Keynote - AstroAgency: How we grew a space start-up into a global business

Join us for a captivating keynote as visionary speaker 'Daria “Dasha” Filichkina' share their personal journeys of starting and growing their businesses in the space industry. 

Speaker Information

Daria “Dasha” Filichkina is Chief Operations Officer at AstroAgency. She oversees the company's internal processes and client delivery strategies to support a wide range of communications and market information tasks across more than 50 private space companies and several government space agency clients globally. 

Before joining AstroAgency, Dasha held various roles in the space sector, including Business Development Manager and Delivery Manager within the European launch sector. Before entering the space industry, Daria worked in the IT sector setting up brands, processes and concepts for start-ups. 

In October 2023 Dasha was presented with a special Sir Arthur Clarke space individual award from the British Interplanetary Society in recognition of her contribution to the UK space industry despite the Russian invasion of her home, Ukraine. The award was previously won by astronauts, leading scientists and communicators, including Tim Peake CMG and Sir Patrick Moore CBE. In 2022, she was a Diversity Hero of the Year finalist at the national UK Diversity Awards and her efforts in overcoming the personal challenges caused by the invasion also led to her being recognised in the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards. In early 2023, Dasha established the not-for-profit Ukrainian Businesswomen in Scotland initiative, bringing together more than 40 female entrepreneurs who resettled in the UK for knowledge sharing and networking events in Edinburgh and Glasgow. 

Dasha is a frequent speaker on the importance of diversity in the space industry and in 2020 helped form the New Voices in Space organisation. She is a mentor for multiple programmes, including STEMaspire by Dell and the Prospero Space Fellowship charity, set up by Joanne Wheeler MBE