Astronaut Anousheh Ansari on Closing the Gender Data Gap

FUTURE OF WOMEN founder Hallie Applebaum speaks with astronaut Anousheh Ansari about closing the gender data gap.

In 2006, Anousheh Ansari captured international headlines by embarking upon an 11-day space expedition, becoming the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, first Muslim woman in space, and fourth private explorer to visit space. Anousheh is CEO of XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, currently focused on closing the gender data gap, specifically in health data. Ansari sponsored the $10M Ansari XPRIZE, igniting a new era for commercial spaceflight. Prior, Ansari served as CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things technology firm. Ansari co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020. Her memoir, My Dream of Stars, aims to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world.