2017-07-19: Autonomy Incubator Intern Abigail Hartley Opens Up a New Chapter

by Payton Heyman, a social media specialist-in-training

Abbey writing a post for the Autonomy Incubator Blog.

Abbey Hartley, an adored member of the Autonomy Incubator family, joined the team back in 2015 as a social media intern, but will soon be leaving to further her career after getting a new job with CBS.

Abbey grew up in Lake Wylie, South Carolina, and graduated just last year from Dartmouth with a degree in English.

 “I sort of stumbled into the job,” she explained, talking about how she first started at the Ai.  “My mother is good friends with Dr. Danette Allen, and she had told me to email her at the end of my junior year.”

 She ended up becoming the first person to ever formally work solely in the social media field here, and thanks to her, it has come a long way.  When she first started working in the summer of 2015, she only made daily Twitter updates and blog posts with the occasional short video made with iMovie, as the position was very new.

 When intern Kastan Day joined her in the summer of 2016, they made a great team and elevated the social media presence even more.  Better software became available, and within the next year the Autonomy Incubator Instagram, YouTube channel, and Facebook came to life, opening up a realm of creative ideas.

 “[The job] was great, I loved it!  I was the only person I knew interning at NASA.” Abbey expressed about coming back for a second summer.

 “I’m always learning here and there are rarely opportunities like this for people like me.” She added.

Abbey hand flying a drone for a research project back in February.

After returning as a NASA intern four separate times, she decided to begin applying for jobs outside of the Langley Research Center, and has just recently scored the position of a multimedia journalist for CBS in Washington D.C.  Here she will be a reporter for connectingvets.com and is beyond thrilled for the opportunity.

 Her grandpa was a nuclear physicist during the Cold War and her brother anticipates on joining the air force as a flight surgeon following the completion of medical school, so she has a lot of connections with the subject matter and cares deeply about it.

 The company mainly hires veterans and people who have experience in working for the federal government.  Since Abbey has three years under her belt and a family history of employment in the military, she fit the job perfectly.

 “There are a lot of things out there for veterans, but they don’t even know about it,” Abbey explained,  “[the company] has really good things going for it.”

 Her potential last day here at the Ai is the eleventh of August, but she continues to do great things in the office every single day that passes.

 “I’m really going to miss the people here.  Everyone here is my friend, and it’s going to be really hard to leave what has become my family from the only job I’ve ever really had.  Hopefully, I can come back and visit somehow,” she said.

 Extraordinary things are approaching for Abigail Hartley, but her fun spirit, determination, and strong work ethic will be missed greatly.  Her contributions here have been remarkable, as she has, without a doubt, left an immense footprint on the Ai.  We all know she is destined for success and we are looking forward to seeing her start a new chapter in her life next month. God speed, Abbey!