I will share lessons learned during many years of involvement in various aspects of education and public outreach. My experiences include extensive lecturing to lay audiences on three continents, authorship of nearly 100 articles and 8 books on poplar astronomy, planetarium management, and running teacher workshops. I will outline how a professional astronomer got drawn along this path when few risked straying away from their prime areas of research and will offer a fresh perspective on what we face as we strive to broaden the public perception of science.