Career Interview Series: How An Amateur Astronomer Turned Her Passion Into A Business.

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy has compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers, planetary scientists, and enthusiasts. These interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals who have navigated both traditional and non-traditional paths in the field.

Vicky Derksen’s journey into astronomy didn’t start with a childhood telescope or a university degree. Growing up in northern Idaho, she saw the Milky Way all the time and simply assumed everyone else did too. She took that night sky for granted until she moved to Phoenix at twenty-one and had her first serious encounter with light pollution. The stars that had always been there were harder to find, and she missed them, but life continued as Derksen began raising her children.

Vicky Derksen, Night Sky Tourist

The real spark didn't ignite until she was in her early forties and homeschooling her children. She looked up one night and realized she had a vast resource above her but no vocabulary to describe it. She realized she wanted her children to know the sky better than she did. "I had everything to look at, and I knew none of it. I could find the Big Dipper; I could find the Moon. That's it," she recalls.

Determined to change that, Derksen began teaching herself naked-eye astronomy. Her method was practical and shared; as she learned a constellation or a star story, she immediately passed it on to her kids. This personal passion soon became contagious, leading her to teach a class for homeschool students. It proved a popular topic, with parents joining in as well. As Derksen learned more about the night sky, her enthusiasm for dark sky communities grew. This grassroots interest pulled her into a larger mission: working with a group to get Fountain Hills, Arizona, designated as an International Dark Sky Community, a goal they achieved in 2018.

What started as a personal quest for knowledge evolved into a flourishing business almost by accident. The transition began when a local resort requested telescopes for their grand reopening. By now, Derksen had connected with a local astronomy group of mostly retired older men. They agreed to bring their telescopes out for the event. The resort’s marketing dubbed the group the “Star Dudes." This event led to others, and Derksen realized the strong interest in the Phoenix area for astronomy events. People wanted to look up and learn about the night sky. They just needed a little help.

Through this revelation, Night Sky Tourist was born. The astrotourism business launched into the untapped market for high-quality, personal stargazing experiences, with Derksen hiring the “Star Dudes” for the events. “They would do it for free,” she adds with a laugh. “They love it that much, but I pay them.”

Derksen at the telescope for a Night Sky event.

Phoenix hosts many business conferences, receiving travelers from all over the U.S. and even internationally. These groups are looking for unique events to offer attendees, and Night Sky Tourist is a great fit. The demand for their unique brand of entertainment has exploded, particularly as "astrotourism" becomes a travel trend. In February alone, her team handled twenty-one events in twenty-eight days. 

Derksen has carefully curated these experiences to be more than just looking through a telescope; she offers "Twilight Hikes" and "Starlight Full Moon Hikes" that connect people to the environment and the cultural history of the stars. Her favorite events include the opportunity to tell the story of the stars across cultures, using these cultural myths to connect us more deeply to the night sky and each other. People often tell her it’s these stories that stick with them after the event.

She has also been involved in the development of the International Dark Sky Discovery Center in Fountain Hills, a new facility opening in the fall of 2026 that will hold the largest telescope in Arizona, a planetarium and theater, and an exhibit on the growing dark sky movement.

In addition to the physical events, Derksen has built a digital home for sky enthusiasts through the Night Sky Tourist website and podcast. The podcast was born out of a friend’s suggestion and a "leap before you look" moment where she announced the launch on social media before she even knew how to edit audio recordings. Now, with over 130 episodes, she has found her stride in a medium that allows her to reach people far beyond Arizona.

Vicky Derksen teaching naked eye astronomy, helping others understand the night sky.

Her content is built on four intentional pillars that reflect her holistic view of the sky. She emphasizes naked-eye stargazing because she believes the barrier to entry shouldn't be an expensive telescope. She also highlights dark sky destinations, like national parks with dedicated astronomy programs, and explores cultural astronomy by sharing sacred star stories from indigenous cultures. Finally, she uses her platform for dark sky advocacy, educating listeners on the ecological importance of preserving darkness—not just for the sake of the view, but for the health of the planet.

To learn more about Vicky Derksen’s business, Night Sky Tourist, or to find a dark sky destination for your next trip, visit nightskytourist.com.

Career Profile: April Russell, Founder and Entrepreneur, and Creative Pathways in Astronomy Careers

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy has compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers, planetary scientists, etc. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

By Kimberly Mitchell

April Russell has navigated a unique career path in astronomy and physics. Russell graduated from MIT in 2002 with a B.S. in Astrophysics and an M.S. in Planetary Science. Once she finished her degrees, she worked in the private sector for Raytheon, but she didn’t like working in defense technology. Not certain she wanted to pursue a path in teaching, she decided to go to law school. It only took a semester for Russell to realize law wasn’t the right path, either. She took a career break and began her family.

Photo: April Russell

Educational and Teaching Opportunities

Getting back to work after a break to raise children can be challenging. Russell was able to find a pathway back to astronomy by working at a local observatory and astronomy center, where she worked in education and public outreach. She enjoyed that enough that she also did some teaching locally. Khan Academy was hiring subject matter experts to create its online courses. Russell was hired as an SME in physics. She created the coursework for Khan Academy learners, but more importantly, she made valuable connections with other SMEs as they worked to create high-quality educational content.

These connections have served Russell well. She still keeps in touch, checking in with other experts, and occasionally recommending jobs or reaching out to her network to see what might be available.
Russell enjoyed the educational aspect of these jobs and obtained a Master’s in Education. She also did contract work for the Department of Education, focusing on K-12th-grade content in the physical sciences. She also took on visiting professor positions at Vassar College and Siena College, where she taught astrophysics, astronomy, and earth science. 

Writing and Publishing

Russell’s depth and breadth of work in education, as well as her background in physics and astronomy, made her the perfect candidate to write textbooks and educational material. She is a prolific writer, contributing to textbooks published through John Wiley & Sons, 5 Ponds Press, and Pearson. Her focus remains on the physical sciences, physics, and astronomy. Russell has also published many articles on astronomy, featured in Icarus and Astronomy.

Entrepreneurship

In 2017, Russell took the experience gained from teaching, designing coursework, and writing to create Take Space Consulting. Through her business, Russell guides physical science educators and researchers through curriculum development, including planning, design, and strategy. 

In 2023, Russell also became the CEO of Astronomers Without Borders. This non-profit organization works to build and cultivate community through astronomy. Through a partnership with Celestron, she helped develop an AI telescope coach to get people comfortable with astronomy at home as they work with their new telescopes. 

On the Challenge of a Non-Traditional Career Path

Russell acknowledges her career path has been unique, cobbled together through a necessity to both work and be at-home/available for her children. Much of her work has been contract work, finding that is what allowed her the flexibility to raise children, especially when one was diagnosed with a rare disease. The family has also moved twice during the pandemic, and Russell lost her mother around the time her contract with Khan Academy ended. 

“Honestly, 2018 through 2024 are such a blur,” she says. “I needed something to do as a distraction, but it couldn’t be full-time. I was trying to take care of my own mental health by having something outside of these high-stress situations at home.”

Russell knows her situation isn’t unique. Many mid-career women face the same choices. How do they have children and keep working? Can they stay at home and still work part-time? Russell says she has found that even companies that claim they are supportive of these conflicts have proven difficult. “A lot of environments aren’t fully supportive even when they claim to be. It’s a common and disappointing aspect of the current climate.”

“I’ve learned to pay attention to my gut when I’m talking to people around me. Before, I was a pretty analytical person and took things at face value. You want to trust other people, but really, you have to trust yourself first. It’s scary to jump into the unknown. It’s been really important to me to lean on my network. Keeping in touch, seeing what they’re working on, letting them know what I’m working on or looking for. That’s how most of the work I’ve gotten has shown up.”

What’s Next and Untapped Talent At Home

Russell has recently taken a break to reset from the last seven years, which were peppered with difficult circumstances. She’s found her focus through long walks, which allow her body to move and her mind to focus on the future. She’s contemplating a deep dive into astronomy education research. “The main textbook hasn’t been rewritten since 2000,” she notes. She’s also interested in focusing those thoughts into a Substack newsletter and YouTube channel—a niche she’s well prepared to take on. 

Long walks to ponder next steps. Photos courtesy of April Russell.

Russell points out that in the K-12 educational sphere, there is currently no AP Astronomy exam, and in the Next Generation Science Standards, there are no spatial reasoning/awareness guidelines. “Spatial reasoning is one of the most basic things you need to be successful in astronomy.”

Finally, she’s pondering the depth of “untapped talent at home” that could be working on interesting and valuable projects if they had the time and financial support to do so. “There’s this group of untapped talent of women who are in the middle of their lives, unaffiliated, part-time, at home for their kids (or whatever the reason). It would be great to have some small grants to support their work. Grants don’t have to be for full-time work.” 

Russell’s wheels are turning on how to fund other women like her who have chosen non-traditional career paths and have much to offer the astronomy (and other) communities on a part-time basis. It’s a perspective likely to resonate with many, and Russell has the lived experience to understand just how important unique career paths are.

To keep up with April Russell, follow her Substack newsletter at https://aprilrussell.substack.com/ and on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-russell-consulting/.

Career Profile: From Science Research to Science Education

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy has compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers, planetary scientists, etc. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with Mallory Conlon, the Outreach Astronomer at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. She earned her M.S. in astronomy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been engaged in science education and outreach for most of her career. She describes her current position as a collaboration of science education, astronomy, public outreach, and event management.

What were the most important factors that led you to leave astronomy and/or academia? There were several factors - both internal and external - that led me to leave astronomy, and then eventually to leave academia. First, my reasons for leaving astronomy: My first semester as a graduate student was incredibly difficult. I was overwhelmed by my teaching duties, a too-high course load, and starting a new research project with a less-than-supportive advisor. I didn’t, at that time, feel comfortable setting boundaries or positively advocating for myself (in fact, I’m better but still struggle with that today). I found myself not enjoying the field anymore and wanting to finish my degree as quickly as possible. One positive of this time period is that I discovered how much I loved teaching and sharing science with others, as opposed to doing traditional research. My interests and skills were better aligned with the field of science education than astronomy, and I wanted to pursue that career path. I was incredibly lucky that the astronomy department I was in supported this exploration - this is not always the case. They agreed to me having an external advisor for my Master’s research (which focused on astronomy education). They also provided me with a teaching assistantship position focused on educational media design for an ASTRO 100 course, which ultimately led to my first job in instructional design after graduating. I can’t overstate how crucial that support was in transitioning from traditional science to science education. After graduating, I stayed in academia working in educational consulting for almost 7 years before deciding to return to science outreach and education as a career. Though my immediate colleagues were fantastic to work with, I was quickly reminded how toxic certain people in academia can be toward women in STEM and those without PhDs. These stories are for another day…but after an unpleasant start, I felt limited support and very little desire from others to work toward systemic change that would improve the work environment or change the culture. Hence, my reason for leaving academia after almost 10 years: the bureaucracy of R1 academia moved too slowly and was too resistant to changes that would support people like me (e.g., non-faculty, non-PhD, education-focused, women). I needed to work in a place that was willing to grow and change, and the idea of joining what was essentially a start-up non-profit where I could help shape the work environment was incredibly appealing. It also offered a return to astronomy that filled me with so much excitement. It’s not without its challenges, but the flexibility and willingness to grow and change offered by Yerkes is something I never quite found in

Yerkes at night, during a lunar eclipse in 2022.
Photo Credit Brian Finch,

academia. If you have made a career change, what was your age at the time? I’ve made two career changes. One was when I was 23 years old, and I transitioned almost completely away from science and astronomy and into general curriculum development and higher education consulting. During this time period, I did some consulting work for a publishing company focused on generating astronomy content for K-12 learners, but in general did not do any science education or outreach work until I transitioned into (or back into) science education and outreach at age 29. What have been particularly valuable skills for your current job that you gained through completing your degree? The skills from my astronomy degrees that have been especially valuable at my current job are: problem solving, time management, comfort using technology, setting up and using small telescopes, and writing and presenting about complex science concepts. Of course, as an astronomy educator, the astronomy content I learned is also incredibly valuable. Describe a typical day at work. One of my favorite things about my job is that there isn’t really a typical day. Some days I’m welcoming school groups for tours of the observatory, some days I’m working with interns on their

Mallory and students conduct an experiment
with lasers in 2021. Photo credit: Ebony Cox /
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

research presentations, some days I’m preparing to host an open house or other large scale event for the public. There’s also a lot of writing (emails, proposals, reports), coordinating, and planning that happens behind the scenes. How many hours do you work in a week? It depends on the week! Typically it is 35-40 hours, but there are occasional weeks with many events that end up closer to 50-60 hours. How family-friendly is your current position? The leadership at Yerkes are incredibly supportive and accommodating of the needs of people with families or other caretaking responsibilities. They provide very flexible work-from-home options so you can go to doctor appointments or on field trips without using vacation or sick days; no questions asked when you have to bring your child into work during holiday breaks or other random situations that come up when you are a parent; and just in general are supportive of the idea that work doesn’t always have to come first in a person’s life in order for great work to be done. What advice do you have for achieving work-life balance (including having a family)? Some workplaces are more open than others to providing options that improve work-life balance, and it comes from a place of privilege to be able to put up boundaries that protect your time. I’m incredibly lucky that I’m in a position where work-life balance is an option, and where I, for example, can turn down job offers that won’t provide me with the work-life balance I need. With that said, I’ll speak from my experience of navigating work-life balance in academic and academic-adjacent positions.

Yerkes staff, summer interns, and mentors (2024).

In general, I’ve found that roles within or adjacent to academia are surprisingly flexible, with two caveats. First, you have to ask. Seriously, just ask. Some jobs offer hybrid work options up front, but this isn’t quite the norm (yet). Any time I am negotiating a job offer, especially since having my son, I always inform them up front that I need flexible work hours and a set number of days I work from home. If they aren’t open to negotiation, then I move on (however hard that may be). Second, having work-life balance may lead to your career moving more slowly than those who value work more than their personal lives. Unfortunately, excessive work is still a virtue in the U.S., and while you may not be actively punished, you will not be rewarded for setting boundaries around how you work. This is something I’ve had to accept, which has not been impossible to navigate because I have a supportive partner and extended family. Ultimately, no one will protect your time but you. It's up to you to know what aspects of life are important to you and what you are willing to compromise, and then set those boundaries accordingly based on your needs, even if it means less money or rewards over time. What do you do for fun (e.g., hobbies, pastimes, etc.)? I have a 5-year-old son, and I love to spend time with him and my husband exploring our state and traveling. I enjoy running and ran my first half-marathon this year in Disney World, and I’m currently training for the Door County Fall 50 relay at the end of October. I also spend a lot of my free time volunteering as a foster and social media coordinator for Fetch Wisconsin Rescue, a local dog rescue non-profit based out of Madison, WI. Can we include your email address for people who may want to contact you directly about your specific career route? Yes! It is mconlon_at_yerkesobservatory.org (replace the _at_ with @).

Career Profile: Astronomer to STEM Program Evaluator

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with Dr. Ann Martin, an astronomer who left astronomy to become a STEM program evaluator working with NASA.  While a PhD student at Cornell, she recognized her interest in outreach and education and developed her experience in these areas with the support of her PhD advisor, Professor Martha Haynes and Ricardo Giovanelli.  After receiving her PhD, Dr. Martin became the first NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow funded through the NASA Office of Education at Langley Research Center. She now works for a mid-sized government contractor as an evaluator supporting NASA-funded Earth science education programs, working with STEM educators who bring NASA data into classrooms, and encouraging students to think like scientists.

For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit http://aas.org/jobs/career-profiles. New Career Profiles are posted approximately every month.

Astronomer to Museum Project Director

The AAS Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy and the AAS Employment Committee have compiled dozens of interviews highlighting the diversity of career trajectories available to astronomers. The interviews share advice and lessons learned from individuals on those paths.

Below is our interview with Dr. Isabel Hawkins, an astronomer who directs projects and creates materials for the renowned Exploratorium and Smithsonian museums.  She was awarded the Klumpke-Roberts Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 2009 for her contributions to "public understanding of astronomy."  Dr. Hawkins is also a world expert on Maya astronomy and indigenous astronomy.  Examples of her work include websites on Maya astronomy and the Maya calendar (http://maya.nmai.si.edu and Calendar in the Sky).  She also created the show Maya Skies at Chabot Space and Science Center last year, and also this site on Polynesian/Hawaiian astronomy:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/neverlost (on Hawaiian traditional navigation using the stars).

Aparna Venkatesan (Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of San Francisco) comments that "Isabel gives wonderful guest lectures with a Maya elder, and she visited a class I taught last year on ancient and indigenous astronomy. In addition to an unforgettable class on the role of corn harvest cycles in Maya society and calendaring, she brought along a stove with corn masa and cheese and made all my students fresh corn quesadillas which were better than anything out of a restaurant."

For access to all our Career Profile Project interviews, please visit http://aas.org/jobs/career-profiles. New Career Profiles are posted approximately every month.

Charting a New Course in Physics Education

The following is a guest post by four members of the Compass Project: Nathaniel Roth, Punit Gandhi, Gloria Lee, and Joel Corbo.

The first year of college can be especially tough for a student interested in pursuing the physical sciences: Daunting assignments. Competition for grades. Uninspiring lectures. And, perhaps most overwhelming of all, a feeling of isolation in the face of it all.

Finding a supportive community can be crucial in order to persevere in this transition. It’s certainly easier to grasp the difficult ideas presented in lecture and in the homework when discussing them comfortably with friends. More profound, however, is the sense of being welcomed into a group where one can feel some notion of belonging.

The quest for community is harder for students who feel like outsiders at the outset. Gender, race, socioeconomic status, and other factors can act as immediate barriers. When the inevitable struggles with the subject material arise, it can be easier for students to drift away when they feel they never really belonged in the first place.

With these ideas in mind, in 2006 a group of physics graduate students at UC Berkeley saw an opportunity to make their department a more diverse and welcoming place. They launched an ambitious program called the Compass Project designed to foster a more inclusive, creative, and collaborative scientific community, aimed especially at incoming undergraduates in the physical sciences.  Since then, Compass has grown into a vibrant organization that has improved the academic experience for nearly 100 undergraduates and dozens of graduate students. The American Physical Society presented Compass with the 2012 Award for Improving Undergraduate Physics Education.

We have recently been given an opportunity to tell the story of Compass' founding and its subsequent achievements in a Points of View column on Physics Today online (the pre-print can be found here).  Many of the ideas mentioned above are discussed in more detail, along with a host of additional information. We encourage you to read the article to learn more, and we hope that you'll find that our organization's philosophy resonates with your own.