“Well the experts don’t really know…” This was the puzzling response my Design & Technology secondary school teacher gave my inquisitive 14-year-old self when I asked, “how do aircraft fly?” It was at this point I developed a hunger for aircraft – these incredible engineered birds that bring the world closer. I had to understand the physics behind them. Check. I had to understand the history of human flight and how we got to their current-day design. Check. I had to understand the metrics and impact they have on society. Che-, wait… My tenacity to learn led me to research how aircraft are one of the biggest contributors to climate change, generating 1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year. However, at this time 10 years ago, I couldn’t find any solutions addressing it. So, at 15, I realized my opportunity to make an impact in this world lay in this space, trailblazing a future of sustainable aircraft. Over the next year, I proceeded to write a 70-page business plan for an airline with a fleet of sustainably powered aircraft, and nurtured that plan over the years with further learnings from talking to attorneys, aerospace professionals, university professors and potential business partners. At university, I attained my Master’s in Aerospace Engineering to develop the foundation I needed for my long-term vision. After graduating in December 2020, I spent the last 3 years working as an Aerospace Engineer in a startup developing hybrid-electric aircraft to specifically develop the understanding of the steps, the highs, and the lows of entrepreneurship in the sustainable aviation industry. These three years have been extremely impactful for my engineering aptitude to design such clean aircraft, and I believe I am at the point where I should couple my developing expertise in electric aviation with world-class academic training to mature my business plan into a realistic map to scale my future startup into a world-leading airline that will radically change the industry. As such I have recently been accepted into an Executive Leadership MBA at California Institute of Advanced Management. I seek to leverage my degrees in aerospace engineering and executive leadership to tackle one of the major challenges for the advancement of our electrified future - acheiving electrified aircraft certification through top-down policy. Many airlines would love to champion sustainable aircraft and tell their board of directors how they use these aircraft to meet their Corportate Social Responsibility (CSR) key performance indicators (KPIs) but, like all businesses, their bottom line is king! Novel technologies are exciting but oftentimes are initially not profitable at economies of scale. In the case of aviation, the 2015 Paris Climate Accord set the stage for hundreds of national net-zero declarations to be made. This led U.S. policy to require the advancement of a technology solution mix that will meet its 2050 net-zero target. That has led NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Energy and others to contract companies to develop different aircraft innovations. Aviation is the hardest industry to decarbonize, and since batteries are heavy, the industry is beginning with decarbonizing regional flights, including to small communities. Since there is also a great business case at this scale, regional airlines are quickly catching on and pre-ordering electrified aircraft to replace or retrofit their existing fleet. Thanks to policies, this transition will rapidly begin this decade for regional aviation, and if anything, it needs to be even more aggressive to further accelerate innovation and adoption. I hope to use my business degree to speak to the business case for the wider industry to adopt the technology faster!