“[One challenge I’ve overcome has been] finding my way in a career where I could utilize my love of all things creative, like video production and making music and writing and graphic design and more.
“I would find careers [where] I could grow my skills in one of those areas or two, like when I did some visual design when I was younger where I got to style mannequins and create in-store vignettes. That was cool because I could put together and tell a story with the mannequins and make elaborate visual displays, and I had a lot of freedom to create from scratch.
“But I think, coming to NASA, I’m able to pull from all the different things I’ve done and all the different skill sets all in one place.
“Before coming here, [I] felt a little lost, like, ‘I make music independently and write and sing about space and love, but … what’s my ultimate purpose? What’s my destiny?’ Then [I worked] for companies where maybe I got to be creative, which was my goal, but I didn’t have a sense of purpose that was bigger or a sense of real passion and connection.
“Then, coming to NASA, [I was] like, ‘Oh, there’s the bigger sense of purpose,’ I found it in Artemis, in human space exploration. Even playing a small part in that, even though I’m not directly – a lot of people have a much bigger role, maybe, but coming here, I was always made to feel that my role is very valuable. And since I was always such a NASA fan and used to put my love of space into everything I did, it was a real full circle moment.”
— Chad Siwik, Strategic Communications Specialist, NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems, ARES Corporation, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center
Image Credit: NASA / Ben Smegelsky
Interviewer: NASA / Michelle Zajac