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I always knew when
I was growing up

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that I wanted to be an attorney.

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In high school, had an
internship in a law firm.

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And that solidified that
this is something I really,

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really wanted to do.

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From a very young age, I knew
that I wanted to be a lawyer.

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And it just stuck.

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And here I am.

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My name is Rosalind Cylar.

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I'm an attorney at NASA
Marshall Space Center

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here in Huntsville, Alabama.

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And this is my story.

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When I first started
at NASA, I started out

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as basically a
procurement attorney.

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However, there came a time when
our lead environmental attorney

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was about to retire.

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And so someone had to step
up and fill that role.

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I thought it was something
that I might want to pursue,

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and so started working with
him on different environmental

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matters, just to see if
it was an area that I

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might be interested in.

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Now, I'm the lead environmental
attorney for our office.

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My family's very proud
of my work here at NASA.

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They're very excited about
the work that I do here.

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They're very excited
to tell people.

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My two boys, who
are six and eight,

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they tell a lot of their
friends that their mommy

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works for NASA.

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My husband, he's very excited.

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My parents are extremely proud.

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My mother inspired me the most.

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She was very hardworking.

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She went to school
in the evenings,

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worked during the day.

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But she always showed
me that you can always

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improve upon yourself.

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You don't have to settle.

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And it's never too late
to learn something new.

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I grew up in the Bronx.

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Was born and raised.

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Spent my childhood until I
went to college in the Bronx.

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Went to a private school.

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One of the main difficulties
I had to overcome

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just pursuing my education
was financial difficulties.

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It was very expensive.

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I grew up in a
single-parent household.

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I never felt like
the burden was just

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on her, because her family,
when you hear that saying, it

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takes a village
to raise a child,

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I'm probably a good
example of that.

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One of the most
rewarding experience

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I've had because I work at NASA
is I was able to view a launch.

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And I was able to take
my husband, my two

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boys, and my mom.

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I really wanted
her to experience

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in that, because I
felt it was almost

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like it's an accomplishment
that she helped me achieve.

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And I don't want to say
it's I was rewarding her.

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But I wanted to have that
memory and experience with her.

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I think one of the
hardest lessons

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I had to learn growing up,
and I'm still learning,

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is you don't have to do it all.

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You can focus on one
activity at a time.

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And it's OK if you
make a mistake.

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Just learn from it and move on.

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Don't dwell on it.

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And, in fact, when
I try to do it all,

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I usually don't do it well.

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So I've learned that
sometimes you have to stop.

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And whatever you're doing at
that moment, just do it well.

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And then, move on
to the next task.

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My advice to the
younger generation

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is to set goals and work
hard to attain those goals.

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And as you move along that
path, your goals might change.

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And that's OK.

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I find that the things that are
most difficult in life, things