Events & Resources

ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore Women in Business Speaker Series: Sabrina Thompson

Tuesday, October 13, 8:30–10:30 a.m.

Towson University presents the ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore Women in Business Speaker Series, hosted by the StarTUp at the Armory and powered by PNC. Hear former NASA engineer, scientist, designer, and founder of Girl In Space Club™ and learn how she empowers individuals, especially girls, to feel confident, represented and ready to make their mark.

Sabrina Thompson is a former NASA engineer, scientist, designer, and founder of GIRL IN SPACE CLUB™, a brand built on one core idea: bringing space down to Earth. Through her work, she translates space technology, design, and systems thinking into real-world products, experiences, and culture that empower individuals, especially girls, to feel confident, represented, and ready to make their mark.

Over a 16-year career at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Thompson specialized in spacecraft trajectory design, flight dynamics, and mission planning. Her work directly paralleled the legacy of Katherine Johnson (as depicted in the movie, Hidden Figures) by designing the orbital paths and trajectories that guided spacecraft through space. Like Johnson, she translated complex mathematics into real-world spaceflight, ensuring missions moved accurately and safely through complex gravitational environments.

She contributed to Earth science, heliophysics, and planetary missions, leading efforts in orbit modeling, autonomous maneuvering, and satellite constellation optimization. She served as a Flight Dynamics Lead, Principal Investigator, and Co-Investigator on NASA-funded research projects supporting Earth observation, space weather studies, and interplanetary exploration.

Thompson is also the inventor on a U.S. patent for space technology related to distributed spacecraft systems and autonomy, work that reflects foundational thinking behind how modern satellite swarms coordinate, maneuver, and operate in orbit today.

After NASA, Thompson expanded her work beyond traditional aerospace, applying the same rigor and systems thinking to human-centered design. She is the inventor of a patented women’s flight suit, an innovation that challenged decades of industry standard, where women were expected to operate in garments designed for men while performing at the highest levels in extreme environments.

Her design introduced a new garment architecture that improved functionality, comfort, and enabled bathroom access without removing the suit, solving a long-standing, overlooked problem in aerospace and aviation. More importantly, it helped shift the conversation across the space industry, contributing to a broader recognition that performance, inclusivity, and design are deeply connected. Her work has influenced how engineers, designers, and organizations think about the intersection of functionality, human factors, and aesthetics in flight gear and future spacesuit development.

Through GIRL IN SPACE CLUB™, she continues to push this boundary bringing fashion, culture, and engineering into the same space. Her work explores not just how systems function, but how they feel, fit, and represent the people who use them, helping redefine what spacewear can look like both in orbit and on Earth.
Through her youth educational program, STEMulating Art®, Thompson inspires the next generation, showing that art and science aren’t separate, they’re meant to collide. Students learn STEM concepts by designing the future: what we will wear, build, and use as humans expand beyond Earth.

Her work has been featured in CNBC, National Geographic, Essence, WWD, Nice Kicks, and many others, reinforcing her role at the intersection of science, design, and innovation.

She’s not just designing, she’s reshaping how we design for humans in space and bringing that future down to Earth.

ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore Women in Business Speaker Series: Women in Media Panel

Tuesday, November 10, 8:30–10:30 a.m.

Towson University presents the ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore Women in Business Speaker Series, hosted by the StarTUp at the Armory and powered by PNC. This engaging panel features accomplished female leaders from across the media industry. Gain valuable insights, hear inspiring stories and engage in a meaningful conversation about leadership and impact.

Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on all things ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore.

PAST EVENTS

Panelists

  • Janet Currie, president, greater Maryland, Bank of America
  • Jen Dardis, chief financial officer and treasurer, T. Rowe Price Group
  • Aileen Eskildsen, chief executive officer and managing partner, Ellin & Tucker
  • Laura Gamble, regional president greater Maryland and territory executive for the northeast, PNC Bank

ATHENAPowerLink® Baltimore Information Session

RESOURCES

The following resources may be of interest for networking and professional development opportunities.

C200

A powerful community of the most successful women in business, representing companies with more than $1.2 trillion in combined revenue and employing more than 2.5 million people.

Dr. Nancy Grasmick Leadership Institute

A principal destination for comprehensive and results-driven leadership development opportunities for individuals and organizations, including the TU Professional Leadership Program for Women.

Small, Minority & Women Business Affairs

We connect the small business community to greater economic opportunities, while implementing and monitoring small, minority, women, and veteran procurement programs across 70 state agencies.

IFundWomen + Maryland

A crowdfunding ecosystem designed to help women-led startups, small businesses, nonprofits, side hustles, and passion projects of Maryland raise funds to launch and grow.

Mayor’s Office of Minority & Women-Owned Business Development

The City of Baltimore’s primary advocate for small, local, minority, and women-owned companies including prime contractors, subcontractors, and joint venture partners.

National Association of Women Business Owners

The unified voice of over 10 million women-owned businesses in the United States representing the fastest-growing segment of the economy.

StarTUp at the Armory

TU’s front door for start-ups, small businesses, as well as our region’s largest corporations. This vibrant public space includes free, co-working space.

Women’s Funding Network

A global alliance that works to develop strategies, mobilize resources, and raise awareness to combat systemic gender and racial inequality at the community level, forging a better quality of life for all.

Women Presidents Organization

The WPO is a non-profit membership organization for women leaders of privately held, multi-million dollar companies.