NASA ENGINEER DAJAE WILLIAMS ALSO MAKES EDUCATIONAL HIP HOP MUSIC TO INSPIRE CHILDREN TO PURSUE STEM

Dajae Williams currently works at NASA as a manufacturing engineer in their Jet Propulsion Lab. When she first began to work at NASA, Dajae noticed a lack of women and diversity. In an interview with NPR, she recalls feeling out of place when she first arrived and suffering from imposter syndrome: “There’s no women in my group. There are only a few African Americans in my group or people of color, for that matter. So nobody looks like me. No one acted like me. So it was definitely different, and I did not fit in.”

When Dajae was in elementary school she had the opportunity to take part in a program that brought children from underprivileged schools to schools with more resources. Through this program she noticed that “the kids were essentially smarter because they had more resources”; there, she found support in her teachers who took the time to help her when she didn’t understand.

Now, having found success in the STEM field as an engineer, Dajae is giving back. She began making educational hip hop songs to supplement and even replace the learning children are doing in school. Starting with her first release two years ago, ‘Quadratic Formula’, Dajae has since released two other songs: ‘Academic Excellence – Dr. Mae Jemison’ and ‘Unit Conversions’. Her main goal is to inspire young students of color to pursue education and STEM. Her music not only gives young students fun and engaging educational material but also someone to look up to.

Check out her latest music video for ‘Unit Conversions’ here: