Show Notes

In this episode, I talk with Lissa Johnson, a former middle and high school science teacher who followed her classroom insights all the way to the CEO's office. Today, Lissa is the founder of Mosa Mack Science, a company dedicated to transforming science education from static lectures into dynamic, inquiry-based mysteries.

Lissa shares her "day one" realization that the resources available to teachers were failing students, especially in a diverse, modern classroom. She discusses her journey of combining her documentary television background with her teaching experience, the crucial "Yes, and..." feedback from teachers that scaled her idea from simple animations to a full curriculum, and why she overwhelmingly hires former educators to build her team.

• The "Taken Aback" Moment: Lissa discusses the problem she saw on day one of teaching: outdated textbooks and lecture-based media that featured stereotypes instead of modeling real, accessible scientific inquiry.
• Modeling the "How": How Mosa Mack Science was built around a protagonist who models how to think scientifically—gathering evidence, adjusting hypotheses, and admitting "I don't know"—rather than just lecturing answers.
• A "Piece of Something Bigger": Lissa explains the challenge of distinguishing a "nice to have" from a "must have." Her initial animations were a "nice to have," but teachers' feedback for labs, lesson plans, and engineering challenges revealed the "must have" need for a complete, inquiry-based ecosystem.
• Why Teachers Have the Skills: Lissa shares why her team (in curriculum, sales, and customer success) is full of former educators. She argues that anyone who can manage the needs of 100 students, 200 parents, and 5 administrators can "absolutely run a team."
• "Stop Undervaluing Your Skills": Lissa's most powerful advice for teachers. She explains why educators often say "I'm just a teacher" and why they must reframe their mindset to see themselves as a "value add" for any company they join.

Episode Article

As teachers, we’ve all had that moment. You’re standing in front of your class, you look at the resources you’ve been given, and you think, "This isn't working. There has to be a better way." For many, that thought remains a frustration. For my guest, Lissa Johnson, it became a mission. Lissa is a former science teacher and the founder and CEO of Mosa Mack Science, and her story is a powerful example of how a teacher's insight can build a company.

Lissa started her career in documentary television after studying biology, wanting to get involved in the communication of science. But she felt too far from her audience. She wanted to be closer to the "aha" moments, so she got her master's in teaching and headed to the classroom. On "day one," she was "truly taken aback" by the resources available. She found old textbooks and educational media that was not only lecture-based (the "least effective way of teaching" middle schoolers) but also deeply stereotypical, almost always featuring an "older Caucasian man in a lab coat in the basement."

This, Lissa realized, was the core problem. At a time when classrooms are more diverse than ever, the media was pushing an outdated, inaccessible image of what a scientist is. Lissa decided to combine her two backgrounds—television and education—to create a new kind of educational media: one that was inquiry-based. She developed a series of animated mysteries featuring a Black teenager named Mosa Mack. The key difference? Mosa Mack "never lectures" and "never arrives knowing more than our students." Instead, she models scientific thinking, gathering evidence, collecting data, and adjusting her hypothesis along the way.

But when Lissa gave these animations to other teachers, she received a response that would define her company's future: "Yes, and..." As she explains, "Everybody kind of came back and said yes. And. Yes, and we need lesson plans to make this come alive. Yes, and we need phenomena. We need hands-on labs. We need engineering challenges." Lissa realized her animations weren't the final product; they were just a "piece of something bigger." This was her first big entrepreneurial lesson: learning to listen for the "must-have" (the full, integrated curriculum) versus the "nice-to-have" (the animations alone).

Today, Mosa Mack Science is a full 4th-8th grade curriculum, and Lissa intentionally builds her team with former educators in customer success, sales, and curriculum development. Why? Because they have the skills. "If you are able to meet the needs of all of those people [100 students, 200 parents, 5 admin], then you can absolutely run a team," she says. "Great educators have so many skills that are valuable in business... ability to collaborate, communication, creative ideas, people management."

This leads to Lissa's most important piece of advice for teachers considering a move to edtech: stop undervaluing your skills. "I think one thing that educators tend to do is undervalue their own skills. And I think that is a problem," she states. She attributes this to a "learned perspective," the result of a society that underpays and overworks teachers, leading to the common, self-deprecating phrase, "I'm just a teacher."

Lissa urges educators to change that mindset. "They need to go into these conversations knowing that they are a value add for companies." Her tactical advice is to do "boots on the ground research." Reach out to edtech companies, learn about the different roles, and don't be afraid to explore areas like sales, which, as she notes, is really just "solving problems for people." Lissa’s story is the perfect validation of this idea: the skills and insights she gained as a teacher weren't just a stepping stone—they were the entire foundation for building a company dedicated to solving one of education's biggest problems.