109 | Uncovering Hidden Figures with Margot Lee Shetterly
Margot Lee Shetterly is a non-fiction writer. Her book, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, tells the story of African-American women mathematicians who helped provide NASA with the raw computing power it needed to dominate the heavens. After a career in investment banking and media, Margot moved to Mexico with her husband and founded Inside Mexico, an English-language magazine, while writing Hidden Figures. In addition to her work as an author, Margot is the founder of The Human Computer Project, an endeavor dedicated to recovering the names and accomplishments of all of the women who worked as computers, mathematicians, scientists and engineers at NACA and NASA from the 1930s through the 1980s.
Today, you’ll hear about Margot’s journey in writing Hidden Figures. She describes her childhood in Hampton, Virginia, growing up surrounded by engineers and scientists and shares her experience witnessing the 9/11 attacks while living in New York City. She explains how she happened upon the book idea and how her awareness of the women in Hidden Figures—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—came to the fore. She discusses the importance of having an objective view from the outside and how living in Mexico allowed her to write Hidden Figures. You’ll also gain insight on Margot’s experiences writing Hidden Figures—from interviewing Katherine Johnson to getting the book published—and hear her advice for young people at the early stages of their careers.
“The advances that allow us to get on an airplane—without thinking that it’ll take off, fly, and land safely—happened because these women and their colleagues were doing the numbers for decades.”
- Margot Lee Shetterly
This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:
● Margot’s background and life growing up in Hampton, Virginia
● Her interest in business at a young age and path to investment banking
● A brief history of NASA
● Margot’s interest in business at a young age and her path to investment banking
● Her life in New York and her experience in foreign exchange trading, Meryll Lynch, and start-ups
● Her adventures founding a magazine in Mexico with her husband
● How living in Mexico allowed Margot the space to write Hidden Figures
● What inspired the idea behind Hidden Figures and how Margot began writing the story
● How interviewing mathematician Katherine Johnson led Margot to Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and the other Black computers at NASA’s West Area
● How long it took Margot to finish writing Hidden Figures
● The two kinds of writers and why Margot is a combination of both
● Historical accuracy of the film Hidden Figures and how similar it is to Margot’s book
● The process of creating a book proposal and why it’s similar to forming a business plan
● What Margot wanted to show through her book Hidden Figures
● Margot’s favorite travel destinations and travel bucket list
● Her current book project and the joys of writing Hidden Figures
Resources Mentioned:
● NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project
● NASA History Division - Oral History
● Book: They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators by Harold Evans
Our Favorite Quotes:
● “The thing about a book proposal is that it’s a business plan. You have a book idea, find a publisher to take it and sell it to them, explain why people will read it, and have a sample of the product.” - Margot Lee Shetterly
● “Make failure your friend, especially when you’re young and ambitious. There’s a stigma that’s still attached to failure, but it’s a good teacher; you get some of your best lessons from it.” - Margot Lee Shetterly
Connect with Margot Lee Shetterly:
● Margot Lee Shetterly Website
● Margot Lee Shetterly on LinkedIn
● Margot Lee Shetterly on Twitter
Spaceship Not Required
I’m Kathy Sullivan, the only person to have walked in space and gone to the deepest point in the ocean.
I’m an explorer, and that doesn’t always have to involve going to some remote or exotic place. It simply requires a commitment to put curiosity into action.
In this podcast, you can explore, reflecting on lessons learned from life so far and from my brilliant and ever-inquisitive guests. We explore together in this very moment from right where you are… spaceship not required.
Welcome to Kathy Sullivan Explores.