Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
My next guest is a former NASA rocket scientist, entrepreneur,
and global stem advocate. Oh and did I mention she
will make history as one of six women on Billionaire
Jeff Bezos is eleventh Blue Origin and S thirty one
space flight on April fourteenth. Please welcome the one and
only Miss Aieshabo.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
How are you? How's everything?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's nice to finally meet you. First of all, I'm
very very proud of you.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Congratulations on all your success, and I'm especially proud because
you're working in partnership with my alma mater, Wister Salem
State University.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Tell an audience about that, please, let's let's got a
touch on that first.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Listen, we couldnot go to space without Winston Salem. When
I embarked upon this mission, it was important for me
to conduct science and to do it with a world
class institution like Winston Salem.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I long admire their astropotany.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Lab from when I was at NASA, and I am
privileged to have the opportunity to genetically sequence plants face
with them.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
How do you feel about this? I mean they say
this is the lady's time. I mean with all the
ladies going on this historic trip. Who'll be joining Tell
an audience who will be joining you on this flight?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Sure, I'm joined by Gil King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Carrie,
Anne Flynn, and Amanda win.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Now those ladies that elected to join you, what kind
of advice have you given them? I'd like to know this,
because you know Gail is usually one that gives advice
now takes it. I know she's a friend of mine,
and she's so bossy. I say that affectionately. What are
the kind of things you told her about what she's
about to embark upon?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Pleasant planning and preparation, right, I look at this similar
to athletics. It's important to visualize. It's important to prepare
and to be in the moment. We're getting ready to
go on a journey that almost everyone who has gone
on it has come back forever changed. And for people
around the world who are writing me, who are engaging
(01:56):
with the mission and seeing a little bit of themselves
in us, it's important that we show up to.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Meet the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Tell the folks out there about yourself in terms of
who you are and how this all came to be.
I mean, when we think about I mean there's a
lot of aspirations. People are very aspirational in this day
and age, but you don't see too often somebody engaging
in this kind of stuff where you're going up in space, girl,
you're going above the earth crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I mean, how did all of this come to be?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I'm the person who never thought that I would be here.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I started out as someone who wasn't high performing in
high school. In fact, I went to my community sorry,
I went to community college, and I didn't even apply
to college after asking my high school guidance.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Counselor what she thought I could do, and she.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Said, I think you'd better be better be off pursuing cosmetology.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And you know, I hold on cosmetology.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, And you know I pause here because I'm looking
at you and I'm looking at this and this was
all it was all a dream. And I did not
apply to college because I thought I wasn't smart enough
to go. I did not have the dream of working
at NASA because I thought that I couldn't make it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
And so when I went.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
To school, I said, you know what, Aisha, You're in
community college, but you have taken everything that someone else
has told you about yourself to be true, and it
is not.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And so let's focus only on what it is that
you want to do.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
And what I wanted to do was wake up every
day and look at my face and be proud. I
want to look in the mirror and say that my
black was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
And I wanted to live a life that was a testimony.
And so I said I'm going to become a rocket scientist.
And people laughed.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I mean, they still laugh at me. Today's spoiler alert.
I'm like, google me, I'll wait right. But they laughed
because they didn't think that I could do it. And
so I started my aerospace engineering degree with pre algebra
in this community college. I went to Michigan Aerospace. I
got a master's in space system's engineering. And then I
went to NASA, and I said, I'm going to commit
(03:58):
my life to telling people that being realistic is the
most commonly travel path to mediocrity.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I had the pleasure of meeting your wonderful mama. She's
standing right over there. I see where she gets here.
I see where you get it from. Okay, let me
just say that very very complimentary, I might add, but
here's the deal, wasn't it your dad that first mentioned
to you or suggested that you might want to take
this path. And if that is so, if that is so, what.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Is it that he saw that you didn't see.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
At that particular moment in time that made him make
that suggestion.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Well, my dad, who's from the Bahamas, decided that when
he heard what the guidance counselor said, he would go
and give her a piece of his mind.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
He was told not to come back.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So he did go and give her a piece of
his mind, and they told him not to come back.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Correct, okay, okay, said you know, you cannot allow others
to define you in life. And I want you to
know that you were smarter than what they think you are,
and you were better. And so he would challenge me
at the dinner table. He would ask me to write,
like you know, write down equations and things, and then
he would tear them up and he would tell me
that the only thing that someone can't take from you
(05:10):
is the stuff that's in your mind. And he said,
are you sure you can do whatever it is that
you put your mind to, So go do the math.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I will pay for it. You'll take the class again.
And so I started over the classes I was taking
in high school that I didn't do well in. I
started over in community college because he told me that
I could.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
And I'm thinking about it for along the way he
had to see something is in terms of it's one
thing to believe in you because he loves you daily
and he believes that you have a level of intellect
that they're underestimating. It's another thing important entirely to see
a particular gift. You got to be gifted to do
what you're doing right here, because so you're clearly a
gifted young lady. I'm saying, did he see that expertise
in math? Your interests elevated when it came to that subject.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
What was it?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You know? I think he saw potential.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Everyone needs someone who believes in them.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
One of the things I loved about the Venus Serena
moving was that the father spoke power over them before
they were champions. He was really deliberate about making sure
that no one would tell them that they were going
to be anything better than the best.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And my dad, in that moment told me the same thing.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
It wasn't because I had previously demonstrated it. It was
because he saw potential, and I grew into my potential.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Heck, I'm still growing into it.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I went from being at NASA to running two companies,
to making education product to being on the show.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Talking to you.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I'm still learning how to do. But what I stand
for is the dream. I stand for the idea that
there is no dream too big and nothing too audacious?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Was folks?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Were folks derailing your dreams? Or was your actions derailing
your dreams? Because you didn't believe you were as nearly
as focused as you ultimately became, Which was the biggest
impediment to you getting to where you are today?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
In your estimation, I think I was the biggest impediment
because I had to learn how to think. I had
to learn how to view myself as a computer that
needed to be pushed new programming. Essentially, I control the
narrative in my mind, and so if I consistently reinforced
how I think and how I respond to the things
around me, then I can change reality to be what
(07:18):
it is that I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
How were you able to do that when you use
the word reinforcement, Because I'm peeling apart some of the
words that you're saying and you talked about reinforce, well,
that means it was there, but something inside of you
was willing to put forth the due diligence, the level
of tenacity, etc. That you were not willing to do
in the past. Was the inspiration there because you wanted
to make your daddy proud? Was the inspiration there because
(07:43):
you wanted to debunk and ultimately dismiss.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
What the teacher who referred you.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
To cosmatology recommended. I mean, when we think about the
word reinforce, it emanates from somewhere, which was the motivation
for you.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I was tired of feeling bad. I want to feel good.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
When I woke up, I looked at my reflection and
I didn't like what I saw. And when I really
started to think of it, here was I had someone
that loved me and thought I was so great, But.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I didn't think that way.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I didn't feel that way, and I could not feel
good without taking control of me. And so I said,
I am strong enough to overcome whatever challenges are before me, and.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I do that every single day, even to this day.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I wake up and before I start everyone else's day,
I start mine, and I have affirmations, I have meditation,
I pray and then I get going.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Does meditation really work?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I've been that's been referred to me on many many occasions.
I'm going like this, it's kind of impossible. That requires
me to shut up and just sit there and empt
in my mind. And I just think there's a lot
of things in life I could pull off. I don't
know if I could pull that off. Can you pull
that off? How hard is it to learn how to meditate?
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Listen? I like to meditate when I meditated, like to
do it in the Bahamas.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Resident you know, I'm from Virginalis and now my family's
from same time as Virginalais.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Listen, I'm past how about that?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
But I mean I look at you now, and we
all have to just stand down and marvel at the
accomplishments that you've achieved to this degree. When I think
about what you're doing moving forward, particularly with this mission,
and how it's going to resonate not just in America.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
But throughout the world.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
As you go and you talk to young ladies throughout
the country, because I know you do, what are the
kind of things you say to them?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
I tell them that space is for all and not
for some I'm literally traveling with postcards that I've asked
the students to write their dreams down on because my
goal is to be a bedtime story. I want people
to tell their children what it is that I did
in the hopes of encouraging them to reach for the stars.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
But you're going to carry these postcards from the students,
right And I wanted to ask you what they're going
to symbolize.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But you're taking them up in space with you. Yes,
what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
You know, thanks to Lauren and Jeff, they're going back
to the very same students who wrote them, and so
they'll be stamp flown in space and then they're going
to bring space back down to Earth.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Tell me about the significance of the American flag that
you know you're going to take into space.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
When I first started working at NASA, I met a
woman named Nancy Conrad. She's the wife of Pete Conrad,
the third man to walk on the Moon. She became
a very powerful mentor to me, and Pete's story is
similar to mine. He was rambunctious and he didn't necessarily
fit in the traditional mold of school. In the beginning,
Nancy saw that I wanted to go to space, and
(10:32):
she mentored me along the way, and when the mission
was confirmed, she said, Aisha, I want to provide you
with the symbol of the past, because you are the future.
And she asked the museum a flight in Seattle to
go and get Pete's flag that he took to the
moon with him on Apollo twelve, and they sent it
to me, And so I will have an opportunity to
put that flag back in space, and then it will
(10:55):
have been flown twice and his legacy and my legacy
will be shared in the museum.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
How long you gonna be up there?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Do you know long enough?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Listen, that's vague, that's vague. I need specifics. You're gonna
be in space? You know how long are you gonna
be up there? In now?
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yes, So the entire flight will be like maybe eleven minutes, right,
and yes, And it's great because one, that's enough to
study how plans respond to microgravity.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
And two, my mom knows exactly when I'm coming home.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Did you just finish saying that the eleven minutes is
enough to study?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Would you just say eleven minutes that's all you need.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
That's all you well, so when you're in microgravity, changes
on the molecular level happen instantly, and so we're actually
able to genetically sequence plants in that period of time.
And this has implications for food security on Earth.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
We know, forgive this question, it's gonna sound a bit idiotic, maybe,
but I gotta ask, because you know, we hear politicians
all the time talking about taking us into space, they
exploring space, what have you. Ultimately, one day we're gonna
live on malls and stuff like that, and I don't
pay You're the reason I'm paying attention to it now.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
You should. I'm going to be honest with you. If
it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be paying attention to this,
you understand, But you got me interested. Are we to
take that and embrace that seriously?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That that is an objective and an agenda for astronauts,
and that's and everything in between as it pertains to
this country, this world and things from an exploration perspective,
they're really really plot to do this.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Well, we've been studying various elements of space travel for
some time.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
We say we humanity massive and what we've realized is
that space is a harsh environment. No surprise there.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
But what we learn in space has implications here on Earth.
So if you can grow plants in space, you can
grow them here in food deserts. You can help make
sure that people get access to the next generation of antibiotics,
and you can also make sure that they get Wi
Fi wherever they are.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Got youa so you just utilizing that to bring it
back to Earth to make sure we maximize our potential
as a human race, as opposed to telling us were
trying to move.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
The mall does what you tell them exactly space for
the benefit of Earth?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
That moves me.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I feel a lot better about that now, a lot
more knowledgeable about it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
How does one prepare for a spaceflight?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Well, if you're an adrenaline drinkie like me, you have
a lot of fun while doing it. I just had
the opportunity to fly in L thirty nine, which is
a fighter jet, and I successfully completed some aileron rolls
and some high speed maneuvers and had a great time.
But there is a commercial space flight regulation that kind
of lays out preparation for space and so I've gone
(13:35):
from flying an acrobatic aircraft to hypoxia training to these
fighter jet and.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
High g forces six g's. I love it.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I absolutely love it, and so it's important to physically
and mentally prepare.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I give you kudos not just for your accomplishments, but
because of your bravery.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Because they tried to get me up in the fire
the jets years ago, and.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I told them to go hell, don't even think about it,
don't even think about coming my way with that nonsense.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I'm comfortable on land. You understand I'm not trying to
do that. So you're braver than me.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
But I got the hook up. I know a Bahamian
who's a fighter pilot. He owns the aircraft. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, yes, I'm not that brave.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
You can do it. No, I can do it. You
can do it too.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I know I could do it, but because of me,
I ain't gonna be scared as hell when I'm doing
at a heart attack.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Well, look, I think the fear is good. You feel
the fear, you do it anyway.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
If people ask me, are you nervous, It's like, yes,
I'm getting in a rocket and going up. But on
the other side of fears, everything I've ever wanted will.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
This mission be carried. It will be, it will be.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
It will be broadcast on blue Orgin dot com Wow
on April fourteenth.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You can tune in, whether in a classroom or you
were at home.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I want to go to a couple of other things
before you depart, and I really appreciate you taking time
out of your busy schedule onor to have you here.
It means a lot to me that you hear, and
it means a lot to me that everybody's gonna know
even more about your story. You found it stem Board
start up specializing in engineering services for federal and private
sector clients without any outside funding, and twenty twenty it
(15:06):
landed on the Ink magazine's five thousand list of the
fastest growing privately owned US companies.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
How were you able to do that?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
A dollar and a very supportive dog, Really just that simple.
I was telling people that, look.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I'm going to found a company, and they didn't know
any people who look like me with my background who
had founded companies and were successful.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And so I decided that if you tell me that
I can't do it, I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
And over the last twelve years, we've been recognized for
hiring veterans.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
We received a higher vets award from the Department of Labor.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
We've had the opportunity to expand to five states, and
we've been on the ink list now twice.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I couldn't, They said, I can't. I did?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
You did? You did?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You're also doing great work togain kids to consider STEM
careers through your ed tech company Lingo.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Talk to me about that for a second, and who
do you hope to reach?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Well, it sort of became this year one trick pony thing.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I'm like, no, I feel like genius is evenly distributed.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Opportunity, however, is not.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
And so how do I take what it is that
I have learned and my resources and bring it to
students all around the world?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And that was through Lingo.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Many students had never been taught anything by a black
woman that was technical in middle school or high school
or college, and so we decided to make self paced
coding kids. We started off by supporting Inroads and it
bloomed from there. We in the last two years have
delivered these kids into the hands of ten thousand students.
But we stay teaches us for freshman computer science. We've
(16:44):
been bought in ten countries, and I'm delighted to say
that we've launched two new space themed lessons so that
we can take this mission and we can take the
inspiration and we can deliver that into skills that people
can use to be employable in the future.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
My last question to you would be that I know
you care about humanity, the human race. I know that
you have a special affection for young ladies out there
in this world trying to make it happen for themselves.
But I imagine as a marvelous black woman, it's very
very touching considering the connections to HBCUs and beyond what
(17:21):
your accomplishments have meant and will continue to me to
young black ladies out there in the years to come.
Can you talk about that for a second and how
that vibes with your mission and your aspirations and life
as you move forward.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
I had the opportunity when I was at NASA to
speak to Michelle Nichols. And if you know Michelle, you
know her from Star Trek, but she also well she
was the person who recruited the first class of African
American astronauts with NASA. She used her star power to
go out there and find many people who you read
about in history, and for me, it's the story. I
(18:01):
want to know that when I'm gone that I have
left this place better than when I received it. And
for women, girls, people, we don't just inspire black people.
We inspire all people, culture, everything around the world. And
so for me to be here in this moment, I
want to let people know.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
While I would love it if.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
You become a rocket scientist, what I want you to
take from this is do not allow anybody to define you.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Aisha Vo, the marvelous Ishabo, good luck, continue to make
all of us proud, because you're certainly making me proud.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
My thanks to the one and only I should vo
to all female Blue Origin NS thirty one space flight.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Is scheduled for April fourteenth. Be sure to check it out.
Thank you so much,
My next guest is a former NASA rocket scientist, entrepreneur,
and global stem advocate. Oh and did I mention she
will make history as one of six women on Billionaire
Jeff Bezos is eleventh Blue Origin and S thirty one
space flight on April fourteenth. Please welcome the one and
only Miss Aieshabo.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
How are you? How's everything?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It's nice to finally meet you. First of all, I'm
very very proud of you.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Congratulations on all your success, and I'm especially proud because
you're working in partnership with my alma mater, Wister Salem
State University.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Tell an audience about that, please, let's let's got a
touch on that first.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Listen, we couldnot go to space without Winston Salem. When
I embarked upon this mission, it was important for me
to conduct science and to do it with a world
class institution like Winston Salem.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I long admire their astropotany.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Lab from when I was at NASA, and I am
privileged to have the opportunity to genetically sequence plants face
with them.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
How do you feel about this? I mean they say
this is the lady's time. I mean with all the
ladies going on this historic trip. Who'll be joining Tell
an audience who will be joining you on this flight?
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Sure, I'm joined by Gil King, Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Carrie,
Anne Flynn, and Amanda win.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Now those ladies that elected to join you, what kind
of advice have you given them? I'd like to know this,
because you know Gail is usually one that gives advice
now takes it. I know she's a friend of mine,
and she's so bossy. I say that affectionately. What are
the kind of things you told her about what she's
about to embark upon?
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Pleasant planning and preparation, right, I look at this similar
to athletics. It's important to visualize. It's important to prepare
and to be in the moment. We're getting ready to
go on a journey that almost everyone who has gone
on it has come back forever changed. And for people
around the world who are writing me, who are engaging
(01:56):
with the mission and seeing a little bit of themselves
in us, it's important that we show up to.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Meet the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Tell the folks out there about yourself in terms of
who you are and how this all came to be.
I mean, when we think about I mean there's a
lot of aspirations. People are very aspirational in this day
and age, but you don't see too often somebody engaging
in this kind of stuff where you're going up in space, girl,
you're going above the earth crying out loud.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I mean, how did all of this come to be?
Speaker 3 (02:25):
I'm the person who never thought that I would be here.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
I started out as someone who wasn't high performing in
high school. In fact, I went to my community sorry,
I went to community college, and I didn't even apply
to college after asking my high school guidance.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Counselor what she thought I could do, and she.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Said, I think you'd better be better be off pursuing cosmetology.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And you know, I hold on cosmetology.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Yeah, And you know I pause here because I'm looking
at you and I'm looking at this and this was
all it was all a dream. And I did not
apply to college because I thought I wasn't smart enough
to go. I did not have the dream of working
at NASA because I thought that I couldn't make it.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
And so when I went.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
To school, I said, you know what, Aisha, You're in
community college, but you have taken everything that someone else
has told you about yourself to be true, and it
is not.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
And so let's focus only on what it is that
you want to do.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
And what I wanted to do was wake up every
day and look at my face and be proud. I
want to look in the mirror and say that my
black was beautiful.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
And I wanted to live a life that was a testimony.
And so I said I'm going to become a rocket scientist.
And people laughed.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
I mean, they still laugh at me. Today's spoiler alert.
I'm like, google me, I'll wait right. But they laughed
because they didn't think that I could do it. And
so I started my aerospace engineering degree with pre algebra
in this community college. I went to Michigan Aerospace. I
got a master's in space system's engineering. And then I
went to NASA, and I said, I'm going to commit
(03:58):
my life to telling people that being realistic is the
most commonly travel path to mediocrity.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I had the pleasure of meeting your wonderful mama. She's
standing right over there. I see where she gets here.
I see where you get it from. Okay, let me
just say that very very complimentary, I might add, but
here's the deal, wasn't it your dad that first mentioned
to you or suggested that you might want to take
this path. And if that is so, if that is so, what.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Is it that he saw that you didn't see.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
At that particular moment in time that made him make
that suggestion.
Speaker 4 (04:32):
Well, my dad, who's from the Bahamas, decided that when
he heard what the guidance counselor said, he would go
and give her a piece of his mind.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
He was told not to come back.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
So he did go and give her a piece of
his mind, and they told him not to come back.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Correct, okay, okay, said you know, you cannot allow others
to define you in life. And I want you to
know that you were smarter than what they think you are,
and you were better. And so he would challenge me
at the dinner table. He would ask me to write,
like you know, write down equations and things, and then
he would tear them up and he would tell me
that the only thing that someone can't take from you
(05:10):
is the stuff that's in your mind. And he said,
are you sure you can do whatever it is that
you put your mind to, So go do the math.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I will pay for it. You'll take the class again.
And so I started over the classes I was taking
in high school that I didn't do well in. I
started over in community college because he told me that
I could.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
And I'm thinking about it for along the way he
had to see something is in terms of it's one
thing to believe in you because he loves you daily
and he believes that you have a level of intellect
that they're underestimating. It's another thing important entirely to see
a particular gift. You got to be gifted to do
what you're doing right here, because so you're clearly a
gifted young lady. I'm saying, did he see that expertise
in math? Your interests elevated when it came to that subject.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
What was it?
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You know? I think he saw potential.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Everyone needs someone who believes in them.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
One of the things I loved about the Venus Serena
moving was that the father spoke power over them before
they were champions. He was really deliberate about making sure
that no one would tell them that they were going
to be anything better than the best.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And my dad, in that moment told me the same thing.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
It wasn't because I had previously demonstrated it. It was
because he saw potential, and I grew into my potential.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Heck, I'm still growing into it.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
I went from being at NASA to running two companies,
to making education product to being on the show.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Talking to you.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I'm still learning how to do. But what I stand
for is the dream. I stand for the idea that
there is no dream too big and nothing too audacious?
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Was folks?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Were folks derailing your dreams? Or was your actions derailing
your dreams? Because you didn't believe you were as nearly
as focused as you ultimately became, Which was the biggest
impediment to you getting to where you are today?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
In your estimation, I think I was the biggest impediment
because I had to learn how to think. I had
to learn how to view myself as a computer that
needed to be pushed new programming. Essentially, I control the
narrative in my mind, and so if I consistently reinforced
how I think and how I respond to the things
around me, then I can change reality to be what
(07:18):
it is that I wanted to be.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
How were you able to do that when you use
the word reinforcement, Because I'm peeling apart some of the
words that you're saying and you talked about reinforce, well,
that means it was there, but something inside of you
was willing to put forth the due diligence, the level
of tenacity, etc. That you were not willing to do
in the past. Was the inspiration there because you wanted
to make your daddy proud? Was the inspiration there because
(07:43):
you wanted to debunk and ultimately dismiss.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
What the teacher who referred you.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
To cosmatology recommended. I mean, when we think about the
word reinforce, it emanates from somewhere, which was the motivation
for you.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
I was tired of feeling bad. I want to feel good.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
When I woke up, I looked at my reflection and
I didn't like what I saw. And when I really
started to think of it, here was I had someone
that loved me and thought I was so great, But.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I didn't think that way.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
I didn't feel that way, and I could not feel
good without taking control of me. And so I said,
I am strong enough to overcome whatever challenges are before me, and.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I do that every single day, even to this day.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I wake up and before I start everyone else's day,
I start mine, and I have affirmations, I have meditation,
I pray and then I get going.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Does meditation really work?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I've been that's been referred to me on many many occasions.
I'm going like this, it's kind of impossible. That requires
me to shut up and just sit there and empt
in my mind. And I just think there's a lot
of things in life I could pull off. I don't
know if I could pull that off. Can you pull
that off? How hard is it to learn how to meditate?
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Listen? I like to meditate when I meditated, like to
do it in the Bahamas.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Resident you know, I'm from Virginalis and now my family's
from same time as Virginalais.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Listen, I'm past how about that?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
How about that?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
But I mean I look at you now, and we
all have to just stand down and marvel at the
accomplishments that you've achieved to this degree. When I think
about what you're doing moving forward, particularly with this mission,
and how it's going to resonate not just in America.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
But throughout the world.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
As you go and you talk to young ladies throughout
the country, because I know you do, what are the
kind of things you say to them?
Speaker 4 (09:25):
I tell them that space is for all and not
for some I'm literally traveling with postcards that I've asked
the students to write their dreams down on because my
goal is to be a bedtime story. I want people
to tell their children what it is that I did
in the hopes of encouraging them to reach for the stars.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
But you're going to carry these postcards from the students,
right And I wanted to ask you what they're going
to symbolize.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
But you're taking them up in space with you. Yes,
what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
You know, thanks to Lauren and Jeff, they're going back
to the very same students who wrote them, and so
they'll be stamp flown in space and then they're going
to bring space back down to Earth.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Tell me about the significance of the American flag that
you know you're going to take into space.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
When I first started working at NASA, I met a
woman named Nancy Conrad. She's the wife of Pete Conrad,
the third man to walk on the Moon. She became
a very powerful mentor to me, and Pete's story is
similar to mine. He was rambunctious and he didn't necessarily
fit in the traditional mold of school. In the beginning,
Nancy saw that I wanted to go to space, and
(10:32):
she mentored me along the way, and when the mission
was confirmed, she said, Aisha, I want to provide you
with the symbol of the past, because you are the future.
And she asked the museum a flight in Seattle to
go and get Pete's flag that he took to the
moon with him on Apollo twelve, and they sent it
to me, And so I will have an opportunity to
put that flag back in space, and then it will
(10:55):
have been flown twice and his legacy and my legacy
will be shared in the museum.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
How long you gonna be up there?
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Do you know long enough?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Listen, that's vague, that's vague. I need specifics. You're gonna
be in space? You know how long are you gonna
be up there? In now?
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yes, So the entire flight will be like maybe eleven minutes, right,
and yes, And it's great because one, that's enough to
study how plans respond to microgravity.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
And two, my mom knows exactly when I'm coming home.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Did you just finish saying that the eleven minutes is
enough to study?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Is that?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Would you just say eleven minutes that's all you need.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
That's all you well, so when you're in microgravity, changes
on the molecular level happen instantly, and so we're actually
able to genetically sequence plants in that period of time.
And this has implications for food security on Earth.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
We know, forgive this question, it's gonna sound a bit idiotic, maybe,
but I gotta ask, because you know, we hear politicians
all the time talking about taking us into space, they
exploring space, what have you. Ultimately, one day we're gonna
live on malls and stuff like that, and I don't
pay You're the reason I'm paying attention to it now.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
You should. I'm going to be honest with you. If
it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be paying attention to this,
you understand, But you got me interested. Are we to
take that and embrace that seriously?
Speaker 1 (12:12):
That that is an objective and an agenda for astronauts,
and that's and everything in between as it pertains to
this country, this world and things from an exploration perspective,
they're really really plot to do this.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Well, we've been studying various elements of space travel for
some time.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
We say we humanity massive and what we've realized is
that space is a harsh environment. No surprise there.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
But what we learn in space has implications here on Earth.
So if you can grow plants in space, you can
grow them here in food deserts. You can help make
sure that people get access to the next generation of antibiotics,
and you can also make sure that they get Wi
Fi wherever they are.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Got youa so you just utilizing that to bring it
back to Earth to make sure we maximize our potential
as a human race, as opposed to telling us were
trying to move.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
The mall does what you tell them exactly space for
the benefit of Earth?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
That moves me.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I feel a lot better about that now, a lot
more knowledgeable about it.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
How does one prepare for a spaceflight?
Speaker 4 (13:13):
Well, if you're an adrenaline drinkie like me, you have
a lot of fun while doing it. I just had
the opportunity to fly in L thirty nine, which is
a fighter jet, and I successfully completed some aileron rolls
and some high speed maneuvers and had a great time.
But there is a commercial space flight regulation that kind
of lays out preparation for space and so I've gone
(13:35):
from flying an acrobatic aircraft to hypoxia training to these
fighter jet and.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
High g forces six g's. I love it.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
I absolutely love it, and so it's important to physically
and mentally prepare.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I give you kudos not just for your accomplishments, but
because of your bravery.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Because they tried to get me up in the fire
the jets years ago, and.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
I told them to go hell, don't even think about it,
don't even think about coming my way with that nonsense.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I'm comfortable on land. You understand I'm not trying to
do that. So you're braver than me.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
But I got the hook up. I know a Bahamian
who's a fighter pilot. He owns the aircraft. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
No, yes, I'm not that brave.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
You can do it. No, I can do it. You
can do it too.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I know I could do it, but because of me,
I ain't gonna be scared as hell when I'm doing
at a heart attack.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Well, look, I think the fear is good. You feel
the fear, you do it anyway.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
If people ask me, are you nervous, It's like, yes,
I'm getting in a rocket and going up. But on
the other side of fears, everything I've ever wanted will.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
This mission be carried. It will be, it will be.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
It will be broadcast on blue Orgin dot com Wow
on April fourteenth.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
You can tune in, whether in a classroom or you
were at home.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I want to go to a couple of other things
before you depart, and I really appreciate you taking time
out of your busy schedule onor to have you here.
It means a lot to me that you hear, and
it means a lot to me that everybody's gonna know
even more about your story. You found it stem Board
start up specializing in engineering services for federal and private
sector clients without any outside funding, and twenty twenty it
(15:06):
landed on the Ink magazine's five thousand list of the
fastest growing privately owned US companies.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
How were you able to do that?
Speaker 3 (15:14):
A dollar and a very supportive dog, Really just that simple.
I was telling people that, look.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
I'm going to found a company, and they didn't know
any people who look like me with my background who
had founded companies and were successful.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
And so I decided that if you tell me that
I can't do it, I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
And over the last twelve years, we've been recognized for
hiring veterans.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
We received a higher vets award from the Department of Labor.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
We've had the opportunity to expand to five states, and
we've been on the ink list now twice.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I couldn't, They said, I can't. I did?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
You did? You did?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
You're also doing great work togain kids to consider STEM
careers through your ed tech company Lingo.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Talk to me about that for a second, and who
do you hope to reach?
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Well, it sort of became this year one trick pony thing.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I'm like, no, I feel like genius is evenly distributed.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Opportunity, however, is not.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
And so how do I take what it is that
I have learned and my resources and bring it to
students all around the world?
Speaker 3 (16:20):
And that was through Lingo.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Many students had never been taught anything by a black
woman that was technical in middle school or high school
or college, and so we decided to make self paced
coding kids. We started off by supporting Inroads and it
bloomed from there. We in the last two years have
delivered these kids into the hands of ten thousand students.
But we stay teaches us for freshman computer science. We've
(16:44):
been bought in ten countries, and I'm delighted to say
that we've launched two new space themed lessons so that
we can take this mission and we can take the
inspiration and we can deliver that into skills that people
can use to be employable in the future.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
My last question to you would be that I know
you care about humanity, the human race. I know that
you have a special affection for young ladies out there
in this world trying to make it happen for themselves.
But I imagine as a marvelous black woman, it's very
very touching considering the connections to HBCUs and beyond what
(17:21):
your accomplishments have meant and will continue to me to
young black ladies out there in the years to come.
Can you talk about that for a second and how
that vibes with your mission and your aspirations and life
as you move forward.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
I had the opportunity when I was at NASA to
speak to Michelle Nichols. And if you know Michelle, you
know her from Star Trek, but she also well she
was the person who recruited the first class of African
American astronauts with NASA. She used her star power to
go out there and find many people who you read
about in history, and for me, it's the story. I
(18:01):
want to know that when I'm gone that I have
left this place better than when I received it. And
for women, girls, people, we don't just inspire black people.
We inspire all people, culture, everything around the world. And
so for me to be here in this moment, I
want to let people know.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
While I would love it if.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
You become a rocket scientist, what I want you to
take from this is do not allow anybody to define you.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Aisha Vo, the marvelous Ishabo, good luck, continue to make
all of us proud, because you're certainly making me proud.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
My thanks to the one and only I should vo
to all female Blue Origin NS thirty one space flight.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Is scheduled for April fourteenth. Be sure to check it out.
Thank you so much,
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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