Ellen Ochoa

“What everyone in the astronaut corps shares in common is not gender or ethnic background, but motivation, perseverance, and desire—the desire to participate in a voyage of discovery.”— Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa—inventor, astronaut and space center director—is a pioneer like no other. She made history as the first Latina to go to space, blazing a trail for other marginalized kids who dream of the stars. There were few minorities in leadership when she joined NASA—so she changed that, becoming the first Latinx and second female director of the Johnson Space Center. Despite her many accomplishments, Ellen says the biggest role she’s played is in mentoring and advocating for the next generation: “astronauts, scholars, who will go on to accomplish more than we can imagine.” In her evocative talks, she draws from her wealth of experiences, both in space and on the ground, to empower audiences to break barriers and overcome adversity.

As a woman in engineering, Ellen often faced people who didn’t think she belonged there. Although she proved them all wrong, becoming a researcher and a patent-holding inventor, she remembers feeling lonely at times as the only Latina in many of her classes and jobs. That’s why she’s working to ensure that women and minorities feel seen and welcomed in STEM. She championed diversity and inclusion in her time at NASA, making life better for both those on the ground and those in space. Her revolutionary work on NASA’s company culture is still held up as an example of how to change the world by changing people’s minds—it was recently profiled in Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know, Adam Grant’s New York Times bestseller.

Ellen continues to give back to the community, inspiring the next generation of trailblazers like the early women in space inspired her. Helping people to dream bigger dreams is hugely rewarding to her. In addition to her talks, which engage hundreds of audiences across America, her outreach includes authoring bilingual children’s books on science and engineering. She serves on several boards and recently concluded a term as chair of the National Science Board, having also served on its Vision 2030 Task Force focused on the U.S. maintaining its status as the world innovation leader. She’s in the Astronaut Hall of Fame and has received many honors, including having eight schools named after her. She’s a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the National Academy of Inventors, among others.