Who Is Yogita Shah? The Avionics Domain Lead At NASA

Meet the Avionics domain lead at Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA who battled all odds to get to the position she holds today, Yogita Shah.

While working in the aerospace industry, which is dominated by white men, Shah shared that she feeling intimidated at meetings. She said, "It is not a pleasant feeling. I started doubting myself. Am I doing something wrong? Even after working hard, as a woman of colour, I have to prove myself every single day."

Women across industries are forced to prove their worth. Shah's career too was dotted with these challenges. Yogita Shah shared that she felt like she was passed over the promotions she deserved.

Her childhood was in Aurangabad in Maharashtra, India. Growing up she was exposed to stereotypes steeped in Indian society - such as having a son. When she was old enough to understand, she reportedly once heard her father wishing for a son. In the 1980s and the 1990s, women were also denied higher education and so Shah knew that she had to fight her way through the unfairness and injustice.

After she had joined her engineering course in a government college, other members of the community discouraged her family saying that "Why spend so much money on her education when eventually, you will have to get her married?" Later she was married and after which, she shifted to America and the rest fell in place.

Who is Yogita Shah?

• Yogita Shah is a Flight Systems Engineer at Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA. She has been working there for 4 years and 5 months.
• Shah has more than 20 years of experience in Embedded Engineering, Risk Analysis and Assessment for Flight and Ground Software among other things.
• Talking about her interest in space and science, Shah said, "Curiosity drove my interest towards space and science."
• According to her LinkedIn profile, she is a Certified Expert RMF Professional (CERP).
• Shah can speak Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi apart from English. Math and science were her favourite subjects as a student.
• Her hobbies include travelling, cooking, listening to music, and hiking.
• Shah pursued her education from Government Engineering College at Aurangabad and later shifted to California State University for higher studies.
• Yogita Shah was one of the core team members on the Mars Rover Perseverence being sent to the red planet on July 30.