Neha Dagley
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FOUNDER, SPACEMARKED LEGAL ADVISORY; CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, SPACEMARKED TECHNOLOGIES
Raised in a “chawl,” a tenement-style building in Mumbai, India, Neha Dagley (left) spent her childhood in one of the world’s busiest cities. She knew what an astronaut was, but not much else about space. “It’s not like I could look it up or ask anybody. I’m a girl in India in the ’80s, and I’m the only child in a very conservative family,” she says. At school, she disliked the classes devoted to home economics, but was drawn to science and technology, where she excelled. Then, when she was 15, an unexpected opportunity to move to the United States changed the trajectory of her life.
Dagley ended up attending Utah State, and then University of Miami’s law school – in defiance of her parents, who wanted her to marry and begin a family-focused life. Though she started in commercial litigation, even beginning her own practice, Dagley never lost her interest in space. She eventually got an advanced master’s of law in Air and Space Law at Leiden University in the Netherlands, even presenting her research on legal and regulatory frame- works for private human space flight at the United Nations Conference on Space Law and Policy in Vienna, Austria.
Dagley’s firm, Spacemarked Legal Advisory, now advises space sector startups that are in early to mid-stage development, on commercial contracts, corporate governance, brand protection, and numerous other issues.
Latest Accomplishment
In September, Dagley started her latest venture: SpaceMarked Technologies, an Australia-based company that aims to improve human performance in space for short duration travel as well as sustained, long- term missions beyond Earth’s orbit. Next up, Dagley is looking into opportunities to travel to space for herself.
What She Says
“If you aim for the moon, you’ll reach the stars, right?” says the lawyer, immigrant, and entrepreneur. “Think big and don’t let other people make you think small. People will try to box you in, even people who have your best interests in mind. So, don’t let them, because where we are with technology right now, this is the perfect time for someone to get into the space industry. It is possible.” – Kylie Wang