Dr. Sian Proctor: Building common languages

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’re looking for an inspiring human being, it would be hard to beat Dr. Sian Proctor. Dr. Proctor is a geoscientist, and also an artist and poet who uses her afro-futurist space art to encourage conversations about women of color in the space industry.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For 21 years, she taught geology, sustainability, and planetary science. She also happens to be an astronaut(!), and was the mission pilot for the Inspiration4 all-civilian orbital mission to space. Her call sign “Leo” was eaned from her crewmates, who consider her a modern-day Rennaisance woman in the mold of Leonardo DaVinci.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This special episode of the Design Better Podcast was recorded at an internal event for InVision, where we brought Dr.Proctor in to speak to our team. After her inspiring presentation, we had the chance to interview her, and we spoke about topics ranging from imposter syndrome, to learning to speak the language of your collaborators, to the natural synthesis between art and science.</span></p> <p><strong>Bio</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dr. Proctor is a geoscientist, explorer, space artist, and astronaut. She is the mission pilot for the</span> <a href="https://inspiration4.com/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Inspiration4</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">all-civilian orbital mission to space. She is also one of</span> <a href= "https://www.explorers.org//news/news_detail/announcing-the-explorers-club-50"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">The Explorer’s Club 50: Fifty People Changing the World</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. Her motto is called Space2inspire where she encourages people to use their unique, one-of-a-kind strengths, and passion to inspire those within their reach and beyond. She believes that we need to actively strive for a J.E.D.I. space: a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive space as we advance human spaceflight.</span></p> <p><span style="font-we