Welcome to SODA
Hey everyone!
My name is Frederick Daso, but on here I go by Soda (I'll leave you to figure out how I arrived at that name). Originally, I've been trained to become an engineer, but my passions for writing, social media, and programming have grown over time. I've been think about what kind of traditional career path I've can pursue that combines all of these interests. I've come to the conclusion that career doesn't exist yet.
So I'm creating it myself. In terms of a career, my goal is to build out a venture capital arm within the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Why Venture Capital? Why in NASA?
Venture capital has been behind some of this decade's most innovative companies: Facebook, Twitter, Square, Amazon, etc. Venture capital has allowed for the funding of ideas that may not have ever seen the light of day otherwise. Within NASA's limited budget and many priorities, it's not possible for the agency to tackle different projects all at once. And with an emerging commercial space industry, now is the time for NASA to help support these budding entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality. By providing funding to these startup pursuits, NASA can continue to spur and promote innovation externally without being limited internally by a lack of resources.
Having a venture capital arm in NASA will allow them to support a variety of initiatives that have the capacity to establish new lucrative opportunities for all and change the world. This dream career intertwines all four of my major passions:
Engineering: Ever since I was a young child, I've always dreamed about being an astronaut and going to space, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Even though the chances of being selected as an astronaut are extremely small, I'm happy having the opportunity to shoot for the stars and try to achieve my dream. I've been blessed to have the opportunity to work on aircraft and spacecraft throughout my time in college. Engineering gives me the confidence to evaluate the technical potential of new technologies, which is a critical skill set to have in venture capital for aerospace purposes.
Social Media: For me, when I think about NASA, the word hope comes to mind. Hope that when we come together as a team, as a community, as a society, we bring the best out of one another to achieve great things. Whenever I ask someone who was in their youth during the Apollo missions, they always tell me how their faces were glued to the TV screens seeing the Saturn V liftoff from the Earth's surface. Seeing hope ignite and liftoff to the sky gave rise to a new generation of children who were interested in pursuing STEM subjects. Yet, we don't look skyward anymore. Developing a strong social media presence to ultimately promote humanity's endeavors in space is essential to my mission to bring venture capital to NASA.
Programming: Coding is a must-learn skill now. As someone who's primarily interested in Android Development, I've gotten my hands dirty with code. Algorithms are becoming the foundational layer for most, if not all businesses in our society. Being able to understand how programming can be used to address and solve problems is key to assessing the potential for a new technology to be funded via venture capital for aerospace purposes.
Writing: There are somethings about me that I'm only able to effectively express through writing instead of talking. Writing has been an outlet for me to explore the world around me and my own humanity. Writing has taken me on a journey that is far from finished. It's made me a better communicator, a better listener, and a better human being overall. Being able to write concisely is important to help build public and private support for a venture capital arm in NASA, and communicate the broad benefits to society of this new endeavor within this storied government agency.
I know that was a lot to take in, but I'll continue to talk about these in future content I produce, whether it be in written and video form.
With all that being said, welcome to my website, and I'm happy and grateful you all decided to stop by and see where my journey takes me.
See you in the stars, Soda
