Sholainka Martyn: Powering Goddard Missions, One Small Business At a Time
Sholainka Martyn builds connections between Goddard and the small business vendors who make the NASA mission stronger.
Name: Sholainka Martyn
Title: Small Business Specialist
Organization: Office of Small Business Programs (Code 179)
How would you describe what you do for Goddard and what’s the most interesting part of your role?
As part of a four-member team at Goddard’s Office of Small Business Programs, I work to serve as an advocate for the small business community and locate capable small disadvantaged, woman-owned, veteran-owned, and other underutilized business firms for current and future acquisitions. I facilitate small businesses and lead them in the right direction to get access to government contracts.
I also help contracting officers by educating them, providing training, and being one of the first stops in the procurement process. I also establish communication forums with industry and monitor relationships to ensure Goddard and agency goals and practices are being effectively communicated and that industry issues and concerns are being properly addressed.
What kind of contracts are they? What are these small businesses doing for NASA?
They do everything. At NASA, small businesses play a vital role on large contracts such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the Artemis program to return humanity to the Moon. They perform highly skilled tasks across all of our mission directorates. Small businesses also contribute to the daily operations across all our centers, from facilities to grounds maintenance, logistics, and more.
Do you have a favorite project, contract or experience that you’ve had while working with the Small Business Office?
It’s really great to see companies that start off small and then see their doors open to bigger and brighter things.
One of the new projects that has been personally rewarding is small business contractor highlights. I initiated, developed, and implemented a year-round small business contractor highlight program to promote the President’s Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce. The highlights feature the company’s background, core principles, mission and values, community support, and NASA work. As a result, thousands of employees, Goddard contractors, and citizens have read the success stories of diverse companies and their philanthropic impact on the community.
I recall about probably four to five years ago the visitor center had a renewal, and it’s an 8(a) contract, which is an assistance program intended to help companies owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. We had a couple of meetings to basically get proposals directly from small businesses. We met with one company, Alexton Inc., and they received the contract.
The company is former veteran- and minority-owned, and this was their first prime contract at NASA after being a subcontractor down at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Later on through Alexton’s performance we were able to feature their CEO as a small business highlight last year for Women’s History Month. Because of the work that they’ve done, they are the current contract holder for the Office of Small Business Programs headquarters.
Also one of the most fun aspects of my job is to travel. A lot of time we stay in our own little bubble, either we’re working from home or working at the center. When you actually get out to travel, you meet one-on-one with different vendors. You can get a real grasp of American life and people, and how those companies are making it as businesses.
Where’s your favorite place you’ve traveled?
Last year we went to Anchorage, Alaska, for the annual 8(a) conference. Alaska is simply beautiful. The glaciers and natural wildlife are a national treasure. Also, it was the first trip back for us since the pandemic, so it was nice meeting with small businesses face to face again and providing them with knowledge on how to do business with NASA.
I’ve visited two NASA centers, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Johnson. To tour both centers and see the work that they do there was really cool. I got a chance to see where history was made.
By Marta Hill
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
