People of Alabama: Shelia Nash-Stevenson of Madison

“The biggest lesson that life has taught me, basically, is to just never give up because something good is always bound to happen. Keep going. Keep striving, keep doing the best that you can, and eventually, all your hard work will pay off. I’ve had people to sometimes challenge things that I planned on doing. For instance, getting a Ph.D. They said that I couldn’t work full time, give birth to children and get a Ph.D. all at the same time. I had to make sure that I proved them wrong, so I couldn’t give up. I had to keep going, no matter how long it took, no matter what I had to endure, I had to just keep going. Maybe a lot of times it’s good to challenge people because then they do better when they are challenged. I’m glad I did that and all that was accomplished. I continued to work full time. I gave birth to two children. I stayed active in my church and stayed active in my public service sorority and got a Ph.D., so just keep going. Never give up.” – Shelia Nash-Stevenson, Ph.D., of Madison

Nash-Stevenson is an engineer at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Shelia Nash-Stevenson works as an engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

One thing she’s always wanted to do?

“Rest,” she said, jokingly. “I can sit down to rest, but I’m always thinking about the next thing that needs to be done.”

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.