Her Story
About Kirsten
I've been working in the aerospace industry for about 7 years total, including internships during my time at school. I've been at my current job for 2 years at a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, where we basically work for the federal government. My main area of expertise is space policy and operations. My undergrad was in space flight operations, so that kind of bridged the gap between space policy and a little bit of the engineering side, which is good to have both sides when making decisions for regulations. Right now, I'm a program manager supporting the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, who creates regulations for the commercial space industry for launch and reentry, and we just help inform them. I also wear other hats working on spaceport efficiencies and infrastructure goals for the Space Force. What's cool about being in the FFRDC realm, the think tank realm, is because we do everything aerospace, and if you think something's cool and there's opportunity for you to join a team, they're very willing to let you do that too. Before this, I worked at a company called Relativity Space as a co-op during my master's program for about a year. We launched the first 3D printed rocket, and obviously there was a whole team, thousands of people that supported this, but just being one part of the regulatory side to help them launch this first rocket ever has to be my most memorable achievement.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kirsten
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my core value of accountability. I find that as such an important part of life - being accountable in your personal day-to-day and outside of that. Accountability is always my go-to, number one, because I feel like you should be accountable personally, and then you should surround yourself with accountable people who can help support you.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to ask questions and lean in to new opportunities. I always hated feeling like the dumbest person in the room is the person who asked the most questions. I think that it was the dumbest thing I could have ever thought, because you can't know everything, especially when you're young. So just asking questions and leaning in to new opportunities is important, because you never know, especially in my industry where things are changing all of the time. You should never limit yourself to one goal or aspiration, because you could do anything in the space industry. It sounds very siloed, but you could do management, operations - I would have never thought I would be on console in a launch control center helping launch a rocket. That was never in my foresight. So leaning in and asking questions are probably my top two pieces of advice.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, you belong. I think aerospace is scary, and if you don't understand it, you don't think you can enter it, and I didn't know about aerospace before I entered it. There are just so many fields you can participate in. You don't have to just be military or an engineer to be in the aerospace industry. You can be literally anything. I would say just that you belong, and there's a place for you in space. I think that's a big term people use getting STEM folks, women in STEM - there's a place for you in space. It sounds cliche, but there's a reason they said that.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say currently, the biggest challenge is the regulations behind a new and upcoming sector. It's fairly regulated, but there's still room to grow, and that was on purpose, because the commercial sector is diverse and ever-changing. So finding the right regulations that fit every shape and size when it comes to very different technologies is a major challenge and opportunity in my field right now.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Accountability is always my go-to, number one, because I feel like you should be accountable personally, and then you should surround yourself with accountable people who can help support you. Building community and lasting impressions is really big too. And sharing your network is a good one. Again, going back, you can't know everything, so the more people around you that know things, the better decisions you can make.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Virginia
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.