Full video

0:00

(smooth music)

0:01

- An engineer in our society they,

0:02

they don't look like me but I'm here

0:05

to break that mold.

0:07

(upbeat music)

0:08

- [Narrator] This Great Big Story was

0:09

made possible by Accenture. (upbeat music)

0:15

- My name is Dayjia Moore Williams

0:16

and it's kind of hard to explain but I.

0:21

- [Narrator] Don't worry Dayjia.

0:22

Dayjia is a manufacturing engineer at NASA's

0:24

Jet Propulsion Lab.

0:26

She's also a musician. - Well said.

0:29

I literally couldn't have said it better myself.

0:31

- [Narrator] Thank you Dayjia.

0:32

Let's get back to where it all started.

0:34

Dayjia's love of Science all began when

0:36

she was growing up in St. Louis.

0:38

- I grew up on the south side of

0:39

St. Louis Missouri in a single parent

0:41

household with my mom.

0:43

I got into Science because of a program

0:45

that my mom kicked doors to get me into.

0:48

They expose us to different Science topics

0:50

such as Robotics, Chemistry you name it.

0:53

- [Narrator] In college Dayjia studied

0:55

engineering management while there she

0:57

faced more than just challenging school work.

1:00

- A lot of times in class I was the only female

1:03

I was the only black female,

1:05

sometimes people didn't wanna sit by you.

1:07

Sometimes people didn't wanna help you,

1:10

you know I would see a lot of time that

1:12

people would have their

1:14

I'm trying not to cry.

1:15

People would have their groups that they

1:18

would study with then I would have to infiltrate.

1:21

How can I bond with that group so that I can

1:23

get the same resources that my people don't have?

1:27

But I figured it out.

1:29

- [Narrator] Of course she figured it out.

1:31

Which brings us to NASA.

1:34

Dayjia is part of a team building rocket ships.

1:37

They take an engineers idea and figure out how

1:40

to make it a reality which is pretty freakin' cool.

1:43

Now remember a minute ago when we mentioned

1:45

Dayjia was also a musician?

1:47

She wrote a song about science to the tune

1:49

of Soulja Boy's "Crank That"

1:51

- I'm just writing and I'm like "Yo, this is hot"

1:54

♪ X equals then it's 0 negative B less a motives ♪

1:57

♪ Square root of B square minus 4ac for sure now ♪

2:00

♪ Find the root over 2 aye root over 2 aye ♪

2:04

♪ Root over 2 aye aye ♪

2:07

(upbeat music)

2:09

- [Narrator] Dayjia realized that through music

2:10

you could open up a whole new audiences eyes to

2:13

the world of science.

2:15

Something she wish she had when she was young.

2:17

- It's not just writing a song

2:18

and that's it like actually take a step further

2:21

and a mentor to a lot of students who either

2:25

are interested in science or already in college

2:27

and just need that extra push to continue

2:29

and finish.

2:30

I wanna show through my life that you can

2:33

be an engineer, you can be a musician.

2:35

Yo, the sky is the limit.

2:37

(upbeat music)

2:40

(upbeat music)

2:42

(upbeat music)

2:45

(bell ring)