By David Bullock
Staff Writer
There are mentorship and coaching programs for people who want to boost their space career, start a new company, or simply break into the industry. Below, we look at three people who offer these services.
Brett Jones
Space Coach
AFWERX
Former Marine Brett Jones became a coach through an organization called AFWERX, which sponsored a virtual training event in the early days of the pandemic. AFWERX is an U.S. Air Force program that promotes small businesses and startups to get funding needed to bring their products to market.
“I was there to help people get connected. I just had enough exposure to the industry to know which people get connected to whom,” said Jones.
Jones uses his background in the advertising industry to help clients with brand identity development and positioning. “So, I’ve been rocking the space coach title for a couple of years now,” Jones explained.
Jones works with a broad clientele of individuals to groups. Jones especially likes to work with startups to develop minimum viable products with the government as a customer. This approach helps startups to raise enough funding for a broader market strategy that targets the private sector.
So far, he has coached a few people on LinkedIn and finds that platform the best way to reach him for business.
“The more people I help, the better we’ll all be in the end,“ Jones said. “If you want to reach out to me on Linkedin. DM me. I’m Brett G. Jones. I look forward to talking to anyone that wants to talk about space.“
His fee is negotiable, but he is also willing to take equity options.
Laura Forczyk
Founder
Astralytical
When Laura Forczyk started her website and consulting business Astralytical six years ago, it wasn’t initially to do space career coaching. Shortly afterwards, she realized there was a market for it. So, she started the space career coaching as an add on to her consulting business.
“We help people that want to enter the space sector, or who are already in the space sector and want to progress,” said Forczyk.
The goal is “to help people recognized their skills, so that no matter what background they come from, they could apply it to space. Space is not just for engineers. Anyone with any background can work for space,” she added.
When asked about how to pick a good coach, Forczyk said seekers should look for “someone they can trust and have that open communication with, and someone that fits within their mission and goals.”
Sometimes Forczky believes a coach isn’t necessary. If you are looking for casual guidance, Forczyk recommends finding a mentor.
Forczyk typically works with clients who are university age or older. No STEM background is required. The cost varies depending on whether you are a student or a professional, how many hours you would like to work with her, and if you would like to communicate via phone or email.
Students and recent graduates can pay from $200 for a one-hour call to $1,600 for a 10-hour consultation. Professionals can pay $250 for a one hour call to $2,000 for ten hours of assistance.
Instead of using a phone, an email package for students and professionals is slightly cheaper. Forczyk also offers a PDF workbook to download on her website. You can find more on the Astralytical website.
Loretta Whitesides
Founder
Spacekind
Loretta Whitesides offers space leadership training for individuals and groups through her Spacekind program. Her personal website says the program is for “anyone in the space community, or interested in using the New Right Stuff to elevate their life.”
The eight-week long program includes weekly Zoom calls lasting 70 minutes with an hour’s worth of homework required for each session.
Spacekind costs $400 for professionals and $160 for students. Whitesides’ personal website claims that half of the tuition is refundable upon successful completion of the course.
With lots of references to space sci-fi for the program, Spacekind sounds like it is trying be not only transformational, but fun and humorous as well.
After several attempts to reach out to Whitesides for this article, she did not respond for comment.
