As a child, Singapore-born Lynette Tan was fascinated with space. At the age of five, she made her first “space rocket” out of an oversized cardboard box that she found at home and spent hours playing in it, envisioning herself travelling through the cosmos and being among the stars.
A career in the space field would have seemed like the next natural step after graduating from university, but after obtaining a Master’s in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003, Lynette realised there was no clear path ahead to break into the industry.
Over the next decade or so, she worked in both the government and private sectors, in roles ranging from centre director at the Singapore Economic Development Board to business development at GlaxoSmithKline in Singapore and Malaysia.
During this time, she also wondered how to create opportunities for herself and others like her, who wanted to be a part of the space economy.
BACK THEN, THERE WAS NO SPACE SECTOR TO SPEAK OF.
