“Advice I would give to my younger self is: ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something.’ I struggled with math in middle school and my parents joked, ‘Emma can’t do math.’ What started out as teasing wormed its way into my head until it became a personal truth: I was bad at math. In college I was interested in astronomy, but this ‘truth’ led me to pursue a liberal arts education instead.
“It took me a long time to understand that there are different ways to be good at math, and all you need to succeed is a curious mind and willingness to work hard.
“Today, I manage the business operations for the Gateway program, including budget and workforce, cost and schedule analysis, procurement and contract management, lifecycle review, external audits, and much more.
“I am right where I need to be today and I don’t have any regrets about the path I took to get here.”
— Emma Lehnhardt, Manager of Gateway’s Program Planning and Control Office, Johnson Space Center
Image Credit: NASA / Robert Markowitz
Interviewer: NASA / Kate Halloran