A few words about me:
I am the Deputy Director of Communications for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and sit on JPL’s Executive Council.
JPL is a world-leader in Mars, solar system and deep space exploration, Earth and climate science, advanced robotics and space technology. I have the privilege of overseeing strategic communications and education outreach operations.
Prior to JPL, I was Vice President of Global Brand & Digital for The Boeing Company, and digital advisor to UK government and 10 Downing Street. I’m now based in Los Angeles, after 7+ years in Chicago and over a decade, living and working in London. I am a mum of two, a marathon runner and an OrangeTheory fanatic!
Are there any professional experiences you've had that are quite unexpected compared to what you do nowadays?
I paid my way through university as a professional 'de-stapler', removing staples and tidying thousands of UK medical records so they could be scanned and digitised via enormous industrial scanners (sadly, which I never got to work myself). I would sit there for hours diligently sorting through boxes of paperwork, doctors’ assessments, diagnoses, medical scans, photos, prescriptions. I really have seen it all.
Is your background more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) or non-STEM related?
100% non-STEM related. I was always focused on the Arts at school and then took a vocational path through university studying Advertising and Marketing Communications. It has only been during my professional career that I realised how beautifully connected Art and Science are, and that Communications, specifically creative storytelling is the channel in which to explore and amplify the two, together.
Where did your professional journey start?
My career started in Public Relations - which is essentially trying to entice media to write editorial about products and brands by crafting compelling stories that they want to cover. I pretty much worked across all sectors from dry cleaning products and eco-car insurance to IKEA, The National Lottery and YO! Sushi. I also handled several large government public awareness campaigns for the Food Standards Agency, Department for Education and Department for Innovation and Skills.
How did you get into tech and what motivated you?
I was approached by the Government Digital Service (part of the UK's Cabinet Office) for a short-term contract to lead social media and digital engagement. GDS were doing some fascinating, and world-leading things at the time in their approach to government digital services, building one domain for government (GOV.UK), with a leadership team that were truly defining what digital transformation meant for large, complex organisations.
I had witnessed first-hand how brands were struggling to adapt to the 'internet-age' - culturally, structurally, and in how they needed to engage with stakeholders, both internally and externally. While leaving full-time employment for GDS was a leap of faith, instinctively I knew that this was going to be a stretch assignment that would help accelerate my professional development and understanding of where communications and marketing were headed. I was not wrong.
Have you experienced any 'career in tech' challenges / stereotypes?
Having a non-STEM, non-technical background; coming from the Public Relations/Marketing industry, there has always been perceptual barriers that what you do is a nice-to-have or ‘frivolous’. In my mind, this was always a draconian way to look at Communications.
Because without stakeholder support; without buy-in; without addressing detracting forces strategically, then as a business you cannot grow, and you cannot adapt. Communications is a critical strategic partner in any business.
The GDS team understood this. They saw social media engagement, communications, as not only an extension to GOV.UK's great service delivery but as a vehicle to better understanding the needs of stakeholders and in turn using that understanding to build better digital products.
"Be curious, be open-minded and be a bridge-builder. Having a thirst for knowledge is important for continuous self-development but so too is knowing what great collaboration and teaming looks like to get a job done."
What you wish you knew before getting started in tech...
I wish I knew how many doors tech would open. That everything we engage with is now inherently 'digital' and driven by some sort of technology. That having digital competency is essential. It is the bedrock of business.
What has been your biggest 'wow!' moment related to working in tech so far?
It has to be where I am right now - working for NASA. Working with incredible teams, of communicators, scientists and engineers that stretch my thinking every single day. Of watching the culmination of these brilliant minds manifest in the most audacious missions into space for the benefit of humanity. And this is not hyperbole. It is what we are charged with doing.
What do you like / not like about working in tech?
What I like is complexity. Taking an abstract concept and making it accessible to all. This has also been a motivating factor in the companies I have chosen to work for. They have had layers of complexity - not just in terms of what they make/do - but in terms of how they are structured and what the business drivers are.
What I dislike? Probably, jargon, acronyms (I know, I know, I work for NASA - the mothership of the acronym) ... the overuse of the word 'digital transformation'! Anything that attempts to make it harder for someone to understand a message.
"I wish I knew how many doors tech would open. That everything we engage with is now inherently 'digital' and driven by some sort of technology. That having digital competency is essential. It is the bedrock of business."
What's been your favourite / most memorable / funniest 'career in tech' moment so far?
My first launch from Kennedy Space Center. Psyche - a mission to a metal-rich asteroid launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Cape. That was a very special moment because of the highs … and lows … of getting that spacecraft into space. Psyche was, and is still, carrying a little known tech-demo called DSOC (sorry, an acronym for Deep Space Optical Communications) which is testing high-bandwidth laser communications.
With data rates 10 times that of radio telecommunications systems, DSOC will transform future spacecraft operations and eventually support astronaut endeavors beyond that of the Moon. And if you’d like to see how DSOC is currently performing - just Google ‘Taters the Cat’.
And to wrap up, is there any advice you'd like to give to others interested in a career in tech?
Be curious, be open-minded and be a bridge-builder. Having a thirst for knowledge is important for continuous self-development but so too is knowing what great collaboration and teaming looks like to get a job done.