{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2F67b50304-7142-4cdb-a757-fe8d958bc365","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Uncovering Hidden Figures with Margot Lee Shetterly","description":"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\u2019ll hear about Margot\u2019s 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\u2014Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson\u2014came 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\u2019ll also gain insight on Margot\u2019s experiences writing Hidden Figures\u2014from interviewing Katherine Johnson to getting the book published\u2014and hear her advice for young people at the early stages of their careers.\u201cThe advances that allow us to get on an airplane\u2014without thinking that it\u2019ll take off, fly, and land safely\u2014happened because these women and their colleagues were doing the numbers for decades.\u201d - Margot Lee ShetterlyThis week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Margot\u2019s background and life growing up in Hampton, Virginia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Her interest in business at a young age and path to investment banking\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A brief history of NASA\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Margot\u2019s interest in business at a young age and her path to investment banking\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Her life in New York and her experience in foreign exchange trading, Meryll Lynch, and start-ups\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Her adventures founding a magazine in Mexico with her husband\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How living in Mexico allowed Margot the space to write Hidden Figures\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What inspired the idea behind Hidden Figures and how Margot began writing the story\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How interviewing mathematician Katherine Johnson led Margot to Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and the other Black computers at NASA\u2019s West Area\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How long it took Margot to finish writing Hidden Figures\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The two kinds of writers and why Margot is a combination of both\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Historical accuracy of the film Hidden Figures and how similar it is to Margot\u2019s book\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The process of creating a book proposal and why it\u2019s similar to forming a business plan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What Margot wanted to show through her book Hidden Figures\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Margot\u2019s favorite travel destinations and travel bucket list\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Her current book project and the joys of writing Hidden FiguresResources Mentioned:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0NASA History Division - Oral History\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Book: They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators by Harold EvansOur Favorite Quotes:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe thing about a book proposal is that it\u2019s 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.\u201d - Margot Lee Shetterly\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cMake failure your friend, especially when you\u2019re young and ambitious.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/1dfd0129-13dd-4580-97c9-75e77f559ffc/1472142-1680641322.jpg"}