The North East Space Conference is returning in early June, highlighting the important role the region is playing in the future of this fast growing and exciting industry
Held in Durham, the event is being sponsored by Lockheed Martin where among the speakers are two of their team who will be highlighting how important it is to follow your dream…
Preeya Lakhani is a living, breathing example of someone who knows that not letting life’s challenges getting in the way your dreams can make them come true…
When Preeya Lakhani was just four-years-old she was fascinated by a DVD which was given out free with a UK Sunday newspaper.
The disc offered the user the opportunity to explore the planets, and Preeya and her dad loaded it into their old computer.
Neither of them realised what an important moment this would be, but as Preeya watched the universe unfold before her, it unleashed a passion for space that has never gone away.
“Even at that age, I remember just being fascinated by it,” said Preeya.
It started a life long love affair with space – and created a desire in the-then youngster to be involved.
Trips to Farnborough Air Show with her father continued to grow the fascination of how things worked and, adds Preeya with a smile, so was an obsession with a tv show her mother introduced, Star Trek Voyager and Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).
“She was a woman who knew her stuff and was a strong leader and I thought that’s what I wanted to be,” said Preeya.
While her career path may not have seen her on a spacecraft – yet – she is certainly at the forefront of helping the UK forge space as not only a viable economic prospect but as a career.
At just 28 Preeya is a Programme Lead for Lockheed Martin Space, the result of determination and good honest graft.
Preeya had her future all mapped out in her head, but when her A-Levels didn’t work out as planned and she didn’t get her place at university, she started to look at different routes to achieve her goal.
It was only in recent years when she was diagnosed with ADHD and autism that Preeya started to understand why her academic path may have faltered slightly but this never lessened her desire to success.
Preeya decided to go to college and study for BTECs, believing this way she could gain the points she needed to go to university.
Despite being the only female applicant, she managed to win a place on an mechanical engineering course where she was also offered the opportunity for an apprenticeship.
“I was the only girl among 40 boys,” she said.
“The lab coats didn’t fit me and I had to stand on a stool to reach the machines but I wasn’t going to let that put me off.”
Preeya won an apprenticeship with Gilette Razors, at the same time not only getting her BTEC but achieving in an HNC in two year and an HND in a year.
A trip to a careers fair led to a conversation with someone working for the Atomic Weapons Establishment and she joined the company, beginning as an Engineering Technician and working her way up to the technical advisor to the CFO.
“We struck a deal, he would teach me about how to run a company and in return I’d teach him everything I knew about the engineering and production of our continuous at sea deterrent (CASD),” said Preeya.
That year-long secondment was the springboard to eventually getting a job at Lockheed Martin, moving up the ladder before working in project management and taking up her current role as Programme Lead.
“Sometimes your career doesn’t take the path you originally planned but that doesn’t mean you should ever give up,” said Preeya.
“I want to be a leader in space, a programme director and show people that the UK space sector really is an incredible place to be.
Also speaking at the end is Lockheed’s JB Young, whose career was launched because of a well-timed visit to Florida..
Before her family trip to Florida when she was just nineyears-old Jessica “JB” Young already had her future plans firmly in her mind.
“I wanted to be a candy woman, a kind of female Willy Wonka,” said JB.
It’s not an unusual thought for a young girl, but that plan was fast forgotten after the ambitious youngster went on a family vacation.
“We went to Cocoa Beach in Florida and it happened to coincide with the launch of the space shuttle,” said JB.
“And I was absolutely enamoured by it. Even then I just thought that I had be part of a launch. That was the moment I fell in love with space.”
For many people that thought might be because they were simply caught up in the moment – but not JB.
Because that was the springboard that has driven her ambitions and has led her to her current role – capture manager for Skynet, looking after mission strategy and advanced capability.
With her passion for aerospace never waning, JB left school and when to the University of Colorado to study for a degree in aerospace engineering.
She graduated in 2011 and immediately took up a job with Lockheed Martin – where she has been ever since.
While working on her degree JB was involved in a whole host of projects and initiatives which showcased her skill – and her enthusiasm – for space, honing her skills and expanding her knowledge.
That included being project manager for RocketSat, which gave undergraduate students the opportunity to design their own payload, build it and then launch it.
JB helped organise the schedules, took charge of the budgets and a whole host of other aspects of this student run initiative – which highlighted her organizational skills and ability to deliver.
Her first role at Lockheed was as a mechanical engineer, moving on to becoming a system engineer for small satellites and then eventually moving into strategy and business development.
Her current role sees her involved in a whole range of space related activities including ” developing the connections between customers’ needs and Lockheed Martin’s capabilities in meeting those needs.”
Alongside the passion for her work, JB is also driven by wanting to share the importance of space to a wider audience – and also encouraging the next generation into engaging with the career possibilities.
“Space underpins everything we do in modern society,” said JB.
“Most people don’t realise that space really is a major part of our lives, that so much that happens is influenced by it – from national security to our ability to sleep.”
For JB space is a “fascinating industry” and one which has infinite possibilities for everyone.”
“Around 50 per cent of people that work here have engineering degrees, with the remaining 50 per cent from every kind of background,” she added.
“There are so many opportunities for people to build a career or take their existing skills and adapt them to working in space.”
JB continues to be a champion for the space industry, believing that nobody should hold back if that is one of their ambitions.
“It may be a bit of a cliched philosophy, but I firmly believe in that saying; shoot for the moon because even if you miss it, you’ll still end up in the stars.”
There’s no doubt she’s on a lifelong journey and never takes her role for granted.
“It’s amazing that I can step outside at night and look at the sky and space and think that’s the realm I’m working in,” she said.