Bahamian-American entrepreneur and former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe has secured a $1 billion government contract via her company, STEMBoard, to provide business management for the U.S. Department of Defense.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), whose main work is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security, announced it has awarded a $947 million contract to Exacta Solutions, a joint venture with STEMBoard.

STEMBoard is an award-winning tech company ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing American companies, according to a press release.

The grant will be used to “provide support to NGA’s total lifecycle acquisition management, strategic financial management and strategic business management activities,” according to a statement on the contract.

Bowe made headlines in 2022 when she announced that she would travel to space in 2024 with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origins commercial spacecraft company. 

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering and space systems engineering, Bowe went to work for NASA as an aerospace engineer at the Ames Research Center, focusing on miniaturized satellites and aircraft trajectory optimization.

She left NASA “to create a pathway to support and inspire the underserved” and became a leader in business and STEM — science, technology, engineering, and math, according to the press release.

In addition to STEMboard, Bowe founded LINGO, a hands-on, self-paced coding kit backed by venture capital that enables students to learn how to code at home. LINGO is sold on Amazon, Target and Walmart.

Only four other Black women have traveled in space. “NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham, Jessica Watkins and Dr. Sian Proctor of the SpaceX Inspiration4 Mission,” Bowe wrote in an Instagram post. “I am honored to follow the footsteps of these incredible woman.” 

As a high schooler, Bowe said she encountered a counselor “who suggested I pursue cosmetology. But, deep down, I knew I wanted something more for myself.”

Bowe’s story has inspired many and was the subject of the documentary “In Her Element.” A philanthropist, she regularly supports organizations and causes focused on STEM programs. 

“I am fully dedicated to hands-on involvement,” Bowe said. “It’s crucial for me to be present advocating for Black boys and girls, those of Caribbean heritage and women business owners to demonstrate our presence in these fields. We can build multimillion-dollar companies, secure billion-dollar contracts, create educational games adopted by schools and retailers, and be acknowledged alongside others, enjoying equal opportunities.”

In an interview with the State Department, Bowe said, “I want to abandon the idea that engineers look a certain way and that people in certain fields look a certain way, broadly. To me, that’s the power of diversity and engineering and science and technology. You make the end product reflect the needs of the many as opposed to the few by having diverse perspectives in the engineering and design process.”

After launching multi-million-dollar businesses from the ground up, Bowe shared this advice, according to Margate News.

“You can make money with a laptop, with technical skills and a dream, and people need to understand that,” Bowe said. “As a small business owner, or just as a person in life, you’re going to encounter ‘no’ often. I want to encourage you to reframe how you think and how you feel when you hear ‘no.’ I want to encourage you to take a ‘no’ as a ‘yes’ in progress.”

Photos: Aisha Bowe, Bahamian-American entrepreneur and aerospace engineer, July 1, 2019, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aishabowe_front.jpg
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NASA image release April 20, 2011,
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