Leadership Lessons from Space with Shelli Brunswick

Kristen and Mike talk with Shelli Brunswick, a leader in the space industry whose career spans from the US Air Force to her current role as CEO of SB Global LLC. Shelli shares how space technology impacts our everyday lives in ways we don't even realize—from the smartphone in your pocket to the blueberries in your breakfast. She explains how leadership lessons from the space industry, particularly around risk management and innovation, can help professionals in any field. If you've ever wondered what space exploration has to do with your career or how space technology affects your daily life, this conversation will open your eyes to connections you never imagined. As Shelli puts it, "The sky is not the limit. There are no limits."

About Shelli:

Shelli Brunswick, a distinguished leader in the global space ecosystem, is renowned for her advocacy for space technology and innovation. A former U.S. Air Force Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Space Foundation, she is now the CEO & Founder of SB Global LLC. Shelli bridges the space community and the broader public, fostering collaborations that drive the industry forward. As a prolific keynote speaker and author, she engages audiences on leadership, career success, and the practical applications of space technologies. A futurist, she works with global think tanks and contributes to initiatives shaping the future space paradigm. Her support for underrepresented groups has earned her recognition, including as one of the Top 100 Women of the Future in Emerging Technology and recipient of two Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Highlights:

• Shelli's four-chapter career: from Air Force enlistee to space acquisition officer, Space Foundation COO, and now CEO bridging space technology with the public.
• The space industry's evolution from the Apollo era
• How space technology affects daily life
• Shelli's book combines personal reflections with practical advice for professional development.
• The space industry teaches leadership through risk management
• Space innovations solve real problems, like using the ISS to 3D print lens replacements for macular degeneration.
• Shelli's leadership philosophy: inspiration, authenticity, and gratitude.
• Space careers exist for people of all backgrounds—not just engineers and scientists.
• Advice for emerging leaders: "The sky is not the limit. There are no limits."

Learn More About Shelli:

• Book: What's Space Got To Do With It?: 10 Life Lessons For Personal Growth
• Personal Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Twitter

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Transcript

Kristen: Welcome to Love and Leadership, the podcast that helps you lead with both your head and your heart, plus a bit of humor. I'm Kristen Brun Sharkey, a leadership coach and facilitator.

Mike: And I'm Mike Sharkey, a senior living and hospitality executive. We're a couple of leadership nerds who also happen to be a couple.


Kristen: Join us each week as we share our unfiltered opinions, break down influential books, and interview inspiring guests.


Mike: Whether you're a seasoned executive or a rising star, we're here to help you level up your leadership game and amplify your impact.

Kristen: \ Hello and welcome back to Love and Leadership. I'm Kristen. 

Mike: And I'm Mike. 

Kristen: And we have a little bit of sick voice left, so bear with us. It has been quite the week, but fortunately this week is not about us. We have an amazing guest with us today, Shelli Brunswick. We are so excited to have her on. She is renowned for her advocacy in space, technology and innovation. She is formerly a US Air Force officer as well as the Chief Operating Officer of the Space Foundation, and she's now the CEO and founder of her company, SP Global LLC. She is a prolific keynote speaker and author, and she works with global think tanks and contributes to initiatives shaping the future space paradigm, and she's also been recognized for her support for underrepresented groups in many places as well. So thank you so much for being here, Shelli.

Shelli: Well, thank you for inviting me. I'm really excited to share my love and leadership with you.

Kristen: Amazing. 

Mike: Hi Shelli. Nice to meet you. Thank you for coming on.

Shelli: You're welcome. I'm excited to be here. I'm sorry you're not feeling as well today, so I'll do my best to do most of the talking,

Mike: That would be great. Yeah, could you could just carry this. That would be fantastic. 

Kristen: Yeah. Fortunately , we are mostly recovered, but we don't sound that way yet. So it's better than it was last week. So, oh, it was 

Mike: rough. It was a rough cold to reschedule. It was a mean cold that had spite and hate in it. I don't know.

Kristen: Yeah, 

Mike: yeah, yeah. 

Kristen: But, you have such a fascinating background. I'd love to talk about like, what were some of the big moments that led you to where you are today?

Shelli: Well, I really like to say that my journey has four chapters and that kind of describes what most people are probably doing. their life is not one linear up and to the right. It's ups and downs and changes. And so for me, my journey with the four chapters started when I enlisted in the US Air Force right outta high school, Like many people, I didn't have college money. I didn't know what I really wanted to study, and I wanted to see the world and joining the US Air Force was the best way to do that. I was stationed in Turkey and Germany. I was able to go to school at night using tuition assistance, and they made me a personnel specialist.

So I was HR, which you're probably like, oh, I thought you were in the space industry. Well, not in the beginning. And then I did 12 years as an enlisted airman going to school at night, being stationed around the world. And when I completed my Bachelor's and Master's degrees, I applied to become an officer in the Air Force and that opened the second chapter of my journey and they, the Air Force made me a space acquisition or space procurement officer.

So I bought the satellites and ground stations and rockets, and that was an amazing career. I was not only, a. Procurement officer, but I taught at Defense Acquisition University. I worked on Capitol Hill securing the budget and creating the programs that the Air Force needed to support the space industry because at that time, there was no Space Force.

And after a 29 year career in the Air Force, I retired and went to work as the Chief Operating Officer at Space Foundation, a US nonprofit that does business internationally, putting on the world class Space Symposium in Colorado Springs every year, as well as doing, educational capacity building kindergarten through 12th grade teacher professional development.

And I kicked off their space commerce entrepreneurship program before I departed after nine amazing years. And then I decided it was time for me to become an entrepreneur and fulfill those passions that I really wanted to do to be the bridge from the space industry to the general public. And that's where I am today in that fourth chapter.

Mike: That is, that's cool. Well, 12 years in the Air Force.

Shelli: 29 years in the Air Force,

12 years, 29, 12 years enlisted.

Mike: 12 years enlisted, and then 17 as an officer. Wow. That's amazing. So that's a, that's quite a while. it seems

Shelli: a short time. I, I probably should have, maybe should have made it a career.

Mike: Right. Well, uh, I mean, it seems like the space industry has changed a lot over that time.

When I was growing up, it was very much like a government thing, and now it's become privatized or seems to have been, there's so much more private industry involved in space exploration and that kind of thing. How have you seen that change over the course of your very brief, uh, space career?

Shelli: Exactly. I'm just, I'm still a young person right at heart

Mike: Yes. We, we are.

Shelli: What I'd like to highlight is, let's really think about what probably many of your audience think about instead of my 35 year career in the aerospace industry. Let's think back to the Apollo era. That's what a lot of people think as that mark of the space industry.

So when we think back 60 years that was not me. So just a reminder, I'm not that old,

Mike: Yes, ma'am.

Shelli: the Apollo era. The Apollo era. Absolutely. When we look at what it was, the technology was designed to put a human on the moon, send a man to the moon and safely return him to earth. End of story. You were in a space race with two countries.

You are, as you said, primarily government workers, STEM professionals, science, technology, engineering, and math, and primarily a male workforce. Now, as we fast forward 60 years to where we are today, we are seeing more than 90 countries operating in the space industry, and many more want to operate in the space industry because they see how it benefits their communities, their economic development, their growth.

It also, we can see a diversity of career fields. So yes, we still need astronauts and rocket scientists, but we also need a strong manufacturing sector. The supply chain, we saw the supply chain somewhat break down during COVID and many of our large aerospace companies and space companies were in trouble.

So it's really important to look at those jobs in the aerospace industry that go all the way into the supply chain. You know, welding, electricians, manufacturing, as well as teachers. We need to inspire the next generation of workers. We need policy makers working on Capitol Hill. We need program managers like I was, overseeing those space developments.

You need investors and entrepreneurs, something we didn't have 60 years ago. So now there's an opportunity for all careers in the space industry as well as all regions of the world. So it's a really exciting time to be in the space industry as we look forward to the next 60 years as it becomes, as you said, more commercialized and more global.

Kristen: So interesting. I love it. Yeah. And I'd love to talk a little bit about your book or you actually have a book series that you're in the process of creating. Wow. You published the first one, which is What's Space Got to Do With It, 10 Life Lessons for Personal Growth and. This, I really like this book, it explores key life lessons that apply far beyond space.

But the way you structured each of them is it's combining like your personal reflections and experiences from others, and a really good list of tips and resources. It's worth it for the resource list alone,that you include in there. So I'd love to talk a little bit about what were some of the kind of most impactful leadership insights that came from your book and how you see them helping professionals today?

Shelli: Well, I'll share, like you said, the book is really structured to be a help because I have been a mentor for many years, you know, paying it forward, or I've been similar to you, a keynote speaker. And in both instances people say, do you have this written down? Do you have these insights written down? Do you have a book I can buy?

So when I wrote the book, it wasn't really about my story and what I wanted to share. You know, whenever you communicate, whether it's writing or verbal, it's about what does the audience wanna hear. So when I wrote this book, I really focused on how would this help somebody who's reading it, who maybe can't connect with me one-on-one or can't find a mentor that can help them.

So as you said, it's a little bit about my story through the lens of space, but then I interviewed three individuals for each chapter that are maybe not in the space industry. You know, one of the first people is a former president of Ecuador who was deposed by a military coup. You do have space industry, so it's men and women, all regions of the world, all backgrounds, so that the book can apply to anyone, but it's the section you talked about turning insights into action.

What can somebody do next? What are some free courses, articles, webinars, individuals they can follow, find role models that can help them take the next step, just as if you were coaching somebody. So that was really important as I focused on writing it and as you highlighted it was based on, real life experiences.

You know, I'm sharing those lessons learned, like when I first, was offered is a strong word in the military, offered to become a space acquisition officer. I didn't wanna do that. I didn't know what that was. I'd been in personnel, I was Hr. I wanted to be an HR officer, but fortunately the Air Force makes your decision for you and you salute smartly and carry on.

And it was just a highlight of how many times the biggest thing holding us back is us. We're in our comfort zone. And sometimes it's hard to have the foresight to see what stepping outside that comfort zone is and what opportunities will open up. And so I share these lessons and the other part of sharing the lessons is I was invited to be the commencement speaker for Colorado State University Pueblo.

And when I met with the president of the university and I said, I'm honored to be the commencement speaker. What's your theme? And he said, keep it real. My students may not know what they're doing tomorrow. Share real lessons of ups and downs. Don't just tell the good stuff. And sometimes we see only the good stuff on social media.

So it was part of authenticity. So the first three chapters of the book are from that commencement speech I gave, keeping it real ups and downs, setbacks I've had. So it's really authentic and hopefully it inspires somebody else to realize whether they're in Africa, South America, Asia, North America, that these lessons will apply to you.

And no matter where you are, you can overcome,barriers to maybe allowing you to accomplish success and achieve your goals. 

Kristen: I love it.How do you feel like space, like the space industry and the trajectory that it's had informs leadership for you and what kind of lessons does it provide? 

Shelli: Absolutely, that's a super one and I am looking at writing a book on that, entrepreneurship and investing. But I think a lot of things we can look at in the space industry for leadership is, risk taking. A lot of times in the space industry it is talking about taking risk. A lot of times companies and industries and governments are very risk averse.

You wanna have a hundred percent solution, but a hundred percent solution takes a lot of time and energy and effort, and you may never fully be able to limitate that risk. What the space industry's done really well is how do you mitigate risk? And if you do have a, a challenge, a rocket blows up or something doesn't go right, what, how do you learn from that?

Then recover quickly. So those are some of the things the space industry and entrepreneurs have demonstrated. The ability to take on risk, mitigate risk, learn quickly, and then move forward to the next thing. And I will say, we've seen a lot of amazing space companies, whether it's Blue Origin or Rocket Lab, but there's also beyond going to the moon or onto Mars. Space is really here benefiting us every day on Earth. For instance, we're using telecommunications to record this interview. And telecommunications, as you can imagine, is from the Apollo era. It's how they figured out how to talk to the astronauts. So a lot of times you are using space technology in your daily life and you're not realizing it. a great,in individual from the French Space Agency anticipates that you connect with a satellite 45 times a day, but you're not realizing it. Your little phone connects with weather, your bank, GPS, there's algorithms in your phone, and even more important all those selfies. You know, many of the technologies and phones came from NASA imaging technology. So space is really part of your daily life, and that's what's making it so exciting. As we continue to explore, we get to take that technology, real learning, and bring it back to earth.

Mike: As you were saying that I started to remember, growing up and we had Velcro and we went from tying your shoes to Velcro and then I remember, oh yeah, that was from NASA, right? Like they invented Velcro for astronauts and we had Tang and I 

Shelli: So Tang, Tang is not actually a space technology, but they did benefit from the space industry.

Mike: I see, the Tang was a joke, but the, it, I think probably, what you're saying is we're using things all the time, every day that have been developedfor, the space field and, there's an ancillary benefit that. It's like fashion, right.They have fashion show and it's very couture and things like that.

Shelli: And then, six months later it affects the color of the sweater that you buy at Macy's. Ah, you watched The Devil Wears Prada too.

Mike: I did watch the, yeah. That, that's, I did, I also watched like every season of Project Runway and I started to understand that as a, as an artistic medium. I was like, okay, this makes sense now.

Absolutely. Well, even my husband, it's even, using technology every day from your blueberries and your cereal to, getting to driving or the bank. But even, my husband, my husband was a firefighter for 30 years and thanks to that Apollo era fire retardant clothing, he was able to come home every day safely.

Shelli: So we, we take advantage of all the great things that we're using every day that's come from the space industry. And I know for every man out there and many women WD 40, one of my favorite things to stop squeaks and things WD 40 from the space industry as well.

Kristen: Interesting. It'd be 

Mike: interesting to like, go through a normal household and assemble like the box of actually all of this comes from, and it's probably like, I don't know, 80% of stuff, like space is at the forefront of industry and technology. 

Kristen: Yeah.

Shelli: NASA has a website. I can't, give it to you right off the top of my head, but NASA has a website that shows space in your daily life and they have this, home and you can look through it. So they do have a interactive kinda, screen on their website where it shows you some of the products in your daily life you're using.

But I even said like your cereal, your cereal might have been manufactured in the US but the blueberries may not have been grown in the US especially if it's like it's winter here in Colorado. They were shipped here using GPS navigation and transportation activities to bring you, your blueberries in your breakfast area or your bananas.

So everything you're probably consuming in a daily basis, multiple times you are interacting with how space is providing you those products and services.

Kristen: That's cool. Interesting. And I think that's important to note too because I think it's, in this modern era, it's easy to be a lot less connected to space and like the efforts in space, right? Just 'cause it's not like it was during the Apollo era where like literally everybody was watching as these major missions were happening.

So I think it's cool to show how it relates to our day-to-day lives and has a much bigger impact than we realize. 

Shelli: Absolutely. Oh, go ahead, Mike.

Mike: No, I was just, I'm sorry. I was thinking, that when I was young, we were watching the shuttles go up. It was a very, anything going into orbit was a tremendous event that everyone was paying attention to, and now there's just so much activity.

It's just part of like daily life at this point it seems like.

Shelli: Exactly. And so it gets forgotten. And that's why it's really important that I started my company to be that bridge from the space industry to the general public highlighting how space is benefiting us. I was gonna share, when Kristen had her comment, but share about, space is part of all the emerging technologies.

Yes. It's about orbital debris and rockets and, but it's artificial intelligence and virtual reality and additive manufacturing and better, energy and energy storage solutions, biotech, it's part of all those emerging technologies that you see. It intersects with space as well as every economic sector has a space component. So there's the space economic sector that I call space, and that's your rockets and satellites. But then think about, I talked about finance or agriculture or education, traffic, transportation, public safety. All of those other separate economic sectors all have space coming through it.

So for individuals listening today, either it's a great opportunity for you to be an entrepreneur and commercialize technology in those economic sectors, or for young people listening. It's a great opportunity to look at pursuing those passions that you're excited about and taking that twist of how space can help you unlock the mysteries of the universe and apply them here on Earth.


Kristen: Absolutely. Yeah. I'd love to talk a little bit about when you're talking about what space teaches us around like risk mitigation and management. Because, you know, it's funny, I come from originally from like a marketing background and we, there's like always a saying that's going around like, oh, we're not saving lives here.

But when you compare that to something like space where there are. The stakes are very high, and even, when people's lives aren't involved, you're talking about very expensive endeavors along the way. So I'm guessing that the, just the stakes feel very high across the board. What are some of the lessons around like leading in, in high stakes situations that you can share with our audience?

Shelli: Absolutely. Well, I think one of the things to think about is space is not different than other industries and let's take it off the shelf and say, space is over here. Let's say no space is right here. It's just like everything else. And every entrepreneur in the space industry is like every other entrepreneur.

They wanna solve a problem. They wanna create the best solution to that problem, and they wanna be able to make money solving that problem. And so when you just break it down to those bare components, then it's easy to understand what the solutions are. So we can look at, healthcare activities.

They're doing experiments on the International Space Station to help, solve, and look at cancer. It's easier to grow some cancer in the microgravity environment and look at things a lot faster than it is to do that research on earth. The other thing that's really exciting is one of the entrepreneurs I know, Dr. Nicole Wagner, not a space person, but actually a medical doctor. She wants to solve macular degeneration. And macular degeneration is a eye disease. I see you nodding your head, but for your

Kristen: Runs in my, runs in my family. Okay, So it's an eye disease that robs people of their sight as they get older, and right now there's no real cure.

Shelli: There's some treatments to prolong it, but no cure. And what Dr. Nicole Wagner wants to do through her company of LambdaVision is 3D print lens replacements on the International Space Station to solve macular degeneration and give people back their sight. Now she's not doing this on the International Space Station to be cool or have a space hook.

She's doing it because the way you 3D print the protein layers has less wasteanomalies in the printing than what you do on Earth. And she's working with the FDA, she's working with NASA. She's working with a company called Space Tango that's helped, gets her, material to the International Space Station.

3D prints her lens replacements. They come back and then, she's going through all the normal FDA trials. So there's this way of incorporating space that can help solve problems faster, reduce waste, provide that return on investment. We're seeing a lot of investors that are out there looking to invest in the space industry.

You know, 10, 15 years ago, it was a much further off to look at lunar landers mining on the moon, mining resources. But you're now seeing those real space activities become real business plans. So there is some risk, obviously far more risk to launch a rocket land on the moonlook at resources, send human beings, but ultimately those risks can be mitigated.

And when you tie in not only the research application, it's great to do research, but you can tie in the real return on investment for companies and citizens here on earth. You make space a really good business case.

Mike: Hmm, you know, you said something about solving problems, right? I think people like that have that kind of vision as your doctor do, they're solving problems that like, I think people, some people don't even see, you know,there's a creativity in, in, in like entrepreneurship like that, that they're, what is it?

Like the saying is talent hits a target no one else can, but like genius hits a target, no one else can, doesn't even know that's there. I never would have imagined that like 3D printing proteins in space would be, how do people think of this? You know,but it's limitless when you, when you factor all that in.

Shelli: And it's all part of that emerging technology of additive man manufacturing Instead of doing the additive manufacturing on earth, how can we do it in microgravity environment, especially for healthcare applications? You can do a lot of research. It makes the big business case for having commercial,space stations, that are there for manufacturing and all the activities that we can do, especially in cancer research and other forms of research. Osteoporosis, we look at all the diseases that, humans can get living off planet, living in microgravity environment, women's osteoporosis greatly grows. You can see the female astronauts that have come back with osteoporosis. So Bayer has created a osteoporosis drug that benefits women here on Earth because women, we suffer from osteoporosis as we get older. So one of the things I'll highlight is one of the books in my series that's coming up and I already have a talk on it, is called, What's Space Got To Do With It: Out of This World Leadership.

And it focuses on three big areas. It's about inspiration, authenticity, and then gratitude. And we already talked about authenticity a little bit as we're doing the recording, I shared,unless I quote something incorrectly, we'll let it flow because you know your listeners expect leaders to be authentic.

They don't want 'em to read statements. They want it to be free flowing. They want it to be fun and conversational. But even before you get to authenticity, your leaders gotta be inspirational. And yes, many leaders in the space industry are inspirational, but leaders in general today have to be inspirational.

Nobody wants somebody to get in front of the camera and just read their script and maybe look at you and then. Okay. No. They want you to be able to talk from the heart. They want you to be able to inspire them, give them the vision, where are we going? Not just the next mountain peak, but three mountain peaks beyond.

This is where we're going and now here's how we're gonna get there and create that roadmap. Be great communicators. Be authentic. And then of course the one I say is most important is the gratitude, give giving back. And that's where we circled back to, you know, I'm being a mentor and writing this book series is kind of part of that gratitude.

I've had amazing mentors, role models, champions who've helped me get in the right position, and I now wanna be at a point where I can really help people accomplish their goals and dreams.

Kristen: I love that so much. The inspiration, authenticity, and gratitude. And I think gratitude is not something that you see in a lot of leadership models that are out there, and I think that's that. That's pretty unique and there's a big case for why that should be a big part of what makes great leadership.

Shelli: It's what I've learned through my career is that, those grateful leaders that I've had,Major General El Flowers was a wonderful leader when I was in the Air Force. He was the longest serving airman in United States Air Force history. Starting as an airman basic and retiring as a two star general, he taught me that gratitude.

He never started any speech, any talk without thanking people, thanking the people who got 'em there, thanking people. And so I learned from him and his leadership of gratitude, but also, Dr. Harbin Aurora Ray, who started the G 100, where I serve as the global chair for the G 100 Space Technology and Aviation Wing.

And her feeling about gratitude, start a gratitude journal, sometimes we get down on ourselves and we can get into a loop of despair. But when you start a gratitude journal, what are three things you're grateful for every day? You know, I'm grateful for my husband. I'm grateful we get to talk today.

I'm grateful for my little dog. What are the things that you can be grateful for every day? And it starts to rewire your brain and create more possibilities, not only for you, but for those around you.

Kristen: Absolutely. Yeah. We are big fans of that. we Oh, we're bad practitioners though. it's a process, right? We have, so we have a practice, we try to do consistently, but we what, how con consist consistently we're doing. It depends on, we're not doing it 

Mike: the week now. we gotta start doing it again.

Kristen: But, but what we share at the end of the day, we each cover like what were our biggest wins from the day, what our intentions for tomorrow, and what are we grateful for? And using the kind of specified gratitude as well. So like coming up with like specific things that we're grateful for. And when we do it regularly, it makes all the difference. 

Mike: Yeah. it's exactly what you say. It's a re rewiring of the brain. I think like evolutionarily we're wired for negativity because it keeps us safe. It's like you, the more suspicious you are, the more like you react to like, what was that noise? that's bad.

You tend to like, protect your physical body in a more ancient epoch. But it's not good for outlook or positivity or happiness, those are more, uh, elusive. So I have to ask though, I'm curious, you know, we're kind of at a turning point in technology, right?

You know, you reference the Apollo, era and I grew up, very enamored of the, of NASA and the astronauts and the shuttle and,we went to the moon before I was born and now. What are we doing right? Like people are starting to talk about are we going to Mars? Are we going back to the moon?

Will we have space hotels? There's will we have a colony on the, the same, I can't remember his name, but the same guy who wrote the Martian wrote some, a book called Artemis and it's about a city on the moon. Like is that happening? Is that coming or is that still kind of science fiction?


Shelli: No, it is reality and the technology is being developed. There are some amazing companies that are doing that. I believe, we have a rocket that's gonna be landing on the moon soon with some, lunar landers and some other examples. And so the process is there for the Artemis program that's being run by NASA to return to the moon in this time to stay, to create,an international space station that orbits the moon.

It'll be smaller than the ISS, but it'll be, called Gateway and it'll be less likely that the astronauts stay on the moon. They may go to the moon and return to Gateway initially, but absolutely there are studies being done. Like how can we live on the moon? One of the biggest things, that was discovered was water.

Frozen water can become not only drinking water, it's H2O, so it's oxygen. So we can create oxygen environments. It also is the ingredients to create rocket fuel so you can get to the moon, and they're looking at, do you live in underground, cave areas? And then can from the moon, can you go on to become an interplanetary species. And that's absolutely possible. Now, the biggest thing is the timeline, the expense,the governments cannot just pay for that on their own. There has to be not only the research component, but the return on investment for companies. You know, there's helium three on the moon.

As I said, there's a lot of things that can be done, to create products and services and space, in micro, in microgravity environment, just off Earth, in that low Earth orbit. But then what does mars have for us as well. So those things are being done. It's just a matter of the timeline and where we are 2050, 2065, as some of the timelines I'm seeing from the European Space Agency or some studies from NASA.

But you know, technology breakthroughs happen all the time, and so you never know what the next big leap could be.


Mike: What are, what do you think the barriers are to like, interplanetary? I mean,that's a big topic, right? Like interplanetary colonization. That's a lot of steps from where we are now to Star Trek, right?

Shelli: Well, I'm gonna start with the biggest challenges. We're human beings and we were born on a planet that has gravity and has a shield, an atmosphere that protects us from solar radiation. So some of the challenges we've seen from astronauts living on the International Space Station for a year, again, I talked about the bone loss in women, but men seem to have, eye problems.

You know, your fluids don't run properly because your body's not in the gravity. It was designed for, over centuries. We haven't evolved to living in space, so there's a lot of human challenges. That's not my area of expertise, but there's some great, thought leaders out there, like Dr. Vanessa Farsadaki, who's very familiar with, space medicine and the challenges. So yes, I think the technology challenges: energy and energy storage, growing food off the planet. building habitats, probably using robotics for a lot of these things. Loneliness. 'cause you gotta remember, you're gonna be separated for long periods of time with a small crew.

Delays in communication on the moon, but even more on Mars. The inability to return to Mars quickly, if there was a challenge on the moon, you could probably get in escape pods and, come back to the earth easier. So there's a lot of challenges in technology, but I'm gonna say one of the biggest ones is we're human beings.

We were designed to live on earth. How do we protect ourselves from the challenges of living, in another planet, another gravity, cancer, obviously I talked about, solar radiation is happening, we're protected here on earth. We're not protected.The German Space Agency is doing a lot of research in those human activities of living off planet, so that is probably one of the biggest challenges.

As being a interplanetary species, you could say we already are one because we do have rovers on Mars and I do see rovers and, artificial intelligence and virtual reality and those technologies helping us propel onto the moon and Mars. And we're already doing other exploration in the solar system.

You know, Voyager is still going. Right? So we are sort of an inner, planetary species. However, we're not doing it in person yet, but as time goes on, we will eventually get there.


Mike: Yeah, you mentioned the radiation. I think people don't think about that. I remember. Last year I read a story about a flight attendant who was suing her, her air carrier because she had experienced a very high level of radiation because she had flown so many international flights and she had flown, I guess, over the pole so many times that she had actually developed cancer from the radiation because there was less protection as far up as she was, and she was on so many long flights over, it was like a 30 year career or something.

But her body showed the results of that. Yeah.

Shelli: Yeah, absolutely. You know, every time we fly in a plane, it's like getting an x-ray. And the longer the flight and we know the poles,they've had, some ozone layer holes in them, so, absolutely. I can't comment on the case itself, but yes, that is a challenge of living off the planet that has, ozone protection and an atmosphere.

And so it's really important that we protect our atmosphere. You know, many of the astronauts, or even William Shatner, we know Captain Kirk has gone to space and you see that thin line, that's our atmosphere. And when you think about it, think of an apple. Our atmosphere is like the thickness of a dime.

When you think about the apple would be the earth and the dime would be like our atmosphere. So it's very fragile and the difference between our planet and mars is Mars's atmosphere was ripped off. And and then once it lost its atmosphere and part of that was it slowed its rotation and I could get into all the mechanics.

You know right now our planet is still spinning. We have an iron core. It's generating this atmosphere and this protection for us. Mars lost some of that. It was hit by other planets. It slowed it down. It lost its atmosphere, and now it's being bombarded with solar winds coming off the sun. Our sun is obviously life giving, but also life taking. So that is part of the differences between the earth and why we have life and Mars we assume at this moment does not have life. It may have had life at one time when it had an atmosphere and it had water, and so we can go into more detail on that, but it just gives the importance of our atmosphere and why our planet is hospitable and has created an environment. We as humans, as well as all the other life on earth can exist because we are already in space. We are made up of space. We're made up of the same things as stars, and our planet is this big chunk of rock that's orbiting in space. So you're already on a space station called Planet Earth.

Mike: Why are atmospheres so. Maybe you're not the, why are atmospheres so rare, right? There's not a lot of atmospheres out there. It seems like the, you know what they call the habit habitable zone or something like that. A lot of things have to be right for the development of life.

And that's a big question, right? Like,

Shelli: So I'm gonna leave that to your, uh, engineering experts. 'cause I'm gonna share with you that I'm both a traditional space person and a non traditional space person. And what I mean by that is I came into the space industry through the military, which is a very traditional form of coming into the space industry.

But I am not a STEM professional. I am a, uh, business person. I have a undergraduate in business and an MBA. So I'm that person who's like let's create a company and I'm gonna hire smart people like engineers to help me figure it out. Uh, so I share that with you. But 

you know, a quick two second would be, you know, part of it is we do have a moon that created this tides within the. oceans and they believe that because of the tidal system and the shifting of the goo, that was, you know, in that primordial growth is how, life started and formed, because of the way the tides mix things.

So it is a really unique thing. We're, you know, Venus is too hot. Volcanic, you know, Mars is, uh, we could live on Mars, but it's very challenging. There's, you know, we can't just use solar panels. I mean, there's a lot of challenges to Mars. It's doable, but not as easily as Earth. So, yes. Are there other solar systems that have, um, exoplanets that are in a habitable zone?

They are discovering that those do exist? Do they have life on them? We don't know yet. I guess we'll find out. 

Kristen: But there is a really good show called How the Universe Works, and I love that show. You can go online and watch 'em. They also come on, I think the History channel and,they have a one of their series. I watch it all the time. I love it. It's a great thing how the Universe works, and they probably have one that tells you exactly how Earth formed its atmosphere and how Mars formed an atmosphere and then lost its atmosphere.

Yeah, that's super interesting and definitely. It's beyond my base knowledge about space. You've just tickled 

Mike: all my sci-fi love I, you know. 

Kristen: Yes, for sure.

Shelli: Yeah, it life. Life is wonderful. it's amazing. And to even think, you know, I'm wearing my star jacket for you today. You know, all of us are made of the same pieces of Stardust that formed our planet and the stars, we are made of those exact same things.

Kristen: I love it. Yeah, I'd love to hear from you. Like obviously there's a lot of potential in the future of the space industry and there's so many different interesting components of it at this point. Like what would you love to see happen in the next like 20, 30 years within this space ecosystem?

Shelli: Well, I think it's a really exciting time as we're seeing more nations come into the space industry. And what I mean by that is how can these nations benefit from the space industry? We've seen how the United States has benefited from the investments made in the Apollo era. For every dollar that was invested in the Apollo era, it was a $7 return on investment.

And according to NASA in 2014, for every dollar investment. It was a $40 return. It's a $40 return, and that's a return to creating economic growth. So everybody who's out there creating like Uber, Airbnb, the next greatest app. They're all running on the backbone of cybersecurity and space technology to unlock economic growth.

And so as we provide that space opportunities for other emerging space nations, you're gonna continue to see workforce development and capacity building, great jobs, economic growth and development, but ultimately, not just growth for growth's sake, but growth and how it benefits humanity. You know, we talked about osteoporosis treatment or cancer or macular degeneration.

All of these things that are brought to us thanks to space technology and investments from companies are benefiting humanity. And that will continue. And then as we continue to go on, what will we look at as we become that interplanetary species? First, probably with robotics and artificial intelligence, but just imagine, this is a Sunday afternoon for us, we put on our virtual reality and we do a tour of, we go to Jupiter for vacation and it's kinda like the holodeck, in a Star Trek movie. So there's a lot of excitement what the future holds, and I'm really excited about that. And what's gonna be great for your audience is they all are playing a part.

You're already playing a part because you're building that awareness of what's out there in the space industry. But for teachers, you're out there bringing space into the day-to-day classroom, making it fun, exciting, creating the next generation of astronauts and martians. For community leaders, you have the ability, if you're running a company, to bring in student field trips so they can see what you're doing in companies like Blue Origin or Astro Scale, or orbit Fab and see how they can be part of that next generation of space leaders. And if you can't bring 'em in your company, 'cause maybe it's not open to that, maybe you can sponsor their class and come and be a speaker. And then of course for parents and grandparents, one of the best things you can do is take your kids and the neighbor kids and go to a science center or a museum or go out star gazing and look at, inspiring kids to pursue space careers and STEM careers.

And there's great tools with, NASA I shared already has some great websites on educational material as well as the international space station. If you go to their website, ISS lab, they have some great K through 12, kindergarten through 12th grade, educational material. So we're all part of that future of space.

Teachers, community leaders, and parents and grandparents.


Kristen: So cool. I love it. One thing I'd, I'd love to touch on as we get towards the end of this interview, since this is going to air pretty close to International Women's Day, in the month of March. Of course. Sowhat, like what's your advice? 'Cause you're very active and we actually connected via the Women Tech network and,and some of those efforts. So I'd love to hear from you,what is your top advice for women who want to achieve like this level of leadership and success?

Shelli: Absolutely. Well, that's the next book I'm working on, and it's not just for women, it's for anybody, but obviously it will help women and it's called My Interstellar Guide to Success, and it's about some major steps. It's about leadership. It's about awareness, access and action. So leadership, it all starts with leadership, whether it's in the boardroom, the C-suite, the frontline supervisors, or self-leadership, we are the CEOs of our own career.

Every student out there, you are the CEO of your own career, your own journey. So take action. That second step is you gotta build awareness, and that's a wonderful thing about this podcast today. We're building awareness of the opportunities not only in the space industry, but all the other economics sectors out there and how space plays a role. So there's opportunities for everyone from, high school graduate to PhD and everything in between. We're then talking about creating access points. Are there programs, like I mentioned, NASA has some great programs online. International Space Station Lab has some programs, but you, there might be some hackathons or challenges you can get involved in that can help create access points into the space industry.

And then the third component is take action. Get the training you need, whether it's formal or informal, join fellowships. Do volunteer work. join those networks that are out there, whether it's Space Generation Advisory Council, the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. Of course, Women Tech Network, which is open to men and women to be mentors and proteges, as well as then find a mentor.

So that's my Interstellar Guide to Success. I think it helps women, but it can help anybody accomplish their goals and objectives.


Kristen: Amazing. Well, I think we're probably at a good place to wrap up. Is there any final tips or guidance that you would love for emerging leaders to hear?

Shelli: Absolutely. The sky is not the limit. There are no limits.

Mike: Ooh, that's a good one. 

Kristen: That is a good one. I love it. It's a great quote. 

Mike: That's a great quote. 

Amazing. The sky is not the limit. I mean, that's true, right? Like,we have these like sayings with, language, but it, there's a reality to it. You space keeps going, right?

There's, I don't know if it's 14 billion light years across and growing, but it's pretty big. And it's, there's, yeah. If you can dream it, you can make it happen.

Shelli: Absolutely. And that Interstellar Guide to Success will help you accomplish those goals and objectives. So I've been excited to join you. And for those looking for me, you can find me on LinkedIn. I have Shelli Brunswick website and my book is available on Amazon. And until next time, I look forward to seeing you around the galaxy.

Kristen: Amazing. And for our listeners, we'll include links to all of Shelli's social media and of course her book in the show notes so you can find it all there. Well, thank you again, Shelli. This has been fascinating and a really cool perspective on space and the impact it has for all of us. Even if those of us in industries that have nothing to do with space, it's has a much bigger impact on us that we realize and has so many lessons for leaders everywhere. So thank you for sharing all of your experience and wisdom with us.

Shelli: You are very welcome and you're already in the space industry. You just don't know it.

Kristen: I love it. Well, thank you again, Shelli, and thank you Shelli. Thank you to our listeners, and we will see you guys next time. 


the Love and Leadership Podcast is produced and co-hosted by me, Kristen Brun Sharkey and co-hosted by Mike Sharkey. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. We can't stress enough just how much these reviews help. You can follow us on LinkedIn under Kristen Brun Sharkey and Michael Sharkey, and on Instagram as loveleaderpod.

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