MamásLatinas had the opportunity to sit down with Ellen Ochoa, a former astronaut and the first Hispanic woman ever to go to space, to discuss her heritage, Latino representation, making history, and her mission to inspire Latinx students —especially young girls— to pursue studies in STEM fields.
More from MamásLatinas: The Latina immigrant who went from being a housekeeper to an aerospace engineer at NASA
From her massive achievements to her utter poise and dedication to making the sciences accessible and attainable for children from all backgrounds, we couldn't help but to be totally impressed by this history-making Latina. Here are the most meaningful and inspiring things she had to say.
Ellen hopes to inspire Latinx students in STEM.
Ellen believes that her Mexican heritage has allowed her the unique opportunity to use her platform to inspire and encourage young students —particularly Latinx students and girls— to pursue studies in science and engineering. "I mean, I've given literally hundreds of talks," she said. "You know, the vast majority are at schools with high Hispanic populations, after-school or extracurricular programs that are trying to interest either girls or Hispanic students into considering science and engineering, because at that age, just like me…I didn't know any scientists or engineers. I couldn't really conceive of what it meant."
Ellen is proud to represent for STEM professionals.
In 2020, Ellen was profiled on the Peacock TV docuseries True Colors. Each episode of the series highlights a different notable Latinx individual, including TV personality Mario Lopez, Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez, and retired Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez. As a woman in STEM, it's even more meaningful that the show's producers chose to feature Ellen.
"I was really, really glad that they came up with the idea for this series and then that they previewed people from a variety of different areas, right?" Ellen said. "And I'm really glad they included somebody with a math and science background, 'cause we don't often hear about that."
'Anything that's worth doing takes hard work.'
We asked Ellen what she thought was the most important advice she could give on achieving goals and dreams, and she told us that, firstly, recognizing what you're capable of and what opportunities are out there is key, followed by education, but perhaps most importantly a willingness to put in the work.
"Sure, it is hard sometimes, but like I say, you really have to work at anything that is worth doing," she said.
Get hands-on.
And if you want to get your own daughter interested in the sciences? "I think a lot of times it does depend on having some kind of hands-on activities, particularly by the time they're in middle school," said the engineer. "Because in high school you do have that opportunity to choose some of the classes that you take, right? So if you haven't sort of been inspired to further explore science or math, unfortunately too many people opt out in high school in terms of taking anything more than what's absolutely required."
Make it meaningful.
"If you've had some opportunity to do some hands-on experiments—and that can include coding as well—but something that is meaningful to you, where you're not just reading in a book or you're not just memorizing facts. What's important is, you know, curiosity, creativity, working with a team," Ellen told us. "You know that's not the words I associated with scientists when I was young, and yet that's what really is important."
Teamwork makes a dream work.
"I always tell students that in addition to studying math and science, one of the really important things for succeeding as an astronaut, as well as in many other roles, is teamwork," Ellen said. "What that really involves is, number one, you're always trying to better your own skills, right? Whatever it is that you're working on to increase your skill. But to also be thinking of the overall goal of that group, you know, whether it's human space flight, whether it's a sports team, you know, a music group, a group that's trying to change laws in this country," she continued. "What are the overall goals? And looking at your own goal within that group and trying to be the best teammate that you can be."
On being a history-making woman in America
We were curious about one history-making woman's thoughts about another history-making woman, so we had to ask Ellen for her thoughts on Kamala Harris being elected vice president of the United States. "A vice president role is so visible, that it's gonna inspire a lot of kids, all different kinds of kids to really think about, you know, setting up a different goal for themselves as they get older," Ellen said.
Ellen wants Latino kids to realize what they are capable of.
"It doesn't even have to be about being an astronaut, right?" Ellen explained. "It's really about setting a high goal, realizing that you can do more and accomplish more than you ever would have thought possible."
'Anything is possible.'
"Anything is possible," Ellen said when we asked her about what kind of legacy she hopes to leave behind for Latinx children. "I would not have thought about becoming an astronaut when I was young, so I want other people to think about what they could do."
Always persist.
"Looking back, every time somebody told me that I couldn’t do something or it probably wasn’t suited for me, or made some comment about women or other underrepresented groups, they were really just revealing [their own] bias," Ellen once told CNBC. "You don’t want to listen to discouragement from people that don’t know you. That’s really telling you more about them. It doesn’t say anything about you or your talents, interests or passions."
