If you need to learn off-road vehicle safety or how to perform a mean hula-hoop, Kim is your go-to!
As the Action Officer for the Office of Projects, Planning, and Analysis (OPPA) within NOAA/NESDIS, Kim Eaves works with a team to support the Director and Deputy Director of OPPA by maintaining and managing the office’s document repository, action database, and the shared email account. Kim handles the communications, education, and outreach for OPPA, which includes writing articles, answering questions from reporters and other interested parties, and supporting educational events such as launches. And as if that didn’t keep her busy enough, within the last year and a half, Kim got engaged and then married, had a baby, and moved into a new house in Woodsboro, Maryland. She also volunteers with the Woodsboro Volunteer Fire Company, the American Red Cross, and Girl Scouts.
1. What three traits describe you?
Honest, loyal, and altruistic.
2. What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
I’ve had two weird jobs – selling concert merchandise at festivals when I was 14 and working on an assembly line making air conditioning compressors for Honda Civics.
3. Who lives in your house (people, pets, etc.)?
My husband David, who is a firefighter; my smart and active step-daughter Bree, who is in kindergarten; and my amazing and adventurous one-year-old daughter Mason.
4. Tell us something that might surprise us about you.
I teach off-road vehicle safety classes in my free time.
5. If you could have a dinner party and invite any four people, dead or alive, who makes the guest list?
Elon Musk, Nicola Tesla, Leonardo da Vinci, and Josh Gates.
6. What was your favorite subject in school and why?
Math, because I loved the processes and the fact that they did not change.
7. What kind of music do you listen to?
I recently discovered a passion for jazz.
8. You can only eat the same three foods for the rest of your life. What are they?
Steak cooked by my husband, fresh peas, and sweet corn on the cob.
9. What trend would you like to see go away forever?
Unrealistic images for marketing purposes.
10. Tell us about your most unique travel experience.
In February 2015, I got to travel to Cape Canaveral, Florida to support the launch of NOAA’s first Deep Space Satellite DSCOVR. While I was there, my now-husband proposed on the beach. We then finished the trip with scuba diving in the Florida Keys.
11. What’s your #1 item on your bucket list?
Skydiving.
12. What’s on or in your nightstand?
A note pad and pen for those late-night ideas.
13. What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Dishonesty.
14. Tell us your favorite joke.
A skeleton walks into a bar and asks for a beer and a mop. (Even writing this, I am laughing!)
15. Who’s the most famous person you’ve met?
Al Gore. I got to meet him at the DSCOVR launch.
16. Who would play you in a movie about your life? What would be the title of that movie?
Amy Schumer, and it would be called “You’re not going to believe this.”
17. What’s an ability you wish you had?
I wish I could play the drums, especially the djembe.
18. Tell us about your best live performance experience.
There is this local band out of Dallas, Texas that was performing for a crowd of about 200 at an outdoor venue in Houston. Although I had been teaching hooping (how to hoop and dance with a very large hula hoop) for a while, it was my first opportunity to perform in public. I was able to completely lose myself in the music and just hoop for about three hours straight. It was as if I was in a trance-like state. It was very surreal and one of the most enjoyable moments of my life.
19. If you could choose one amenity to add to the workplace, what would it be?
An outdoor working space.
