Cheyenne Polius

I was a small island girl with a big dream. In 2015, I moved from Saint Lucia to the UK to follow that dream of becoming an astrophysicist. I now hold an astrophysics master's degree and it turns out that the only thing I love more than space is talking to people about space! So my free time is spent sharing my academic journey along with some cool space facts on Twitter and Instagram. My passion came full circle back to my home island when I got elected as the National Point of Contact (NPoC) for Saint Lucia in the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), a global organization partnered with the United Nations to give students and young professionals a voice in the space sector. I serve as the communication channel between Saint Lucian citizens and the wider SGAC, working to raise awareness of the potential benefits of space technology to Saint Lucia and the rest of the Caribbean region. In this capacity, I am building a network of Saint Lucian youth who are passionate about space and eager to contribute to the space sector on a regional and global scale.

An initiative stemming from my role as NPoC is Saint Lucia's first national astronomy association, LUNAA, of which I am the president and co-founder. My aim for LUNAA is to be an avenue for space enthusiasts to connect and a national platform to raise awareness of the potential benefits of space technology to the Caribbean. This fits into my wider career goal of increasing Caribbean representation in the space sector, as well as increasing ethnic and gender diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Facing the challenges of being a black woman in a white, male-dominated STEM field keeps this goal very close to my heart. I hope to use my knowledge and skills to educate, encourage and inspire the next generation of STEM students.