Gwynne Shotwell is the COO of SpaceX and was inducted into the Space & Satellite Hall of Fame earlier this year.
She's been at SpaceX since 2012, about a decade after it was founded, but that was the year SpaceX became the first privately funded company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, forever changing the space industry.
Under her leadership, SpaceX was the first private company to send a satellite into geostationary orbit, too. Setting new standards is one of her favorite things about the job, with milestones like "landing a first-stage booster on a drone ship and on land, re-flying a rocket, launching Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket currently in operation," she tells us.
Her path to becoming a powerful engineer all began with a smart, and smartly dressed, role model.
"I was inspired to become an engineer by a very smart, well-dressed mechanical engineer who I saw speak at a Society of Women Engineers event as a teenager," Shotwell says.
"She was doing really critical work and I loved her suit. That's what a 15-year-old girl connects with. I used to shy away from telling that story, but if that's what caused me to be an engineer, I think we should talk about that."