Monday Motivation: Gwynne Shotwell

President and COO of SpaceX; Elon's Right Hand Woman

This interview was conducted in 2016 for my book Female Innovators at Work so whilst some of the milestones are now out of date, the general story of Gwynne’s childhood, the lessons she learned through her life and career, and her experience in the early days of SpaceX are evergreen.

Gwynne rarely gives interviews so this was such an honour.

Here’s her story:

Gwynne Shotwell is President and Chief Operating Officer at SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation), where she is responsible for day-to-day operations and company growth.

Gwynne joined SpaceX, a commercial space exploration founded by Elon Musk, as its seventh employee in its founding year of 2002, as Vice President of Business Development, and now holds a seat on the SpaceX Board of Directors. A private company famed for its innovation and disruption of an entire industry, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft in December 2010.

It also has a multibillion-dollar contract with NASA to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is also working on a next-generation transportation system to take people to Mars in the near future.

Prior to SpaceX, Gwynne spent over ten years at Aerospace Corporation, where she held positions in space systems engineering and technology as well as project management. Before that, Gwynne was the director of Microcosm’s Space Systems Division, where she served on the executive committee and was responsible for Business Development.

Gwynne holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Northwestern University. She has authored papers on a range of subjects, including spacecraft design and reentry vehicle operational risks.

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Danielle Newnham: What is your background? When did you first get excited about engineering?

Gwynne Shotwell: Since I was little, I was interested in machines. In third grade, I was riding in the car with my mom and wanted to know how the engine worked. My mom bought me a book to explain, and after that I got obsessed with engines, gears, and differentials. I don’t know where that book went…

While in high school, I went to a Society of Women Engineers event at the Illinois Institute of Technology. It was a panel event with a group of women engineers, and after the talk I went and spoke with one of the panelists who firstly, she was wearing the best suit out of all of them and secondly, she said the things that were the most interesting to me. She was a mechanical engineer. I felt a connection to her and thus to what she did. That day I decided to become a mechanical engineer.