Panel:

Women Forging the Next Frontier:

Female Leadership Launching Us To The Future

Friday, May 26, 8:30 am – 9:45 am, Frisco 1&2

Panel: Women Forging the Next Frontier: Female Leadership Launching Us To The Future

 

Host: Holly Melear, CEO & Founder, STEAMSPACE Education Outreach

Panelists:

Janet Ivey, President, Explore Mars, CEO, Janet’s Planet

Melodie Yashar, VP Building Design, ICON

U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, 30th District

Moderator: Lady Cude, Space Industry Professional, National Space Society of North Texas

Join us for an empowering panel discussion with some of the most innovative and trailblazing women in STEM as they share their personal journeys and insights into the future of female leadership. “Women Forging the Next Frontier: Female Leadership Launching Us to the Future” will feature a diverse group of accomplished women who have shattered glass ceilings in their respective fields and are paving the way for future generations of female leaders. Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired and learn from these exceptional women as they explore the possibilities for the future of STEM, and the space industry.

Host:

Holly Melear

CEO & Founder
STEAMSPACE Education Outreach

Host:

Holly Melear

CEO & Founder
STEAMSPACE Education Outreach

Holly Melear is CEO & Founder of STEAMSPACE Education Outreach®, creator of the Cities in Space® STEAM education events, and the Co-Chair for NSS International Space Development Conference in 2023.

Holly and her team are creating STEAM and education events for all students globally, growing the next generations of leaders in space. By cultivating the pipeline for industry and academia, and offering opportunities for collaboration and mentorship with professionals and academics, STEAMSPACE offers students an all-inclusive community in which to grow and gain a competitive edge in the world of future space entrepreneurship and education.

Part of the STEAMSPACE mission is to offer industry and academic engagement with students, including the under-represented, breaking down the barriers of socio-economics, ethnicity, disability, and learning differences. Today, STEAMSPACE has hosted over 4500 students since the inception of Cities in Space in 2015.

With a history of over 24 years in the education industry, Holly has extensively trained in progressive education philosophies and techniques, including Project Based Learning and Social Emotional Learning. Holly has received awards and acknowledgements for her passion in STEAM and Space Education and her unflagging support for the under-represented, including the Permission to Dream Award, Teacher of the Year Award, and the Morocco MNSAT Award. She has appeared in such diverse publications as Interesting Engineering, Thrive, and CASEL Magazine.

Panelist:

Janet Ivey

President, Explore Mars, Inc.
CEO, Janet’s Planet, Inc.

Panelist:

Janet Ivey

President, Explore Mars, Inc.
CEO, Janet’s Planet, Inc.

Janet Ivey, creator of the TV children’s series Janet’s Planet that airs on 140+ public television stations nationwide, is committed to enriching the lives of children via education and TV and online programming. This dynamic and fast-paced series is geared to 6 – 11 year olds and focuses on science, space, history and health. Viewers get to travel at the speed of thought and the short-form series can be seen both on public television stations and on YouTube, BatteryPop, Club Jelly Telly, Viddiverse, and HighBrow. With over 22 years in the media, Ivey has captivated Nashville and beyond with her work and she has received 12 Regional Emmys, 5 Gracie Allen awards, is a Buzz Aldrin ShareScience Ambassador, and has won a STEMFLORIDA award for Janet’s Planet. She joined the NSS Board of Governors in 2015.

Panelist:

Melodie Yashar

VP of Building Design
ICON

Panelist:

Melodie Yashar

VP of Building Design
ICON

Melodie Yashar is a space architect, technologist, and researcher. She is the VP of Building Design & Performance at ICON, a construction technologies company focused on large scale additive manufacturing for Earth and in space. Melodie oversees the architectural direction of ICON’s built work as well as the performance of ICON’s building systems to deliver optimally-performing structures that shift the paradigm of homebuilding on Earth and beyond. Collaborating across technology and construction teams, her department supports the design and construction of dignified and resilient terrestrial housing solutions in addition to supporting the development of ICON’s off-world construction systems.

Melodie teaches undergraduate and graduate space architecture at Art Center College of Design. In previous roles Melodie was a Senior Research Associate with the Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames via San Jose State University Research Foundation (SJSURF), a co-founder of Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch+), a research group developing human-supporting designs for space exploration, as well as a Professor within the Architecture department of Pratt Institute. Melodie obtained a Master of Architecture from Columbia University and a Master of Human-Computer Interaction with an emphasis in Robotics from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. She likes tiny robots. She would like to visit the Moon (though not yet Mars) in her lifetime.

Panelist:

Jasmine Crockett

U.S. Congresswoman, 30th District

Panelist:

Jasmine Crockett

U.S. Congresswoman, 30th District

Congresswoman Crockett earned her B.A. in Business Administration from Rhodes College, and her J.D. from the University of Houston. Prior to her election to Congress, she served as a civil rights attorney, fighting for the rights of marginalized communities; as well as a State Representative for Dallas in the Texas House through four legislative sessions. Following her service in the Texas Legislature, Congresswoman Crockett accepted the call, and now proudly represents Dallas as the U.S. representative for Texas’s 30th congressional district.

Since taking office, Congresswoman Crockett has been a passionate advocate for her constituents and a fierce defender of human rights. She has worked to promote equal access to healthcare, STEM education, and economic opportunities for all Americans. She is a vocal advocate for civil liberties, immigrant rights, and economic equity for women and the diverse communities across the State of Texas.

Panelist:

Anita Gale

Chief Executive Officer
National Space Society

Panelist:

Anita Gale

Chief Executive Officer
National Space Society

Anita Gale co-founded events in the 1980s that became the International Space Settlement Design Competition. Her research for the Competition led to writing and presenting papers on triggering events for space settlement, space infrastructure, and economic justifications for space settlements. Her 40-year career with The Boeing Company included payload and cargo integration for reusable launch vehicles, proposals for future space vehicles, roadmapping space infrastructure development, and multiple R&D projects to improve space vehicle operations. Anita is an elected NSS Board Member, and currently serves on the NSS Executive Committee as Chief Executive Officer.