WEBVTT - Aisha Bowe on the Blue Origin Space Flight 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:02.880 Well, Luke is here a Black Tech Green Money. I 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:05.880 am super excited for this one. I get to talk 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.200 to my friend. I should vote as a former NASA 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:12.960 rocket scientist, tech founder, extraordinari, somebody I've been a big 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.840 fan of for a long time, and soon to be 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:19.360 astronaut joining the upcoming Blue Origin New Shepherd flight crew. 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.040 She found a lingo and tech company. This already serves, 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.440 you know, ten thousand plus. I'm sure that number has 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.960 grown by now students and is only mission equipped one 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.559 million learners with them skills over the next decade. Welcome. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.040 I used it to Black Tech Green Money. It's good 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.880 to see you will It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure. 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.519 So you spoken about how I want to go all 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.800 the way back. Your guidance counsel has suggested cosmetology, which 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:48.360 is fine, but your FOB encouraged you to pursue math. 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:53.600 And how did that moment shape and help this I 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:54.960 should become who she is now. 0:00:56.640 --> 0:01:00.960 Looking back, I remember feeling so angry when I was 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.800 talking to guidance counselor because it wasn't the field. It 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.920 was this idea that she was limiting me. She was 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.720 sort of prescribing the boundaries of my life. You weren't 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:15.120 good at school, therefore you're not going to be good 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.280 at life. And in that moment, I remember not knowing 0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:21.280 what to do about it, right, because I feel like 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:23.720 when you're in high school, you just believe what people 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.039 tell you, especially when they're adults, and especially when they 0:01:27.080 --> 0:01:32.080 have titles like guidance. And I went home and I 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:35.600 was talking to my dad, and my dad was furious, 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:39.839 and he said, Ayisha, you cannot subscribe to what other 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.640 people tell you about yourself. But in that moment, I 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.680 just felt so demoralized that I proceeded to community college 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:51.480 without applying to college. And what I realized in that 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:57.000 environment was that my reality, my dreams mattered, and that 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:01.560 I could turn perception into facts simply by believing in 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:06.560 having goals and ideas that were outside the norm. And so, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.360 you know, I took out a piece of paper and 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.600 I just made up this life, like I want to graduate, 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:14.000 I want to go to a good school. I want 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.799 to go to University of Michigan, go blue. I want 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.000 to become a rocket scientist. I want to do things 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.880 that people laughed at me for saying I wanted to do, 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:27.120 and all of those things became real and that's when 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.840 I started to realize that like we, especially as people 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:36.400 of color, cannot allow ourselves to be defined by anything 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:38.360 other what we choose to be. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.560 I love that, and so community college to NASA is 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:50.880 a humongous leap. Humongous And for that Ayisha that started 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.799 community college, what is it you know now about what 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.920 it takes to make that leap that she didn't know? 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:04.360 I think I was so caught up in trying to 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.920 follow the traditional script that it could not be authentically me. 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:13.320 Like I remember studying for exams and just freezing and 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:17.639 not being able to remember anything that I studied or memorized. 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.480 And so I think the first thing was that I 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:25.399 needed to understand that just because I wasn't good at 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:28.400 traditional testing doesn't mean that I wasn't going to be 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.880 good at life. And once I just sort of let 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:35.360 go of expectations and fear, which was the fear of 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.800 ending up broke, like you know. Well, one of the 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.160 things that I don't share but I want to talk 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.320 more about was when I was in community college making 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.240 the transition to go to university, I took out a 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:50.280 life insurance policy on myself. I took it out for 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.640 fifty thousand dollars because I was so afraid that if 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:55.800 I died when I was in college, my parents were 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:57.240 going to be broke and they were never going to 0:03:57.240 --> 0:03:59.600 be able to pay that debt back. And I think 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.560 about that time in my life and I just felt 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.680 so I felt so confined, I felt so discouraged, I 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:09.840 felt so scared, and me saying, you know what, I 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:11.600 know what it's like to fail, I know what it's 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.360 like to work, I know what it's like to be tired, 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.960 I know what it's like to be hungry, and I'm 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:19.360 not going back to that, And like, using that as 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.640 a source of strength was really what propelled me to 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:23.800 do what I'm doing now. 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.720 You chose aerospace engineering because you were interested in science fiction. 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.880 What I'm a big science I love scien like specifically 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:34.200 near future science fiction, like things that can happen in 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:39.320 our lifetimes, like what stories as fired you and how 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:40.919 do they influence the way you think. 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:45.000 So I used to read a lot. I was a 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.800 gymnast and we were on the road and it was 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:49.800 always kind of like me and like a book right 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:51.440 in the back of the car. I used to be 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.760 able to read books in the car without getting motions sick. 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:56.960 Like I missed those days. But one of the things 0:04:57.000 --> 0:05:02.200 about becoming an aerospace engineer that I don't share as 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:04.839 often is I kind of was bartering with God. Now 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.400 I know you're not supposed to do that, right, but 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.880 it was one of those things where I was like, Okay, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.720 I want to do this incredible, crazy, badass thing. And 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.520 I literally was like, dear God, if you can hear 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.720 me and you want to let me know that you're 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.760 real and dream's are real, then I will become a 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.360 rocket scientist. Like, yes, I love science fiction, but I 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:30.640 had not seen any black female rocket scientists Like yeah, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:32.760 and the only people that I saw who worked in 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.680 aerospace worked in aerodynamics for automotive companies, and like, I 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.960 was not about that life. And so it really was 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.840 a transformational experience because I started to understand that like 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.800 through prayer, through preparation, and through resilience, like I really 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.760 could do anything. So tell me. 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.560 So I'm curious, Like you just talked about people going 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:02.040 theodynamics and like, like what is the is are these 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.680 like tougher programs to get into? Like that was like 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.479 the selection process, like you were selected to do this, like, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:08.320 how does that work? 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.920 So I think the first part for school, there are 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.360 different criterias depending on where you go, right, I think 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.360 that's sort of like the first selection is making the 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:23.400 grades necessary in order to declare, whether it's two years 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.159 into your degree or in high school being able to 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:30.400 enter and do some pre engineering. So there's that. I 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.599 think after then you have what industry has in terms 0:06:34.640 --> 0:06:38.520 of the their qualifiers. And I want to kind of 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.880 say that I think a lot of it is I 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.920 think a lot of it's BS. And what I mean 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.000 by that is I truly believe in skills based testing. 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.320 I believe in evaluating the whole person. I gave a 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:53.480 talk once with the CEO of a multi billion dollar 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:58.479 company and I came after him and I was like, look, 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:00.839 the reality of it is that you and I are 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.480 sharing the same stage. We came from two different places 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.000 and we ended up at the same spot. And that's 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:08.920 because I had the skill and I had the talent. 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:13.600 I didn't have the opportunity. We all know, right, genius 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.880 is evenly distributed. Opportunity is not. And so when I 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:21.720 think about the question about requirements, I actually am looking 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.760 forward to a future where a lot of those prerequisites 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.680 go away, and we really start looking at the people 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.520 because I'm living in a company and an environment where 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.120 I made it up right in twenty twenty five. I 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:36.800 made up my job. I made up the logo, I 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:38.840 made up the color scheme. I made up all the 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.360 positions that the people do. But we've been in business 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:45.760 for twelve years. So it was. 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.680 Like, let's talk about that, Like what is the mindset 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:54.480 shift that's different in a NASA engineer to entrepreneurship and 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.800 how than to astronaut? Like how how do you have 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.160 to change how you think? 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:05.680 I think what happened was instead of me thinking and 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:09.200 having the safety net, so to speak, of the government, 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:13.560 I decided to bet on myself. The transition from NASA 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:18.520 to working in a small business really became. It really 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.680 was about me meeting people in the valley, some of 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:26.400 whom I'm still friends with to this day, and understanding 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:28.840 that a lot of folks had a PowerPoint and a 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.000 dream and they were getting funded. I know you've seen it, 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.760 so people are more capable than others, And I'll just 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.440 let you interpret that however you want to interpret that. 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.320 And I was thinking, wait a second, I got two 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.120 degrees from Michigin. But I don't think that I can 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:49.400 run a company. Why why, Like, what's the difference between 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.120 me and you? You're doing what I would like to 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.960 be doing simply because you believe that you should and 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:00.800 I'm qualified and I believe that I can't. So that 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:04.080 shift was what caused me to go out and try 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.040 to make it happen. And I'm not going to romanticize 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:08.000 the first few years of starting a business. You know 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:12.200 it is hard, right, I mean, I'm CouchSurfing. I'm talking 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:15.160 to supportive pets and animals about my business because I 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.760 was too afraid to talk to my family. I mean, 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:20.960 listen to the dogs told me I could do it, So 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:21.600 I did it. 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:23.240 I love it. 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.280 But the mentality shift is really like, look, why do 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.640 you spend so much time counting yourself out? Because you 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:35.240 are internalizing false societal narratives like you have to love 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.720 yourself the way that Kanye loves himself. I tell people 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.480 that all the time, like go hard or go home 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.840 and go hard for yourself and you will do amazing things. 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.800 And so my journey is like as much as I 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.079 want people to go into space and science like I 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:53.680 would love it if you did. But the reality of 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:55.720 it is, I want you to look at my story 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.439 and say, every single time somebody told I you should 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:02.400 that she could not, she did, I can do it too, right. 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.760 It's just about being dogged in the pursuit of excellence 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.160 and whatever success means for you in your life. 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:13.640 How are you defining success these days? 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:14.720 In wealth? 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:17.240 Even let's do both. How are you defining both success 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:17.760 and wealth? 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:23.760 I'm defining success as accomplishing the goals that are important 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.280 to me. I like to look at my life on 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.160 five year iterations, and so for the first five years, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.040 I wanted to work for NASA, do cool things, worked 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:35.679 on small spacecraft, worked on aircraft, did that. And then 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.040 after that I wanted to become a business person. I'm 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.240 twelve years in that game, still doing it. Created another company, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.480 raised a couplement million of venture capital, like that's great, 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.200 love it. And then after that I wanted to figure 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.040 out how do I put what I do in the 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.360 celebrity track, so to speak? Right, how do I become 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:57.959 a superstar in engineering? And I thought, okay, well I'm 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:00.320 going to go to space once again. And I said 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.880 I'm going to space. People were like I don't think 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:05.680 you can do that. I'm like, I get that, but 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:07.959 I tell you that I'm in aerospace, and you laugh 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.280 at my face anyway, So why do I just go 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.920 the rest of the way and double down and let's 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.280 go to space. So I look at the successes. Did 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.440 you build a company, is it working, is it thriving? Yes? 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.200 Did you set out to achieve what it is that 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:29.199 you wanted to achieve in your personal and financial life? Right? Okay, yes? 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.640 But the other piece is the wealth of doing things 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.640 that matter. My goal is to be a bedtime story. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.080 That's wealth to me. I'm creating endowment so that people 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.720 will study under my name long after I'm dead and 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.400 I'm done and I'm ash. I want to make sure 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.280 that the story lasts and that it's remarkable and people 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:50.720 feel inspired by it, and when they hear it, they're 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.040 just like, WHOA, So she did what? She did what? 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.760 And hopefully that story will inspire others to reach hire 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:00.640 and do the same. 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.959 You know, you played a pivotal role in bringing the 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:10.000 SpaceX rocket landing into the Bahamas and talking about like 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:13.199 behind the scenes, like like how'd that happen? How'd you 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:13.800 make this happen. 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.440 Well, I will say that there were a lot of 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:23.400 for thinking people that were involved in that historic partnership agreement. 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:27.000 But I want to go back to this idea of 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.400 being unrealistic, because when we started down that path, people 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.280 were like, Nah, the United States is never I'm like, 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.400 that doesn't mean that we can't we go do it. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:42.000 And what I wanted to see was participation and what 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.199 is going to become a trillion dollar industry if it's 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:50.520 not already by non traditional players, and for the Bahamas 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.240 to have the foresight to leverage the infrastructure that has 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:57.880 been built since the Apollo program and then to use 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.640 that along with their tourism industry to say, hey, not 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:05.079 only are we sun, sand and sea, we're now space 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:09.760 is just revolutionary. And I'm incredibly proud to be part 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:12.360 of that work. And so now you have the option 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.160 you can go to Kennedy in Florida and you can 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.319 watch launches, but you can also go to the Bahamas 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:20.800 and you can see landings. 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:25.560 So what does that now mean for the future their 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.080 space economy in the Bahamas. 0:13:28.600 --> 0:13:31.680 It's you know, it's such a big question. It's almost 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:37.160 hard to define because space transforms everything. It touches, and like, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.640 you need everybody for space. I mean, I'm rocking my 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.000 Lions shirt because this is really the Super Bowl that 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.720 I wanted and I just can't let that go. But 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:51.280 space needs lawyers, Space needs accountants, Space needs doctors, Space 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.440 needs scientists, Space needs all people. And what happens is 0:13:55.480 --> 0:14:00.440 you need machinists, you need welders. The infrastructure that is 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:05.520 required to support space touches nearly every vertical in an economy. 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.000 And so for the Bahamas, I think it means stem 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.600 education and people having a place to go. They're going 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:15.560 to be able to live and work in the same place. 0:14:16.400 --> 0:14:19.120 I think it means they're going to start to see 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.560 their science and their experiments which are focused on monitoring 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.680 our Earth and protecting our oceans reaching new heights. I 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.440 think a record number of people are going to get 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.960 to see and experience space from the Bahamas. And I'm 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.960 honored to be the first person of Behaman heritage to 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.760 go to space. And so I'm really really excited about 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:44.600 the economic benefits as well as the overall benefits for 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:46.640 climate and Earth and the out years. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.560 Yeah, let's dig in on that, you know, because I 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.960 think about those opportunities just described, and I wonder like 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:56.160 what us as black entrepreneurs should be thinking about when 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.040 you're thinking about the growing space industry. What should we 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.080 be paying attention to when we're looking for opportunity. 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:07.240 There's a lot of opportunity in space. And you know, 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.680 I take a deep breath because as a small business, 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.920 I never thought that my company would be involved in 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:17.520 such a momentous project because I thought of ourselves as small. 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:21.120 But when you look at the space companies, I mean, 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:25.880 I'm going to space on a rocket from a company 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.960 that wasn't even created when I was working at NASA. 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.160 That's wild, right, I mean SpaceX was just getting started 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.800 when I was there. And so really it's about daring 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.640 to dream and having nothing that you want to pursue 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.760 be too radical or too extreme enough. I mean, look 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.800 at intuitive machines, look at what's going on with people 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:53.000 looking to provide cargoes to the National Space Station, or 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:57.160 you know, power beaming or cleaning up space debris. A 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.640 lot of those ideas they're not coming from large companies, 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:03.080 they're from small and so I would bring our innovation, 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.680 I would bring our ingenuity, I would bring our downright 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:10.440 scrappiness and willingness to persist to the game, and you know, 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:14.760 feel confident that you can participate, and so talk. 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.640 To us about what it's like to train for this 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.680 astronaut experience, like take us in the journey. 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.160 Yeah. So I've been training for the better part of 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:28.400 the last year. And when I tell you I'm having 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.600 so much fun, you get a chance go to my 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:37.680 Instagram Ashabo and peep the latest training videos. I am giggling, 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.240 I'm squealing the guys like she's having too much fun. 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:45.160 I am loving it. I pulled six gee's in an 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:50.920 FAA approved Human centerfuge, which it's essentially designed to mimic 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.120 what you can expect to experience inforces in the ascent 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:59.640 and descent. And I was like again and again, I 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.960 was bus like a kid on a carnival ride. I 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.800 love it. But this isn't just about fun. It's also 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:09.480 about being prepared mentally and physically so that I can 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:12.840 conduct science as part of my mission. I partnered with 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.439 Winston Salem, and you know, Winston Salem is in HBCU, 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.679 but they also have a leading astrobotany lab. And what 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:21.639 I wanted to be able to do and kind of 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.000 the tide of the question that you just asked about, 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.600 you know, black folks and participating in space. I wanted 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:31.120 to take our space intellect and genius and I wanted 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.440 to leverage it on my mission to produce world class research. 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:38.159 And that's what you see when we get involved and 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.480 we participate. And so we're going to be looking at 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:44.480 how plants respond to space. There's a huge agricultural focus. 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.479 We're genetically sequencing crop plants and the idea is to 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.160 apply the results to food security here on Earth, because 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.600 if you can grow plants in inhospitable environments, you can 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.040 grow them in food deserts here. 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.159 So I like to ask guess, like what's in like 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.200 their EBC, their everyday carry And I'm gonna I'm gonna 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.480 give a little bit of a twist on this for you. 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.920 Like I wonder, like what is necessary if I USU 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.200 you to take to space and why? 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.639 Well, I think the first thing that's necessary for me 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:23.359 to take to space is my behaving heritage and my father. 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:26.240 I lost my father at the beginning of this year, 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:31.080 and I can remember not knowing like how am I 0:18:31.119 --> 0:18:32.399 going to get out of bed? And how am I 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:37.000 going to do this, and one of my close friends 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:40.960 purchased a star, and she named the star my dad's name, 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:45.840 and she's like, for everywhere he can't be, that you are, 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.000 and when you go to space, you're going to be 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.879 just a little bit closer to his star. And I 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:56.080 remember thinking just about the importance of looking at the 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.560 night sky and the importance of really being like our 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:01.960 ancest the wildest dreams, Like we talk about that all 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:05.960 the time. And I looked at my dad, my dad's 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.879 text messages, and when he first found out that I 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:12.040 was going, he luck me this beautiful message about all 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.399 the people coming before him being proud of me, and 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.879 all the people who will come after me being proud 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:20.080 of me, and to make sure that I not only 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.800 meet this moment, but that it's not my moment, it's 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.960 our moment. And I find a way to share that dream. 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:30.320 And so I think the first part is just realizing 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:34.479 that I'm having something. I'm having the opportunity to do 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:39.679 something that my family and he would have been proud of. 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:43.439 The second is I've been traveling around the world collecting 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:49.680 literal dreams from students from parents from Kenya to India 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:54.640 to the Bahamas and Kentucky, the NCR and those are 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.320 going to space, they're going to return to them marked 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:02.320 in space. And the the idea is to bring space home, 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.119 right because if you can write your dream, and your 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.320 dream can go to space and return to you, it's 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.200 further evidence that your dream is real and it matters. 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.760 And then the last thing is, I'm carrying the flag 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.680 from the Moon with me. Now you might be like, wait, what, Yes, 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:24.480 the flag from Apollo twelve that Pete Conrad took to 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.000 the Moon is going to be flying with me, and 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.399 it's a powerful symbol of the past, the present, and 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:34.320 the future of space. And it was loaned to me 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:37.760 by Pete's wife, Nancy. She literally said, go to the 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:41.919 collection in the museum, go get that flag, and go 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.399 send it to aacious house. Because what I want I 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.040 want the world to see that the next fifty years 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:50.400 of space is going to look a whole lot different 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:55.080 than the last. And those three things are really what 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.679 I'm thinking about. And then the ability to take that 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:01.640 knowledge and take that inspiration and educate and inspire through 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.680 the products that we've created at LINGO. We have space 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.720 lessons that are getting rolled out with this launch. And 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:12.280 so it's all to me about elevating right, like lifting 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.119 as I climb and making sure that when I leave, 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.160 I leave this place better than how I found it. 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.439 If you would have started another tech company tomorrow, like 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:24.960 what problem would you solve? 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:32.480 I think the idea is to exit and chill on 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:32.920 the beach. 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:35.960 Listen. 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.359 I was like the audacity someone who has done that. 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:41.960 You're like, if you were just starting another tech company to. 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:48.000 It's like, I'm good, I'm really really really good, Like 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.200 oh that is it gives me all. 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.639 List The key in life is to not look like 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.040 what you've been through. So there's what I'll say. I 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.119 was going to start a nonprofit tomorrow. 0:22:03.240 --> 0:22:04.320 I love it. 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:08.960 I would be focused on education and opportunity. I've been 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:13.840 traveling around in exchange for keynotes, I've been building the 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:16.560 funds to create endowments, and so I create an endowment 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:21.120 at my community college. I was really honored last year 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:25.080 to give a keynote at a conference, and FLU Corporation 0:22:25.200 --> 0:22:27.840 then donated new lab equipment to my college, and I 0:22:27.880 --> 0:22:31.840 was like, yes, I really want to use what it 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:34.960 is that I've created for good. And I wanted to 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:39.760 be invested in education and legal in medicine. I mean, 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:43.320 I've now gone through a couple attempts at egg freezing, 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:47.080 and that's a whole nother podcast, right, Like fertility and 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:51.080 childbirth and all those things. They need us, we need us, 0:22:51.560 --> 0:22:53.760 and so I want to be part of funding the 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:57.840 pathways to make sure that there are more professionals of 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:00.720 a diverse background who are able to prove the care, 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:04.960 whether it's legal, medical, or otherwise. 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.880 Yeah, you know, you're going to be on this journey 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:13.080