Alonda Woodley: Procurement to Power NASA Earth Missions

Originally posted on the NASA.gov website on July 5th, 2022. Removed from the NASA.gov website on February 6th, 2025 as part of the Trump administrations efforts to remove all traces of DEI.

Written by Elizabeth M. Jarrell
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Name: Alonda Woodley

Formal Job Classification: Contracting officer

Organization: Procurement (for Earth Sciences Programs, Code 210.5 Y)

What do you do and what is most interesting about your role here at Goddard? How do you help support Goddard’s mission? Are there specific missions or projects you’ve been involved with that you would like to mention?

I manage multiple pre-award and post-award contracts supporting Earth science programs. I work with technical personnel to understand their requirements and ultimately award a contract to support them.

I worked on a consolidated effort between NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, and Goddard for the NASA Advanced Computing Services (NACS). In 2018, Ames awarded this $1.1 billion, 10-year contract, which is a huge contract. We order work off this contract.

Where did you go to school?

I am from Michigan, but I got a full scholarship to Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Huntsville. In 2004, I graduated with a major in telecommunications. In 2009, I earned a master’s in management, acquisition, and contract management from Florida Institute of Technology with honors.

How did you come to Goddard and why?

In 2006, I started working at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as an administrative assistant in workforce planning.

In 2013, I began working for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) in Huntsville as a contract administrator.

In 2015, I came to DCMA Special Programs in Linthicum, Maryland, as an administrative contracting officer.

In 2017, I came to Goddard as a contract specialist. I always wanted to return to NASA because NASA feels like a family. I really enjoy my co-workers. NASA cares about people growing as individuals, holistically. Goddard offers many clubs and activities as well as personal development training. Goddard feels like a college campus.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I hope to become a team lead mentoring our junior contract specialists. As their mentor, I would tell them to always ask questions if you do not know something, that there is never a dumb question. I would tell them to do research to try to find a possible solution and form your own opinion when presenting to your supervisor to show initiative.

Who inspires you?

I have had the pleasure of meeting two NASA administrators, Administrator Charlie Bolden in 2009 and Administrator Bill Nelson in 2021. Both meetings were surprises. Both administrators flew in space.

The first time meeting an actual astronaut, Administrator Bolden, was a really great experience and happened only because he was visiting Marshall at that time. It was especially meaningful because he was the first African American NASA administrator.  It gave me hope that anyone can be anything, all goals are attainable.

What do you do for fun?

I like to travel. I have been to Panama, Mexico, Jamaica, and the surrounding tropical islands. I would like to visit Africa to learn about my culture first-hand, which is important to me. I love animals and a photographic safari is at the top on my list.

If you could meet and talk to anybody, living or dead, who would it be and what’s the first thing you would ask them?

John David Washington, who is Denzel Washington’s son. He achieved success in his own right without relying on his famous father and mother. John David is a former NFL football player who is currently a producer and actor. I would like to meet him because he is a triple threat. My background is in telecommunications and I would like to create a show with him.

If you were not working as a contracting officer, what would you be doing?

I would buy properties, fix them up and either rent or sell them. Real estate fascinates me.

I would also think about maybe becoming a model. I have had several photoshoots that were really fun.