Natural History Museum Educator Lila Higgins

A Brit in SoCal Embraces Her Roots Every Boxing Day

Lila Higgins is a museum educator at L.A.’s Natural History Museum. Before participating in a panel on the wild animals of Los Angeles, she talked about her fear of falling over, her love of Boxing Day, and the Einstein-lookalike teacher to whom she credits her life and career in science.

Q:

What’s the ugliest piece of furniture you own?


A:

Absolutely this horrible Ikea couch that is being held up by a tin can. And an old piece of ceramics I made in high school which is really ugly, too.


Q:

What embarrasses you?


A:

Falling over. I seem to always worry that I’m going to—like I was thinking about falling over as I went up on the stage today. I’m sure I would be able to play it off OK, but that’s it.


Q:

Where do you go in L.A. to be in nature?


A:

Oh, so many places! Probably the L.A. River is my most favorite one right now. I went on a kayak trip, and saw lots of awesome wildlife down there.


Q:

What’s your favorite reality TV show?


A:

I don’t have one. I don’t have a TV. When I did have a TV it was one of those cooking ones. I love cooking.


Q:

What’s your specialty in the kitchen?


A:

I’m really good at making paneer, which is Indian cheese. It sounds really complicated to people, but it’s really easy. I guess that’s my specialty.


Q:

What’s your favorite holiday?


A:

I’m going to say Boxing Day, which is the day after Christmas, because I grew up in England. No one here celebrates it, but my family—my mom and sister, who are here from England, too—we always have a special afternoon tea on Boxing Day.


Q:

What’s your biggest weakness?


A:

Sometimes I can be too blunt.


Q:

When and how did you learn to swim?


A:

In England people don’t really have their own swimming pools, so we would go to the local public swimming school, and I remember jumping in without my armbands on—the floatie things—and almost drowning. So it wasn’t long after that I learned to swim, just the doggy paddle to keep myself afloat. After that probably in elementary school.


Q:

What teacher or professor, if any, changed your life?


A:

I had a science teacher in school in England—this was in secondary school—I don’t remember his name, but he was like Einstein. He always wore a bowtie, one of those fancy velvet ones, and he had one of those tweed jackets and had crazy hair like Einstein. He told me one day, “Lila you’re really good in science, you should keep studying science”—I was like, “Oh, I’m good at science, yes!”


Q:

Where would we find you on a typical Friday night?


A:

It’s really hard to say—it depends. One of my friend’s music performances, at an art opening, or having some interesting food somewhere.