On August 6, ClearanceJobs brought Connect to Colorado Springs for the first time with an inspiring keynote from Aisha Bowe—engineer, entrepreneur, and Blue Origin astronaut.
Bowe’s story is one of resilience, ambition, and redefining what’s possible. She began her journey at community college, where encouragement from her father and a lifelong love of science fiction motivated her to pursue aerospace engineering despite doubts from others. She went on to earn degrees from the University of Michigan, build a career at NASA designing trajectory control systems, and ultimately found her own companies focused on STEM education and innovation.
This April, Bowe reached a milestone few achieve—launching aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-31 mission. The flight made history as the company’s first all-female crew, and Bowe became the first person of Bahamian heritage, and one of only six Black women, to cross the Kármán line—the internationally recognized boundary of space at 62 miles above Earth. For about 10 minutes, she experienced weightlessness and gazed back at Earth, describing the view as “beautiful and deeply transformative.”
Her message to the ClearanceJobs Connect audience was both personal and universal: breaking ceilings is just the beginning. The greater mission, she emphasized, is building new ladders for others—expanding opportunity, diversifying talent pipelines, and empowering the next generation of cleared and STEM professionals to pursue careers in aerospace and national security.
The debut of ClearanceJobs Connect Colorado Springs brought together leaders, recruiters, and professionals from across the national security community. Bowe’s keynote set the tone for a day focused on innovation, talent, and the future of cleared careers.
