streamlining processes and navigating complex challenges with strategic clarity.
Beyond her professional achievements, LaShonda Herndon is committed to mentoring others, elevating scientific excellence, and fostering a culture of accountability and innovation. Her unique blend of technical knowledge and organizational leadership continues to shape the future of life sciences and healthcare delivery. Whether managing regional initiatives or championing industry best practices, LaShonda Herndon is a catalyst for progress and a trusted voice in her field.
Meet LaShonda Herndon, MBA
LaShonda Herndon, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, serves as the Account Manager for the Southeast Region at MilliporeSigma. With over ten years of experience in the life sciences sector, she has built a distinguished career specializing in laboratory instrumentation, operational management, and regulatory compliance. Her reputation as a dependable partner in leadership, training, and project coordination makes her a go-to resource across the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
LaShonda recently earned her MBA with a concentration in project management, an achievement that has significantly enhanced her ability to think strategically and manage operations with precision. This advanced education strengthens her skillset in addressing complex organizational challenges, ensuring that every initiative is executed with clarity, timeliness, and compliance.
Herndon’s role in facilitating the movement of pharmaceutical treatments from clinical development to market launch is crucial. She brings together scientific insight and operational discipline to maintain safety, meet regulatory requirements, and help accelerate innovation. Her work supports the delivery of life-changing therapies to patients while upholding the highest industry standards.
Driven by a passion for both science and systems optimization, LaShonda Herndon of Raleigh, NC, blends her technical know-how with real-world application. She excels at conducting lab-based research, refining processes, and guiding teams to meet strict performance benchmarks while staying on schedule and under budget. Her unwavering commitment to advancing scientific discovery and improving public health continues to position her as a vital contributor in the world of life sciences.
Why Scientific Thinking Belongs at the Dinner Table
In an age of information overload and increasing societal polarization, fostering scientific thinking in children is more essential than ever. Yet, many parents assume this kind of analytical reasoning only belongs in classrooms or laboratories. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The home—and more specifically, the dinner table—is one of the most powerful places to instill curiosity, open-mindedness, and critical thinking in the next generation.
Scientific thinking isn’t about memorizing formulas or conducting formal experiments. It’s a mindset—a way of approaching the world with curiosity, skepticism, and the willingness to revise one’s views based on evidence. And this mindset is most effectively cultivated not through lectures or textbooks, but through everyday conversations, especially during meals when the family gathers with minimal distractions. LaShonda Herndon of Raleigh, NC, shares why the dinner table is fertile ground for scientific thinking and how parents can leverage it to raise curious, thoughtful, and empowered kids.
The Power of Conversation
Scientific thinking thrives on inquiry, and the dinner table is naturally a space where open-ended questions can flourish. Unlike classrooms bound by curriculum or time constraints, dinner conversations are organic and fluid. They’re also emotionally safe, especially when parents create an environment that welcomes every question, no matter how strange, difficult, or even controversial.
A child might ask, “Why is the sky blue?” or “Why do we refrigerate some food but not others?” These seemingly simple questions provide golden opportunities to explore scientific concepts in an accessible and engaging way. When parents respond not just with answers, but with more questions, “What do you think?” or “How could we find out?”—they are modeling a core aspect of scientific inquiry: the joy of exploring the unknown.
Building the Skills That Matter
When children are encouraged to think like scientists at the dinner table, they begin developing a toolkit of skills that extends far beyond academic success. LaShonda Herndon of Raleigh, NC, shares a few key capabilities they cultivate:
1. Curiosity and Questioning
Encouraging children to ask “why” and “how” helps them develop a natural inclination to explore. Parents can normalize curiosity by not just answering their children’s questions, but by posing their own. For instance, “I read something interesting about sleep—why do you think we dream?” or “I heard that octopuses have three hearts—what do you think that means for their biology?” These spark curiosity without making learning feel like a chore.
2. Analytical and Critical Thinking
When parents model how to evaluate information, such as asking where a news story came from or what evidence supports a claim, they’re teaching children to think critically. This kind of reasoning is crucial in a world full of misinformation and snap judgments. Discussing a recent headline or a viral TikTok trend and questioning its validity helps children learn not to accept things at face value.
3. Hypothesis-Driven Reasoning
Suppose the family notices that the bread left out overnight has gone stale. A parent might ask, “What do you think caused that? What would happen if we left it in a paper bag instead?” These kinds of questions don’t just teach science; they teach children to form hypotheses, test them through observation, and refine their understanding—core practices of the scientific method.
Keeping It Casual: Avoiding the Academic Trap
It’s important that these conversations remain light, fun, and integrated into daily life. The goal isn’t to turn every dinner into a science lecture or to quiz children on facts. Instead, it’s to encourage the kind of exploratory dialogue that ignites curiosity. LaShonda Herndon explains that the best conversations often meander—from the behavior of pets to weather patterns, from what causes hiccups to the ethics of space exploration.
Humor, storytelling, and even a bit of playful debate can make scientific thinking more appealing. A child might ask, “Could we live on Mars?” and instead of giving a textbook answer, a parent might say, “Well, let’s build a case for it. What would we need to survive there?” Turning it into a group problem-solving challenge makes learning feel like play.
Embracing Uncertainty and Openness
One of the most valuable lessons scientific thinking teaches is that it’s okay not to have all the answers. In fact, not knowing is the beginning of learning. When parents model intellectual humility—by admitting they don’t know something and expressing a desire to find out—they demonstrate that curiosity is more important than certainty.
This also fosters open-mindedness. Children learn that different ideas and perspectives can be evaluated on their merits and that changing one’s mind in light of new evidence is a strength, not a weakness. These lessons are vital in helping children grow into adults who are adaptable, thoughtful, and compassionate problem-solvers.
Practical Tips for Parents
To bring scientific thinking to your dinner table, you don’t need to be a scientist. You just need to be an interested and engaged conversational partner. LaShonda Herndon of Raleigh, NC, shares a few simple ways to get started:
- Ask Open-Ended Questions: Instead of “How was school?” try “Did anything surprise you today?” or “What’s something you’ve been wondering about lately?”
- Make Predictions Together: Before opening a new container of food or starting a recipe, ask what might happen and why.
- Explore News and Media: Discuss a current event and ask, “What do you think is going on here? How could we learn more?”
- Celebrate ‘I Don’t Know’: When no one has the answer, treat it as a mystery to be explored rather than a failure to know.
- Encourage Observation: Ask children to notice small details in their food, surroundings, or routines—why do bananas bruise? Why do bubbles form when boiling pasta?
The Bigger Picture
Instilling scientific thinking at home is about more than cultivating future scientists. It’s about preparing children for a complex, uncertain world. The ability to think logically, ask meaningful questions, evaluate evidence, and remain open to new ideas is what allows people to innovate, collaborate, and make wise decisions in any field of work or walk of life.
The dinner table, often viewed as a place for nourishment and bonding, can also be a laboratory for curiosity. It’s where values are reinforced, ideas are shared, and minds are shaped. LaShonda Herndon of Raleigh, NC, emphasizes that by embedding scientific thinking into this sacred space, parents have the power to raise not only smarter kids, but wiser, kinder, and more resilient ones.
Thank you for visiting the professional portfolio of LaShonda Herndon, a seasoned leader in life sciences and a catalyst for operational excellence within the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. With a career grounded in laboratory innovation, safety compliance, and strategic project execution, LaShonda Herndon has dedicated herself to helping organizations streamline complex processes, accelerate drug development, and uphold the highest standards of regulatory integrity.