I am over the moon to be talking with Francis ‘Poppy’ Northcutt in this week’s episode. Poppy will share her journey from the first ‘Computress’ during the Apollo 8 Mission to the first female engineer in NASA’s mission control (her team is responsible for getting the Apollo 13 home safely) and fighting for women’s rights as an attorney and full-time activist. She’s served on affirmative action committees, helped lead the charge in gender pay gaps, pregnancy leave, the women’s liberation movement and she has served as the President for NOW (the National Organization for Women).
In this episode, we talk about:
- [3:30] Poppy’s life during World War II and the role her mother played
- [5:34] How she started working for the space program as a 'computress'
- [7:15] Being the first female working in Mission Control
- [10:00] Sex discrimination and why she became a women’s right activist
- [13:30] Discussing how women are still fighting for their rights and the equal rights amendment
- [15:31] Extreme bills on women’s reproductive rights and the hypocrisy behind them
- [17:46] Poppy’s first big mission on Apollo 8
- [19:31] Apollo 13 Mission and the anxiety around the movie
- [23:30] Her work on affirmative action committees in Houston
- [27:38] The start of Poppy’s law career
- [28:38] The President of the NOW state organization; fighting for reproductive rights injustice, equal rights amendment, racial justice
- [29:44] Pay gap and what we can do
- [31:16] The comparison to what is happening in Europe
- [33:15] The transgender movement, bathroom obsessions, and the role in sports
- [38:27] The discussion on the Patriarchy
- [39:10] Ending violence against women as a global issue, the stigma of shame, and violence against children
- [42:20] The importance of voting rights
- [48:42] The discussion on the defunding of the police
- [50:43] Polar vortex and its impact on energy prices
- [51:10] Poppy’s thoughts on Space X and alien life
- [53:24] Elon Musk and energy problems
- [54:30] Vaccinations and getting back to more personal interactions
- [55:43] The negative effects of the pandemic
- [57:00] Planning on working together in the future
- [58:03] Jennifer’s final thoughts on the interview
Resources From This Episode:
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Work with Poppy
NOW (National Organization for Women)
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