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Alaina Sliwinski

  • Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2020

  • Ohio State University, Business Administration, ‘19

  • Host Institution: Space Capital

  • Mentor: Stephanie Bednarek

During December 2019, Alaina Sliwinski graduated cum laude from the Ohio State University with a B.S in business administration and a specialty in finance. The space industry is where she wants to build her career because she is passionate about the idea of making humans a multi-planetary species. Furthermore, she is excited by the fact that her business skillset is increasingly in demand as the space industry is projected to grow into the trillions within the next 20 years.

Throughout her college career, Alaina had the pleasure of interning at NASA’s Glenn Research Center doing finance work. It was at NASA that she realized there is a true need for a variety of career disciplines in the space industry. This realization was further enforced when Alaina interned in Washington D.C and would attend House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearings in her free time. In these hearings, she saw government and policy maker’s involvement in space-related issues through budget allocations and foreign relations policy. Wanting more business experience in the space industry, Alaina leveraged her knowledge from Ohio State’s Purchasing and Supply Management Association as well as the Buckeye Operations Management Society (BOMS) during an internship with SpaceX’s purchasing team in summer 2019.

Furthermore, during her time in undergrad, Alaina participated in other extracurriculars at her university. Supporting other women is important to her, thus she was a part of Greek life at Alpha Xi Delta, Psi Chapter and acted as the treasurer of the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) Ohio State branch. Additionally, she enjoys playing sports and being active. Alaina was a part of the waterski club at Ohio State. In her free time, you can most likely find her doing something active with friends or attending a concert.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Alaina is very excited to intern with the host institution, Space Capital in New York City. At Space Capital, she has goals of learning more about investor relations regarding start-ups as well as market trends in the space economy before beginning her career in the business of space full-time.