Suggested Searches

4 min read

Djaataa Onanuga: Passionate About Connecting Small Businesses to NASA

Djaataa Onanuga poses with a pair of yellow and black pants.
Djaataa Onanuga is a specialist in the Office of Small Business.
Courtesy of Djaataa Onanuga

Name: Djaataa Onanuga
Formal Job Classification: Small Business Specialist
Organization: Office of Small Business Program (Code 210)

What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission?

I recently transitioned to the Small Business Office from the Office of Mission Enabling – Procurement. I love seeing small businesses thrive; small business owners are so persistent and passionate. I enjoy doing outreach to small business seeking to do business with NASA.

What is most interesting about your background?

I’m from Louisville, Kentucky. After high school, I joined the U.S. Air Force as a bioenvironmental engineer. I focused on reducing health hazards in the workplace and the surrounding areas.

After being discharged from the military, I focused on pursuing my degree. My husband was in the U.S. Marines and I was able to travel with him to several different places while attending school.

In 2013, we settled in Austin, Texas, and I started working for the National Archives and Records Administration, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library. I love learning about the past and the impact that it has on our country. At the LBJ Presidential Library I assisted in tours, helped students researching information and coordinated events co-hosted by the University of Texas.

Why did you join NASA Goddard?

My manager at the library encouraged me to apply for a NASA internship program. In 2015, I was selected for an internship with NASA Headquarters’ procurement office, which is located at Goddard. I have awarded and administered contracts, including the NextSTEP BAA In-space transit habitation, which will develop innovative concepts and perform technology investigations for an initial habitation capability in cislunar space, the space near Earth that extends just past the Moon.

In 2017, I converted to civil servant status as a contract specialist for the Mission Enabling Procurement Office supporting the Engineering and Technology Directorate.

Green and pink bow ties.
Bow ties designed by Djaataa.
Courtesy of Djaataa Onanuga

What attracted you to the Small Business Programs Office?

In December 2020, I started a detail to the Office of Small Business Programs as a small business specialist. I think small businesses really help drive NASA’s vision; I want to help more small businesses do awesome things for NASA and humanity!

What outreach do you do for the Small Business Programs?

I meet weekly with members of the small business community. I assist them in finding the information they need to successfully bid on contracts awarded through Goddard. It feels great to hear about their companies history and the innovative ways they enhance the quality of life on Earth.

What are your hobbies?

My husband and I started a non-profit to help 8- to 18-year-olds start their own small businesses. I believe that our economy is built on small businesses, which make up 40% of our workforce. I want young people to see how small business have a positive economic impact on our country.

Our organization gives kids the tools, resource, and space to showcase their entrepreneurial passions.

We do a business fair every summer, with the kids selling everything from lemonade to bracelets. They learn how business impacts their neighborhood and surrounding communities.

What do you do for fun?

I love to design and sew clothes, especially skirts and pants.

My husband and I also love to travel. We have been to Japan, Iceland, London, Ghana, Spain, and the Dominican Republic. We hope to go to Paris for the 2024 Olympics to see the synchronized swimming and breakdancing events.

What is your “six-word memoir”? A six-word memoir describes something in just six words.

Go everywhere and talk to everyone!

Conversations With Goddard is a collection of question and answer profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.

By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.