About
Space has been part of my plans for most of my life, although the route I took to get here was anything but direct. I genuinely loved school and learning when I was young. Reading and math came naturally to me, science fairs were exciting, and I was always eager to participate and do well. Early experiences with robotics and coding also gave me one of my first glimpses into technical work and the realization that it was something I could be good at. As I got older, my interest in space became more concrete. I imagined becoming a pilot, considered ROTC as part of that path, and quietly held onto the much bigger dream of one day becoming an astronaut.
Life ultimately took me in other directions. I worked in childcare and fitness, modeled internationally, fueled commercial aircraft, built and ran my own successful specialized hair business, lived abroad, traveled, and pursued plenty of other interests along the way. My relationship with education became much less straightforward than it had been when I was young, but the curiosity behind it never really changed. Neither did my interest in space.
Eventually, I made a conscious decision to turn that lifelong interest into something I could build a career around. I started in aeronautics and unmanned systems, earning an A.S. in Aeronautics and an Undergraduate Certificate in Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Operations and Safety. My studies moved through engineering and unmanned systems, space policy, and eventually broader space studies. I earned a B.S. in Space Studies with a focus in Aerospace Science, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and I’m now completing an M.S. in Commercial Enterprise in Space.
My path has been intentionally interdisciplinary because each field adds to how I understand the space sector as a whole. Technology determines what we can build, but policy and economics influence what actually gets done. History helps explain how we arrived here, while culture, resources, access, and human priorities influence what we choose to do next. My own experiences and identity shape the questions I notice too, particularly around who gets to participate, whose knowledge and perspectives are included, and what responsibility looks like as our presence beyond Earth grows.
Those connections are where many of my interests now meet. I’m fascinated by everything from commercial space systems and emerging technologies to archaeoastronomy, space anthropology, cultural relationships with the sky, policy, resources, and the growing questions around sustainability and stewardship. I’m interested not only in what we can do in space, but in the systems and decisions that shape what happens and what those choices might mean over time.
Launch Signal grew out of that curiosity. It is a place to follow questions across disciplines, dig into subjects that deserve more attention, and make space research and conversations more accessible without stripping away the complexity that makes them interesting.
SpacePunk Ari
SpacePunk Ari is the less filtered side of my relationship with space. The name started with the obvious contrast between my alternative style and an industry that can still feel fairly stiff and traditional, but over time it has come to fit the way I think about space too.
I care deeply about where space exploration is headed, which also means paying close attention to the reality of how we get there. Stewardship, sustainability, access, ownership, preservation, and responsibility all play a role. I’m interested in questioning established ideas without dismissing the systems, science, or institutions behind them, and in considering perspectives that might otherwise be left outside of the conversation.
SpacePunk Ari gives me room for those opinions, along with the books, people, history, culture, science, and random pieces of space that I find interesting. Some of those ideas eventually become more developed work on Launch Signal.
Ultimately, I hope Launch Signal becomes a place where people can learn something new about space, encounter ideas or perspectives they may not have considered before, and follow their own curiosity a little further. Space is far bigger than any one discipline or way of thinking about it, and part of what makes it so fascinating is how much there still is to understand, question, discover, and share.
