Suiting Up For Launch with Explore Mars.
One difficult aspect of the COVID-19 crisis is that It triggered my primitive survival instinct in many ways. One example is I found myself in a fight-or-flight reaction with some projects. Primitive reactions don’t help when you’re trying to consistently grow. You can’t flee because there’s nowhere to hide and even hiding in your home you can’t stay there indefinitely. This threat sometimes motivates many of us to take proper steps to challenge ourselves. I took that challenge to fight my genetic predisposition of stuttering.
I had a fork in the road scenario this year when I was invited to speak at the Human to Mars (H2M) 2020 Summit. Speaking publicly has not been my forte and I still struggle with it. I embraced my longtime issue of dysthymia and I publicly challenged myself by taking a plunge and speaking to hundreds of viewers at the H2M 2020 Summit. How I view adversity is that I try to reorient myself in a more constructive direction which always makes one’s path through any crisis a bit more palatable and perhaps will you leave you better off.
Space is for everyone and there’s a community for you!
This fork-in-the-road was an incredible opportunity to be among all these stellar individuals who spoke at the H2M Summit. This image of speakers listed alphabetically during the H2M summit is an incredible reminder of how far I’ve come but also a humble reminder that I’m incredibly grateful to Explore Mars for inviting me to speak at this event.
I had dinner with Grant Anderson earlier this year at Sci-Tech 2020 while conversing about space health and the NASA twins study which covered a multidimensional analysis of a year-long human spaceflight trip of astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. Grant is one of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met in person. I’ve conversed with Ellen Stofan recently about diversity in aerospace and my impact in SEDS-USA. I’ve learned to communicate better about science topics from Emily Calandrelli through her inspiring and educational shows, tik-toks, and tweets. Not pictured is Dr. Danielle Wood who I had the privilege of seeing speak earlier this year at Sci-Tech 2020 as an AIAA Diversity Scholar. Dr. Wood is a great public keynote speaker and is an incredibly intelligent professor. I had the privilege of onboarding, Dr. Wood, as an advisor for SEDS-USA. Lastly, I have the greatest mentor in the world, he goes by the name of J.R. Edwards. J.R. is another incredible public speaker and dynamic industry leader who I now have onboard my spaceship as I prep for an interesting career in the aerospace industry.
This start to my career is a testament to how such an organization like SEDS-USA prepares young leaders for the industry. My next post is about my experience as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors.
