28/12/2018
Josephine Santiago-Bond is a Systems Engineer at NASA. For two years, she served as the NASA Kennedy Space Center chairperson for the Asian Pacific American employee resource group, and to this day, she continues to be an advisor to over 90 members from different backgrounds and heritages. This is what she considers to be one of her best accomplishments: leading a very diverse group with a unifying goal.
Coming from a science-inclined family, her siblings and their passion for their careers served as sources of inspiration for her to pursue STEM. She was inspired by an upperclassman to pursue Electronics and Communications Engineering as a degree, eventually graduating from the University of the Philippines - Diliman. She then got her Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from South Dakota State University and proceeded to Stevens Institute of Technology for her Graduate Certificate in Space Systems Engineering.
In her current job at NASA, she helps promote cultural education and awareness, focusing on the Asian Pacific American segment of the workforce, resolving barriers in career advancement, fostering positive diverse relationships, and applying diversity and inclusion in daily activities, emphasizing their immense contribution to the success of their mission at NASA, and equally important, in their daily lives.
As a woman in a male-dominated field, she sometimes struggles with small decisions made on her behalf, and without her knowledge. “Even well-meaning individuals have made assumptions of what I prefer,” she explains. To overcome this, she strives for open and honest communication. “Sometimes, it’s as simple as saying something like ‘Just let me know if you want me to help out with that messy task, I always have a change of clothes at my office’ or ‘I am willing to travel, just give me a heads up so I can make childcare arrangements’.”
“To the girls of this generation: surround yourselves with positive female role models to broaden your mental picture of what is possible for the future. Seek for a mentor who can inspire you to be the best version of yourselves.”