Landing on Mars with Rocket Scientist Melony Maharaachi

This week’s guest is Melony Maharaachchi, who co-founded Cambridge Global Ventures INC after a decade in the US Aerospace Industry; from Elon Musk’s Spacex programme to Boeing to Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab where she designed the wiring system for the spaceship Rover that landed on Mars in 2021

 Growing up in Sri Lanka Melony had two brothers so her girl friends weren't allowed to come round to play. Instead Melony played with her brothers' friends. This was good training when she entered the male dominated world of Mechanical Engineering at UCLA. It was an aha moment that made her change to robotics engineering, going from the U.S. Aerospace industry as an industry tech leader managing projects for Elon Musk’s Spaces, to Boeing Commercial & NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasedena. Finally she landed the role of Lead Mechanical Engineer for Mars Perseverance Rover which landed on Mars in 2021.

 After ten years in the industry she decided to found her nonprofit organization in 2015, iSTEM Without Borders, focusing on underprivileged students and women to help them pursue and thrive in STEM careers. Also mentor startups in UK Cambridge cluster and SLAASCOM Women Technopreneur forum in Sri Lanka.

Life as an entrepreneur can be a hair-raising ride, so the lessons from a rocket scientist turned businesswoman are all too relevant!

Thank you, Melony for your contribution to the tech community and for being a role model for young women around the world and for showing us that anything is possible when you set your vision and take consistent action towards it.

You can find out more about Melony’s work on www.cambridgeglobal.com and follow her on Linkedin @MelonyMaharaachchi

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