Get to Know Regina Neal-Mujahid, Director of Johnson’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity

After growing up surrounded by civil servants – both in her family and her hometown of Washington, D.C. – Regina Neal-Mujahid was determined to pursue a different path and build a career in the private sector. She worked for several companies after graduating from college but found limited opportunities for advancement. While considering next steps, her experience and connections made during a summer job at the U.S. Department of Energy proved influential.

“I liked it, and I developed a wonderful relationship with a woman who became my mentor and is still my mentor today,” Neal-Mujahid said. “She convinced me to come to the federal government.”

More than 30 years of federal service later, Neal-Mujahid found herself on a tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, three days into her tenure as director of the center’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. The tour included a visit to the Mission Control Center, where her picture and a welcome message were displayed across the room’s large screen. “I was almost in tears,” she said. “I never want to forget that moment.” She was also in awe of the female flight director, Rebecca Wingfield, who was on the floor that day and felt inspired by their one-on-one conversation.

Neal-Mujahid was on the cusp of retirement before she joined Johnson’s leadership team in June 2023. She and her husband planned to enjoy retirement together, but after he passed away in 2022, Neal-Mujahid decided she was not ready to leave the workforce. At the time, she led the U.S. Geological Survey’s Office of Diversity and Equal Employment, advising the executive leadership team on all aspects of equal employment opportunity (EEO), diversity management, civil rights, and related employment issues affecting the bureau’s diverse workforce.

“I had given them all I had. I came in and built their program up, I took that office from 10 to 26 employees,” she said. “I thought, it’s time for me to do something different.”

Neal-Mujahid said she had been following NASA’s DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) efforts and knew the agency was repeatedly recognized as the best place to work in the federal government. “I’m a true public servant and I care about what I’m doing,” she said. “That’s what brought me here.” She joked that when her interviewers asked why she wanted to work for NASA, she answered that she wanted her career “to go out with a bang,” and immediately regretted it. “I thought, I’m not getting that job now!”

Neal-Mujahid has more than 27 years of EEO and DEIA experience that includes roles such as EEO specialist with the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command and assistant director and EEO manager for the Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center within the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Civil Rights and Diversity. Her introduction to the DEIA discipline occurred while working in the DOE’s Office of the Secretary. Former secretary Bill Richardson invited her to a high-level meeting with representatives of the agency’s affinity groups – equivalent to today’s employee resource groups (ERGs). “I listened to all the affinity groups engage with him, and he’s asking them what they need, and I just became so engrossed,” she said.

From that point, Richardson and the agency’s new civil rights director, Poli Marmolejos (currently the director and chief administrative judge for DOE’s Office of Hearings and Appeals), set out to convince Neal-Mujahid to transition to the EEO office. She declined at first, but soon realized that she was already supporting EEO in an informal capacity, because colleagues knew she was familiar with workforce- and employment-related policies and would approach her with questions and to seek advice. “They saw in me what I didn’t see in myself,” she said. Once she joined the EEO team, “it just became a huge passion of mine and I realized I was right in my element.”

Neal-Mujahid has several key goals for her time at Johnson, including mitigating EEO risks, cultivating DEIA principles to connect employees to the organization, and fostering collaboration, flexibility, and fairness across the workforce. She also hopes to empower all Johnson employees to participate and contribute to their full extent. “I tell leadership that if your employee is spending 20% of their time thinking about how you feel about them and whether they are in a safe environment, that means they’re only giving you 80%. I want each and every employee to come to work utilizing 100% of their gifts and talents,” she said. “That’s how we achieve the mission.”

Neal-Mujahid emphasized the important role ERGs can play in achieving those goals. “I have always considered our ERGs as the arms and legs of ODEO,” she said. “They’re out in the program offices, they’re able to disseminate information, they support everything that we do.” She believes that sharing information with colleagues, or connecting them with someone who can help, is one of the most powerful ways to support diversity and inclusion.

Outside of the office, Neal-Mujahid is an active volunteer and is particularly engaged with causes impacting women. She has spent years supporting nonprofits that address domestic violence against women and recently became involved with an organization that helps victims of human trafficking. “To hear a victim’s story is overwhelming, but it’s also empowering to get out there and help them,” she said.