Margot Lee Shetterly
Margot Lee Shetterly – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes
Margot Lee Shetterly (born June 30, 1969) is an American nonfiction writer, researcher, and entrepreneur best known for Hidden Figures. Her work brings to light the stories of Black women mathematicians at NASA, and she advocates for a more inclusive history of science and technology.
Introduction
Margot Lee Shetterly is a writer whose scholarship and storytelling have reshaped how many people understand the history of science, race, and gender in America. Her bestselling book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race (2016) introduced millions of readers (and movie-goers) to the brilliant “human computers” who powered NASA’s early missions, yet whose contributions were long overlooked. Through her research, founding of archival projects, and public engagement, Shetterly acts as a bridge between history and justice, ensuring that stories once relegated to margins are placed at the center.
Early Life and Family
Margot Lee Shetterly was born on June 30, 1969, in Hampton, Virginia. Robert Lee III, was a research scientist at NASA’s Langley Research Center, and her mother, Margaret G. Lee, was an English professor at Hampton University.
Because of her familial environment, Shetterly was familiar from childhood with stories of Black scientists and mathematicians associated with NASA’s research community. Phoebus High School in Hampton.
Shetterly’s upbringing cultivated in her both respect for scientific endeavor and love of narrative — a combination that would later define her career.
Education and Early Career
After high school, Shetterly studied at the University of Virginia, earning a Bachelor of Science degree from the McIntire School of Commerce.
She began her professional life in investment banking, working on the foreign exchange desk at J.P. Morgan, and later on the fixed income capital markets desk at Merrill Lynch.
Later, she shifted into media and publishing, joining startup ventures, including , where they founded an English-language magazine called Inside Mexico aimed at expatriate readers.
Between 2010 and 2013, Shetterly and her husband did content marketing and editorial consulting work in Mexico’s tourism industry.
Writing Hidden Figures and Beyond
Research and Publication
Shetterly began research for Hidden Figures around 2010.
In 2013, she founded The Human Computer Project, an initiative to archive and illuminate the work of the women mathematicians and “human computers” who worked at NACA and NASA from the 1930s through the 1980s.
She sold the film rights to Hidden Figures before the book was even published.
In 2018 she published a children’s picture book version of Hidden Figures, titled Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race.
Recognition and Impact
Hidden Figures became a #1 New York Times bestseller and was both critically and commercially successful.
Shetterly’s work has been recognized with various honors:
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She received a 2014 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Book Grant (as she was working on Hidden Figures).
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She has been a recipient of grants from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities for her archival work.
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In 2017, she won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Nonfiction).
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In 2018, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Her influence extends beyond the book: through The Human Computer Project, public talks, and educational outreach, she works to preserve and elevate the stories of Black women in STEM and change how we understand the history of science and engineering.
Legacy and Influence
Margot Lee Shetterly’s legacy lies in how she reframed the narrative of American space achievement:
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She moved these women from footnotes to protagonists, making their intellectual labor visible and valued in the broader narrative of innovation and exploration.
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Her work catalyzed renewed public interest in women in STEM, historical justice, and the inclusion of marginalized voices in science history curricula.
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The success and visibility of Hidden Figures have inspired educators, students, and researchers to probe deeper into overlooked contributions by minorities and women in technical fields.
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Her archival and research efforts — especially via The Human Computer Project — help ensure that more such stories are found, preserved, and told in their fullness.
Personality, Style & Themes
Shetterly’s writing is characterized by meticulous research, empathetic storytelling, and an aim to restore context. She takes care to describe not just individuals, but the institutions, social forces, and constraints that shaped their lives.
She bridges personal narrative and systemic analysis: understanding her father’s work at NASA, knowing local communities in Hampton, and engaging with archival documents gives her stories depth and resonance.
Recurring themes in her work include:
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Recognition: bringing hidden contributors into view
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Interconnectedness: how family, locality, and institutional structures intersect
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Resilience: how individuals persisted against social, racial, and gender barriers
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History as inclusive: insisting that the official narrative expand to include marginalized voices rather than segregate them
She also often speaks about how history is not neutral — how omissions and erasures shape our collective memory — a motive that animates much of her public engagement.
Famous Quotes of Margot Lee Shetterly
Here are some memorable quotes by Shetterly (often from Hidden Figures) that reflect her insights:
“Women, on the other hand, had to wield their intellects like a scythe, hacking away against the stubborn underbrush of low expectations.” “Katherine Johnson knew: once you took the first step, anything was possible.” “Their path to advancement might look less like a straight line and more like some of the pressure distributions and orbits they plotted, but they were determined to take a seat at the table.” “I changed what I could, and what I couldn’t, I endured.” “Without imagination, I don’t think there’s any progress.”
“You don’t get the good without the bad, but you really do have to see it all in order to make progress.”
“As much as I think it is necessary and desirable for white people to have an expanded view of the Black American experience, it's probably even more