Erika Flowers

The pivot away from private industry creates an entirely new mental model regarding the mission and purpose. In a tech company, the goal is always market growth and financial gains, whereas working for the space program doesn’t have those same motivations. NASA is a unique public service position since it’s not just about the nation’s space program. It’s one of the few organizations that inspire the world and is universally known as a symbol of exploration, hope, and a vision of a future where people are united through being from the same planet. The hope is that when we eventually arrive on another one, we do so as Earthlings who worked together. There aren’t many other organizations that inspire the whole world.

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I come to NASA as an outside hire, brought in to introduce Silicon Valley-style innovation practices and facilitation to the teams inside the agency. NASA is different in that most of what they do doesn’t reach the public for many years, after it has percolated down into society at large. Most of my work is about helping internal NASA employees and partners, not private citizens. However, everything we do eventually reaches the public, either directly through advancements in science and exploration or indirectly through inspiration and technology or processes that make it into everyday use, often without people knowing they originated at NASA. Many things we take for granted in our homes were innovated or invented by the space program decades ago.

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My public service career is still short, as I only moved into it well into a multi-decade career in private industry. Working with so many diverse teams and missions and having them appreciate the outside perspective I bring has been a very moving experience.

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Working at NASA is more than just about serving the agency, it’s about serving the public good of all people, regardless of where they are on this planet. It is a unique place to be, where any child or dreamer on any continent hears “you work at NASA” and they immediately have that spark in their eye, the hope for what exploration and discovery means. There is a legacy of inspiration that NASA has created that is more than just rockets and satellites and space stations, it’s become synonymous with the drive for collaborative endeavors that unite people and inspire generations. Not a lot of places can say that.

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If I were to warn my younger self about public service, the advice would be about pace and impact.

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It took thousands of people many, many years to land the first people on the moon, and when it finally happened, it was 2 people. All the rest of the thousands of people who helped Neil and Buzz set foot on the moon did their job without their names or faces ever being known, but that’s the real meaning behind public service, most of what the countless anonymous civil servants do will never be individually know, and that spirit of collaborative effort is what makes things happen.

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For every name we know, there are thousands of people who did their duty and served without becoming a name in the history books.

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What motivates me to continue is that sense of pride my teenage son has knowing that their parent works at NASA, and even though he doesn’t even know what I do there, it serves as a reminder to him, his friends, and other young people that things are attainable and that where you start doesn’t define where you end up. I am a high school dropout, autistic transgender woman working for NASA. Hopefully that helps people, especially young people who maybe feel like they don’t belong, that their differences don’t have to prevent them from going big and doing things that defy the conventional path.

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Coming out as a trans woman at NASA was one of the most trying, arduous, and terrifying experiences of my life. As someone with a very well-known professional persona, including books, videos of me speaking at conferences, articles, and photos, knowing that I couldn't hide my gender transition almost stopped me from doing it. I wasn't able to coordinate my personal and work life in time, and I spent my first two months at NASA presenting as someone I was not, being called a name I didn't want.

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I spoke with other transgender NASA employees, the leader of the Pride ERG, and other high-profile trans women who transitioned during their federal or military service. They gave me the confidence I needed to do this, no matter how scary it felt. It turns out, everything went fine. I notified my HR partner, my manager, and my team that I would be showing up differently the next day, and since then, being trans at work has been almost frictionless.

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Maybe it's a good sign that I don't have any scandalous details to share, but my transition at NASA and the eight months since have been incident-free, save for a few accidental pronoun slips. Overall, I feel completely comfortable and accepted as a woman at NASA, who is also trans, and honestly, I think most people prefer me this way.