Aviation is in my blood. My dad has been a pilot my whole life, even before I came around. When I was one he joined the US Army and was an Apache pilot, the fun didn't stop there. As a kid we traveled the world, moved a few times, and then settled in El Paso, TX where we all still reside. Through that journey, my dad has had a beautiful career in aviation that continues. From the time of being a kid and getting to visit my dad at the Army hangars, to being a working adult and working side by side with him at an FBO where he was a charter pilot, I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps. My dad graduated from Embry-Riddle some years back and this year after putting my career on hold to have my daughter I decided I did not want to wait any longer before truly chasing my dreams. I applied to my dream school and got accepted. Telling my dad that here in the next few years I was going to be able to hang my Embry-Riddle degree next to his Embry- Riddle degree was already a major part of the dream coming true. Followed the closing by giving my daughter something to be proud of and look up to. I had a boss once while working in a FBO in Santa Teresa, NM tells me " there aren't that many jobs for women in aviation so you should probably think of a different career path". Nothing with light a fire in me quite like being told that I won't be able to succeed at something simply because I am a woman. Coming from a man with a Navy career and 20+ of aviation experience under his belt it was a little bit of a hard pill to swallow. In the end, all it made me do was want to prove him wrong. So here I am, one step closer. I work for a company now that owns a few FBOs locally and working on a few in other locations, they have granted me a wonderful opportunity to grow with the company. My hope is that some day down the road with the right education and a little bit of mentorship they will entrust me with the privilege of getting to run an FBO myself. All these things added up and give me a whole lot to be proud of and still a whole lot to work towards. With a dad I want to make proud, a daughter I want to give something she can be proud of, and an old boss to prove wrong, I have a lot of work ahead of me but I am ready to show them all that women and aviation are a perfect match.

Aviation is in my blood. My dad has been a pilot my whole life, even before I came around. When I was one he joined the US Army and was an Apache pilot, the fun didn't stop there. As a kid we traveled the world, moved a few times, and then settled in El Paso, TX where we all still reside. Through that journey my dad has had a beautiful career in aviation that still continues. From the time of being a kid and getting to visit my dad at the Army hangars, to being a working adult and working side by side him at an FBO where he was a charter pilot, I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps. My dad graduated from Embry-Riddle some years back and this year after putting my career on hold to have my daughter I decided I did not want to wait any longer before truly chasing my dreams. I applied to my dream school and got accepted. Telling my dad that here in the next few years I was going to be able to hang my Embry-Riddle degree next to his Embry- Riddle degree was already a major part of the dream coming true. Followed closing by giving my own daughter something to be proud of and look up to. I had a boss once while working in a FBO in Santa Teresa, NM tell me " there aren't that many jobs for women in aviation so you should probably think of a different career path". Nothing with light a fire in me quite like being told that I won't be able to succeed at something simply because I am a woman. Coming from a man with a Navy career and 20+ of aviation experience under his belt it was a little bit of a hard pill to swallow. In the end all it really made me do was want to prove him wrong. So here I am, one step closer. I work for company now that owns a few FBO's locally and working on a few in other locations, they have granted me a wonderful opportunity to grow with the company. With my own hopes being that some day down the road with the right education and a little bit of mentorship they will entrust me with the privilege of getting to run a FBO myself. All these things added up give me a whole lot to be proud of and still a whole lot to work towards. With a dad I want to make proud, a daughter I want to give something she can be proud of, and an old boss to prove wrong, I have a lot of work ahead of me but I am ready to show them all that women and aviation are a perfect match.