Empowering Women to Earn Their Wings

I cannot remember a time when I didn’t want to fly. There was magic in heavy metal climbing through air.  But as a little Black girl, it was hard to see myself in a career where I’d never seen anyone who looked like me. Pursuing a career as a journalist, then a human resources executive for some of the world’s most iconic brands, I traveled extensively for work, logging tens of thousands of miles in a  window seat. My passion to be up front never subsided. I decided to pursue what I could no longer deny.

In June 2001, I earned my Certified Flight Instructor. September 11th was three months away and there was no better time, my husband and I had two children. For the next 14 years, I would instruct and write a historical fiction about pioneer aviatrix Bessie Coleman. More than a century after Coleman shattered the sky, Black women make up less than one percent of our working pilot population. The Jet Black Foundation was born to produce 100 Pairs of Wings by the year 2035. 

With Gratitude,