Starve the Ego Feed the Soul
Starve the Ego Feed the Soul
Breaking Barriers: Inspiring Stories of Latino and Latina Aviators (Latino Pilots Association)
What if the sky truly is the limit? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Claudia, the president of the Latino Pilots Association (LPA), and Manny, the director of finance, as we explore what it means to break into the aviation industry, particularly for people of color and women. With heartfelt stories of personal and family journeys, they unravel the unique challenges faced by Latinos and Latinas in aviation and share how the LPA is paving the way for a more inclusive future. Whether you're dreaming of a career in aviation or simply curious about what it takes to soar, this episode promises insights and encouragement to chase those dreams.
In a tapestry of personal narratives, we hear about the life-altering decisions that led individuals to the aviation field, from parents escaping war and hardship to children finding their wings. The stories of resilience and cultural identity paint a vivid picture of the struggles and triumphs of immigrant families, highlighting the power of perseverance and the unexpected paths life can chart. These tales serve as a testament to the belief that it’s never too late to follow one’s passion, even when faced with career transitions later in life.
As our conversation continues, we spotlight the vibrant community fostered by the LPA and other organizations championing diversity in aviation. We celebrate the spirit of empowerment through mentorship, scholarships, and shared experiences, underscoring the importance of representation. From the exciting prospects for older career changers to the dream aircraft choices of our guests, this episode showcases the personal aspirations and collective mission to inspire the next generation of aviators. So tune in, and let your curiosity take flight as we explore the skies and the stories of those who navigate them.
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Warmly,
Nico Barraza
@FeedTheSoulNB
www.nicobarraza.com
This show is brought to you by Sonora Studios. A lot of people ask me where the design for my logo and the typography came from, and Merity at Sonora Studios is responsible for all of it. Sonora Studios is branding, design, marketing and social media. Based in San Diego, california, and founded by Merity Dambacher, sonora Studios is a branding, design and marketing firm that helps entrepreneurs and businesses showcase their talents by building and elevating their brands. With an unmatched range of creative capabilities and nearly 20 years of experience, sonora has successfully created brands, captivated audiences and communicated messages to align with brands, initiatives and goals. Sonora goes above and beyond to deliver innovative strategies and solutions to make brands truly unique, compelling and beautiful. Head over to sonorastudiosco that's C-O sonorastudiosco to learn more If you need help with your branding, social media, design, marketing all of that. They do a ton of amazing work Web design, graphic design, marketing, social media and strategy, public relations, communications, branding and marketing strategy, event branding and management and planning. So go check them over at sonorastudiosco. Hey y'all, welcome back to Start the Ego Feed the Soul. I have a couple of special guests today.
Speaker 1:As many of you know, I've been training to be a pilot for a while now and have always been in love with aviation. In fact, the reason I got my first shoulder surgery after retiring from being a pro athlete was to actually accept a flight school seat through the Army National Guard based here in Arizona, to go to flight school. I was going to learn how to fly helicopters and serve in that way, and also had plans on getting on my fixed wing certs too, so I could fly for the airlines or fly for freight or something like that. Always loved aviation, always wanted to be a pilot, but at a young age never really had the support via my family. They didn't really know much about aviation, they didn't know what opportunities were out there and they certainly didn't know how to support me in my quest to wanting to be a pilot or really knew about it. It was mostly they supported me through sports, supported me through school, but there's so much lack of information and sort of a glass ceiling for many people, particularly people of color and women, to get into aviation and actually become pilots. And so my current quest to get through my certs and I'm currently working on my PPL right now.
Speaker 1:I found out about the Latino Pilots Association, which it was founded in 2015. And it's a 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to its mission to inspire, mentor and develop the Latin aerospace and aviation communities, further eliminating socioeconomic barriers through representation, financial support, education and mentorship. And this organization has been incredible. I've met so many awesome human beings that have just been a wealth of knowledge, support and encouragement for me to continue on this journey and to make this into a reality. People that look like me, people that grew up in backgrounds like me, and it's just very inspiring. It's a humbling thing to be able to be involved and be a member of an organization like this.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to have people on the show from LPA to actually talk about what they do and to talk about the sort of glass ceiling in aviation and how it's being attacked and how it's being broken down and how aviation is becoming more diverse in not just not through pilots, but through many different ways, through mechanics, through flight attendants, and there's just a host of information out there. But particularly LPA, just a beautiful organization that's doing a lot of great things in the community and around the world honestly doing a lot of great things in the community and around the world, honestly. So this week I have the president of LPA, claudia, coming on the show, as well as Manny, who is the director of finance, and we have a great conversation and they talk about their backgrounds and how they got in aviation and some of the trials and tribulations that they went through being Latino and Latina, and what they face going into aviation the financial burdens, some of the racial burdens, and then why they're so passionate about giving back and creating LPA and strengthening LPA and also partnering with other organizations that represent other minority groups out there too, and how you can get involved. And maybe there's so many people that they've always wanted to fly. It doesn't have to be commercially, it doesn't have to be professionally, but even just getting your private pilot's license like how can you fundraise money for that? How can you afford something like that? Right, a lot of this stuff is incredibly expensive and we get into that part of it too. It's just, even if you're not interested in aviation, it's a really heartfelt conversation around an industry that doesn't get a lot of limelight from people of color and from women, but that's changing and I think it's a beautiful thing about aviation now is that there's a lot of companies, there's a lot of airlines, there's a lot of organizations, such as this one, that are really working to diversify it and provide resources to outstretch a helping hand and help someone else get the training, believe in themselves and follow their dreams. So a huge thank you to Claudia and Manny for coming on the show.
Speaker 1:If you want to donate and you want to get involved with LPA, head over to latinopilotorg. They're also on social media. I'll throw a link to all their social media stuff in the show notes. So go give them a follow, give them a shout out and spread the word. It's a great organization doing great things. They also have WhatsApp groups. If you join LPA which I highly recommend if you're in aviation or if you want to be a pilot, or if you have a kid or a family member that wants to be a pilot, have them join. It's like I think it's 25 bucks or something for a year for a student, like 50 bucks or 49 bucks for everyone else for the whole year. So your proceeds are going to support an incredible initiative. But join and then you get to access all these awesome WhatsApp groups with all these different pilots, from military backgrounds to just corporate backgrounds, to flying for commercial airlines, and the whole host of students, flight training and all different stages of flight training. So you get a lot of access to people that are really open to helping you, to advising you, to giving you their input, their personal experience, which is really quite invaluable in the aviation and particularly pilot training industries. So go check them out and, yeah, thank you all so much for being here.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoy the show and don't forget to leave the show. A five-star written review on Apple and Spotify podcasts. It helps us grow a ton. It's a free way you can give back and get involved and then if you want to work with me one-on-one I work with individuals and couples all ages, all over the world Just head over to wwwnicoberazacom. Let's get to the show. Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. I have two wonderful guests today that I'm very excited to talk to. I've actually never talked to two people at the same time on the show that aren't in person, so this is like a first for Startup Diego.
Speaker 1:Feed the Soul, which is going to be a fun sort of group discussion. I have Claudia Zapata Cardon, who is the president of the Latino Pilots Association, and then Manuel Munoz, who is the director of finance, or financial director for LPA. So first of all, thank you both for joining me.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for having us. It's really exciting to be on the podcast with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. It's my first time on a podcast. This is kind of cool, so let's see how it goes. Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean, they've obviously grown in popularity since COVID and I feel very blessed that this one's grown, you know, quite, quite big and quite large. I've had a platform to sort of share things that I'm passionate about and have deep conversations, and, you know, a lot of people online have kind of followed my aviation journey in the past three months and that's how I got connected with LPAs. I I met a gal who was a part of a group I think I did on Facebook, who was part of LPA, based out of Phoenix and was at the or is at the United Aviate Academy, and, uh, I was kind of posting in different groups like hey, you know, does anyone know some scholarships or or just like ways to fly more cheaply, because you know, we're going to get into this, but how, how there's sort of this glass ceiling to actually become a pilot or to get into aviation, particularly when you're from an underrepresented group or if you're a female. And she was like you got to, you know, connect with Latino Pilots Association and so I, you know, looked you guys up on the internet and started doing some research and just found this sort of wealth of just support in this huge community, and then I was, you know, joined, became a member and then was linked up into this WhatsApp group with all these other, you know, latino pilots from around the country and just had some, you know, incredible conversations and some really good advice too, from from different folks too.
Speaker 1:So, uh, yeah, I mean, obviously we're gonna get into what you guys do, but, you know, just want to say thank you for for everything you guys are doing, and I know it's uh, you know it's you guys are putting your own time and effort and your own money and, you know, obviously you're flying still as well too. And let's sort of start off the conversation this way Maybe you can tell us and we'll start with Claudia, claudia, maybe you can tell us a little bit about your journey to become an aviator and some of the hurdles you face and your background, and then we'll have Manny's no-transcript.
Speaker 3:When his time came he was actually fortunate that, for whatever reason, when they landed in Tokyo, when they landed in Japan, they decided that they needed people to go to the demilitarized zone in Korea, and so he was spared the horrors of Vietnam. But I mean, he never, ever, let that guilt go of not being there to support his brothers in arms. And so that's kind of where my story starts. And then my mom immigrated to the United States in 1970. She'd left a bad marriage, a very abusive marriage, and she had to leave my brother and sister behind and my parents met in Queens, new York, on New Year's Eve of 1970. And they were pretty much inseparable ever since. And then I was born in 1974. Eventually my mother was able to bring my brother and sister to the United States in like 1975, 1976. So we were kind of united in the family there.
Speaker 3:My dad learned to do a lot of logistical work, logistics for the army and that translated for him getting a job at the Singer Corporation, the sewing machine company in New York City. And a couple of times when I was little he took me because he had to there was probably a snow day or something weird where, you know, I had to go to work with him and you know, ride the bus, ride the subway into New York City and that was just great. Those are great memories I have. And unfortunately, in the early 1980s recession hit and my dad was permanently laid off from his job. So he started working a couple of jobs as a van driver. One for the Howard Johnson's is the one I really clearly remembered was the Howard Johnson's one, and a couple other you know motel type places. My mother is a machinist, was a machinist, she was a tool and die maker and I mean this is way before computers and robots and all that stuff made those really tiny, tiny little pieces. This is when you really what she was was an engineer without the degree and so that you know that becomes a big hurdle later in life for people where they can't afford to go to college and get those engineering degrees. So my mother and father were lucky in that sense that it was in the 1970s and someone her boss was willing to give her a shot, saw potential in her, saw that she was extremely intelligent and took her under his wing and basically made her an engineer.
Speaker 3:So you know, going back, my dad used to drive the airport shuttle to and from Newark Airport back to the Howard Johnsons and there was a gentleman that was there every few months and he was part of a company called Certified Freight Services that did logistics for a lot of the smaller airlines, like New York Air, people Express, like all these long gone airlines that you don't hear about anymore. And they just got to talking and he was like, oh, what did you do? And he was like, oh, you know, I did import export logistics for the Singer Corporation. You know I was, you know I did it for the Americas and I think I you know, don't quote me, but I think also Asia. And the gentleman was really impressed and said, oh, so you know all about logistics and all this stuff. And he's like, oh yeah, I said, well, my company I'm working for is looking for a part-time logistics person. And so my dad started working for this company called Certified Freight Services that eventually got purchased by People's Express, which eventually got purchased by Continental Airlines. So that's how, um, sorry, so that's how they.
Speaker 3:That's how my dad got into the airline industry and my dad was, you know, typical Colombiano. He missed his Colombian food. My father never. Until the end of his life. He never stopped loving Colombia. He never stopped missing his culture, his food. So my mom would make dinner for him every night when she came home and we would drive to the airport. And I'm sorry I lost my dad in 22 and I still miss him terribly, but we would take him dinner every night and I would sit in the back watching the airplanes take off and land. And you got to remember this was like early eighties and all that separated us from that runway was a chain link fence and you could. I can remember sitting there and just feeling when those engines and of course this is back when you know the engines were really loud and you could feel the entire car rumbling. You couldn't hold a conversation because you know they were just so loud, but it made such an impact on me. But I didn't know I could be a pilot. I had no idea about the airline industry other than that my dad worked for it and you know he worked in the cargo department for it and so that's really kind of where it was limited for me.
Speaker 3:And I remember going home and my dad still worked part time for Howard Johnson's. He did it for a couple of years so that he could buy me an encyclopedia set and, like I'm at now, I'm really dating myself. My encyclopedia set was like 1984. I'm nine years old and you know, encyclopedias back then were a thousand dollars and that is nothing to sneeze at. Even nowadays, a thousand dollars is still a lot. But even back then it was like it was so much money and my dad had saved up all his tips to put a down payment and then paid off monthly so that I would have, you know, easy access to educational information at home instead of having to go to the library and, you know, check out an encyclopedia set. Not that he was opposed to me going, he loved that. I was one of those kids that loved going to the library and getting books. It was just one of those easier things for me to do at home.
Speaker 3:And you know, when I looked at those you know encyclopedia sets, you know I went back as an adult and looked at stuff and I thought you know encyclopedia sets. You know I I went back as an adult and looked at stuff and I and I thought, you know God, I don't remember seeing this when I was a kid, cause I've had people tell me like, oh, if you really wanted it, you would have looked in the encyclopedia If you wanted to be a pilot. And I I was, like, you know, let me look. And it was really interesting because Charles Lindbergh had like two and a half pages dedicated to him. And then Amelia Earhart had like eight sentences. She had like a small paragraph and it just goes to show the gender disparity. Even then, you know that it's just not something I thought I could do. And also, you know, amelia Earhart obviously is, you know, this wonderful, fantastic aviatrix, you know, but she was of an era of a bygone era. She was a very, you know, but she was of an era of a bygone era. She was a very, you know, she was a white woman.
Speaker 3:And you didn't find anything about pilots of color in my encyclopedia set. I went to look at Bessie Coleman she's not even in there. I went to look up the Red Tails, the Tuskegee Airmen, very, very tiny blurb in my encyclopedia set, you know, maybe three sentences that they fought in World War II alongside, you know. So I didn't know this was a possibility. And then when I was in ninth grade, ninth or 10th grade, I kind of said to my, I said to my guidance counselor, I think it'd be really cool if I could be a pilot. And she started laughing at me and you got to remember this is 88, 89. You know, it was just a different era and you can't see it because I'm sitting down. But Manny knows I'm like five feet tall.
Speaker 3:I'm really short and I don't have 2020 vision. I've been wearing glasses since I was in fifth grade.
Speaker 3:I probably needed them before fifth grade, to be honest with you. But so I can see why there was laughter there at the audacity of thinking. You know, and I'm sure she thought that you can only be a pilot if you were in the military. And then, to hide my embarrassment, I said, oh I, you know, I really meant a flight attendant. And she started laughing even harder. And what I didn't realize at that time was the requirements to be a flight attendant were so stringent. You had to be between five'4 and 5'11. You couldn't weigh more than 110 or 120 pounds. Based on your height and weight, I mean, it was really difficult to be a flight attendant. So I'm five feet tall, you know. I mean, and trying to see it in their eyes, it was ludicrous for me to want to be part of this industry in the way that I that I wanted.
Speaker 3:Well then, in 19, mid nineties, uh, I was in college. I was studying to be a physical therapist. I hated all my classes, I was not doing well in my classes and, uh, I told my parents that I needed to take some time off from college and they were not going to suffer a fool who didn't know what she wanted to do with their life and they're like, well, you need to get a job and go out and, pretty much you know, make a living for yourself if you're not going to go to school. And I got a job as a reservations agent for AirTran Airways and within six months I ended up going into the crew scheduling department because I was like, well, this is pretty cool, I get to talk to pilots and flight attendants, even though I'll never be one.
Speaker 3:And that's when, like transformative, life-changing event happened A couple of pilots that had been military got a Cessna 172 and you know, they were all.
Speaker 3:They all kind of pitched in and they took me up on my first intro flight and suddenly the world made sense to me and I knew my place in the world, that I still didn't know how to get all these certificates and ratings and a lot of the times people would tell me like, yeah, you can get them, but you know, the most you can hope for is fly a puddle jumper between Florida and at the time I lived in Orlando. We had moved to Orlando in the early nineties. The most you can hope for is flying a puddle jumper from Florida to the Caribbean and I just thought that would. If that's the only thing I'd be able to do for the rest of my life. I think that'd be pretty cool. So I continued working and, as luck would, kind of fate just kind of intervened, I found out that all the flight attendant requirements had been dropped, so they no longer required you to be five four to five 11, dah, dah, dah dah.
Speaker 3:And Delta airlines at the time was hosting an open call at in Orlando and I just got plucky and went to like the I'll never forget the story. It was called petite sophisticate because they they very much catered to women, that were five, three and under. And I got a nice little business suit and I went and I just thought you know what do I have to lose? And I'm in there with like 200 people, 300 people, and I'm thinking to myself there's no way I'm ever going to get this job. And at the end of the evening I got pulled to the side and was interviewed one-on-one with someone and they said, hey, we want to put you with our head recruiter. And I was like, oh okay, still not getting it. And then, sure enough, I go and sit down. And it was like the actual interview for the flight attendant position. So this all happened in a span of five hours and the next thing I know I walk out as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines hours. And the next thing I know I walk out as a flight attendant for Delta Airlines and I started training a few weeks later and even though you know now I was in this new role and I was traveling the world. It was so great I still had that pull to the flight deck.
Speaker 3:But every pilot I met, they were military, they only knew the military, they didn't know anything. You know, they're like oh, I think you can do this in the civilian world. And again, this is before senior Google was ever invented, where you can Google stuff. Now, before chat, gpt, that gives you almost accurate information on the steps you need to take pilot. And she was military and she was just so positive. It was like I know there's a way for you to do this. You know, I know there's a civilian route, just need to find some civilian female pilots. And, as luck would have it, end of 99, 2000, I flew with about three different female pilots that were civilian and they were great. They sat me down and said this is what you need to do from A to Z. And I was like I'm going to do this. And I remember going to my parents and saying, hey, I'm saving up money, this is what I'm doing. And they were like ay, mija, and you have a really good job, what are you doing? This is craziness talking. And I'm like no, I'm going to do this. And, luckily for me, my dad and my mom came around later. My For me, my dad and my mom came around later. My dad was like you know what? She didn't want to be a physical therapist. We didn't listen to her. She didn't want to do this, but she's so passionate about this there's no way we can't support her. And so I saved up money.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, basically in March of 2001, started my journey, and of course we know what happened in March or, I'm sorry, september, of that year, and the flight school I went to went out of business and took all my money and this is money I had saved and money that my parents gave me by taking out a second mortgage on their home and I was completely devastated and I basically was like I don't know how I'm ever going to make it. I think I have to give up on my dream. And my parents were like no, no, mija, don't worry about it. When, when you can you pay us back? But you got to figure out a way to make, get some money to do this. And that's what I did. I worked, you know, a hundred, 150 hours a month, but doesn't sound a lot to the general public, but if you're in the airline industry and you tell someone, yeah, I'm flying 100, 150 hours a month. They're like whoa, that's basically six days a week with maybe one day off. I did that saved money and then with my tax return check, I would go back and get a rating. So it really took me a long time to get all my ratings.
Speaker 3:It took me until 2006 because there was a year there that I just gave up. I was like I can't do this. This is insanity. I'm never going to make it. I couldn't see myself in the flight deck anymore, but every time I gave up that dream I would grieve like I had lost a dog. I would just grieve like I lost a part of myself and I would always go back to it. So I left Delta in 08 and flight instructed full time flew Kingers, navajos, whatever I could get my hands on. 2010, I got on with ASA, atlantic Southeast Airlines. It was a regional carrier at the time, out of Atlanta, and then in 2015, best Airline in Aviation History hired me United Airlines. So here I am now, going into my 10th year. I'm a captain on the Airbus. I'm also a line check pilot on the Airbus. So that's a long winded story of how I got into aviation.
Speaker 1:Amazing. I mean people like you. You, you did all the young part, but people don't even understand how to like, get your type ratings and all these things that go into it. You know all these other ways to train that are still like such a long story, even after you get you know your your regular certs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's incredible and life happens too, you know what I mean, life happens along the way and that's what makes it really tough for a lot of us. But what people don't realize is is that, like everybody's got their own story, you know, and everybody faces adversity at some point of flight training. You just got to keep pushing through and you know, even Claudia said I thought about quitting. You know, I felt the same way too. It's like when do I stop?
Speaker 3:You know what I?
Speaker 2:mean, but it's worth it. At the end of the day, it's totally worth it.
Speaker 1:You just got to seek it through Yep, that's awesome I need to you guys need to rub off on me in here Cause I I want to get into Manny's story but like you know, I was working on my PPL and was going to go through the military and then my shoulder surgeries happened after I was a parathlete and it just kind of crushed my timeline, even though I had a flight seat, and I was going to fly through them, and that was really the only way I could do it, because paying out of pocket was just not going to happen.
Speaker 1:Loans are insane, so I'm almost done with my PPL and then just like ran out of money, you know, and I was doing part 61, and it's so expensive, and now I'm looking for ways to fund it and ways to keep doing it, or, you know, to either go to a flight school and work there, so they pay for it, and then I used to what I'm getting paid, or I get like a corporate job again, then pay out of pocket. Maybe we can even get into that, because there's so many people that are trying to juggle, like what's the best way to do this without coming out with like a ton of debt, you know, and because obviously it's different than student loans In undergrad, it's usually private loans or second mortgages with your family, you know stuff like that that can put you in a bind. So before we get into that, though, manny, why don't you tell us a little bit about your personal story with aviation, how you got into it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I grew up in Caracas, venezuela, in 1989. So I like to call myself a 90s baby, but I'm not. My wife reminds me of that every day. But yeah, so I grew up in Caracas and I moved to the United States, specifically a town called Peachtree City, georgia, in 98. My mom in Caracas, venezuela, used to work for an airline called Avensa. Avensa was actually the Venezuelan airline. They're not the historic one, they're gone now but in 96, she got hired on by Delta Airlines. They actually brought in a reservations department down to Venezuela because they were trying to go down to America. I guess I'm not really too sure.
Speaker 3:That sounds about right. I was at Delta during that time, so yeah, that sounds right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah. So they were trying to go down there and I remember them flying 757s because I remember seeing their planes at Puerto Maquitia, puerto micah tia but in 98 um, an opportunity was presented to my mom to move to atlanta, to georgia.
Speaker 2:Um, so, obviously, you know, did that happen? I went with my mom to peace street city, georgia. Um, I remember that day vividly because we actually flew to rochester that same day and then from rochester we went on to atlanta, can't remember why, but, um, I started school, you know, in a town where there was just it was just me and and a bunch of other kids that I had no idea what was going on. But I grew up a lot of these kids, my friends, were actually their pilot, their friend. Uh, dads were pilots. So I kind of started seeing a little bit of the at the beginning, early stages of my life, how the lifestyle was. You know what they did for, for work, um, how many days off they were at home.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what I saw all the times. Like man that's always home. What does he do? You know what I mean and my mom, also worked at delta, you know.
Speaker 2:In in atlanta, so I got exposed to that life early on, um, and I was very fortunate to be able to travel and be inside of airplanes and always look inside the cockpit of what it was like. You know what I mean, and that gave me the dream and the idea or gave me the idea to become a pilot, right, because that's what I wanted. I said this sounds like an awesome job, this is what I want to do and it will make my family proud. You know, I think it's just something that made me feel proud to be able to tell my mom, hey, this is what I'm doing. I think she feels proud of me.
Speaker 2:So, you know, throughout high school, I was just exposed to that life and in college I was like, okay, what do I do now? Do I go to a full-time school and then go part 61 at a flight school? Do I try to join the military military? You know, like that was another avenue because all my friends parents were military, like all delta folks back in the day were basically military personnel. You know what I mean. So the route was basically just military or part 61, or you go down to embry riddle, um, and in 2007 I believe that costs like maybe $80,000 to go to Embry-Riddle and a private pilot all the way through costs $41,000. That's part 61.
Speaker 1:Just a lot of money. You know what I mean, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I have to worry about, okay, going to school full time, because the airlines require a degree, right. So I was like, okay, well, I got to go to school and then I got to pay for this. How do I do both? I took out loans. I mean, that's literally what I did. I took out loans to pay for school and to pay for flight school, and then, throughout the way, I've had some help with family, with my mom. She, you know, she took out a loan on a 401k to help me pay for the rest of my PPL. And then I have like a father figure to me. His name's Chris Mazio. He helped me out, paid through my commercials a little bit, and then after that, everything in between that was on my own. So, you know, I took out loans, went to college Georgia State University I got a finance and economics degree.
Speaker 2:The plan was to basically keep flying after I graduated college and then my son was born, which I love my son, by the way, uh. But you know it's. It's like, okay, you're, you're, I'm 23 years old, I'm about to have a child, you know what I mean. And then I'm trying to manage my finances. What do I do? So I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna put the flying dream behind and I'm going to work in finance because I know I can make money there. So I did that for a little bit and at the same time I kept flying. You know, throughout those maybe six, seven years it was about seven years that I just like flew on the side every now and then, you know, finished my instrument, finished my commercial paid for it along the way. It was not cheap, it was like $42,525 and some change total which is a lot of money for me back then.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to raise my son at the same time and going to school and working full-time nine to five. I was driving 45 minutes minutes to blackhead, which is a city north of atlanta, um, and then seven years later I said you know what I'm done, I can't do this anymore. Um, I want to fly. Like I can't sit at a desk anymore. You know, I was telling clark this yesterday. I was like I hate sitting in it. I'm a kitchen table where I'm at right now for more than five hours. It's like I don't know how people who work from home you know. So that's like that's. I've always wanted to fly, one of the lifestyle. And I said I'm done, I want to do this, I'm quitting cold turkey, just like that.
Speaker 2:Um, I met my wife literally when that was happening and my wife got to see so I gotta plug my computer in real quick. My wife got to see sorry, I gotta plug my computer in real quick. My wife got to see you know, like the money that I was making then in finance, right, uh, so little did she know that she was about to be for a rude awakening for the next five years of her life, or six years, uh, but anywho see. So I quit no plan no, nothing and I just went for it.
Speaker 2:Yep um, I somehow got a part, I got a. I got one of my friends who was friends with somebody went to harvard and he had a private equity firm that he was starting so he needed somebody to work remote.
Speaker 2:So I was like, okay, let me do this. I jumped on the opportunity and I worked remote for him and then I literally woke up at three in the morning. I worked till like five, went to flight school for two hours and came back to work and then I, you know, worked again for a couple hours, picked up my son right after that, and after I picked up my son, went to study and then did everything for my son. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:So I was up at three in the morning every day trying to basically finish my flight training and worked for this guy to try to make it work. Literally, this guy knew that I was actually flying throughout the day.
Speaker 1:But I got my work done.
Speaker 2:I think he caught on a little bit later on, sorry, alex, but anywho, I finished my CFI and then after that I was like, okay, game over, I can start making money now. At the same time, I think the guy kind of found out what was going on, so we parted ways and then it just worked out that they were hiring for CFIs and I was like all right, let me jump on the gun, let me apply for this flight school down in Peachtree City. I forgot to tell you where it was. It was called Falcon Aviation.
Speaker 3:They're out of business now so this is a full circle moment, because I worked at falcon aviation yeah I was an. I was an instructor there from 2006 until 2010 at the same flight school yes in georgia.
Speaker 2:A lot of us actually were bred from this flight school, believe it or not, like in the southeast, like falcon aviation was the place to go. I'm not sure why. It was because it had a chinese program. In this chinese program, dude, you could fly all day, every day, whenever you wanted.
Speaker 3:Eight hours a day yeah and make decent money for a cfi, but you got exactly you got your hours right, I mean it was. That's so funny. I never realized you worked at Falcon Aviation.
Speaker 2:I worked at Falcon Aviation. I was like, so I got my hours that way, right, but I also jumped in the opportunity as, like, an assistant flight instructor I think that's what it was Assistant chief, basically. Assistant chief, yeah, yeah, cause they gave me a salary Plus. They also paid for my double eye and my multi-engine add-on. So because I took that job, they paid for all these ratings. So I got those ratings paid for, you know what I mean. So that helped out a lot.
Speaker 3:Falcon went belly up.
Speaker 2:I think in 2021. Or was?
Speaker 3:it 2020? It was 2020. Falcon went belly up in 2020.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 2020, yeah, june, I think of 2020, june in 2020, but it was okay because I was going to skywest anyways, um, but this was after, you know, covid and um, yeah, but going back to that point, uh, I worked at falcon, you know, was an assistant chief, just got my time bill, my hours with everybody there and literally people were flying like Claudia was mentioning like 2 o'clock in the morning, 5 o'clock in the morning, whatever time it was, there was somebody out there flying, you know. So Falken, really like it was a good school for the Southeast. A lot of people went there for that reason, right. But yeah, after that, you, you know, I went to sky west. Uh, I knew sky west was tough for me, I'll be honest. It was kind of like a big eye-opener of the transition between being a flight student, uh cfi, to now going to the 121 world right, totally different volume. You know, I went from a 172 to erj, 170 uh to erj run 75 a little bit faster of a plane a little bit faster.
Speaker 2:I mean, there were so many buttons. I'm like what is going on? You know the thing's yelling at me, you know like I'm like wow, so that was honestly I didn't. People love Scott West, I love Scott West as well. It was tough. The training was really tough at Scott West for me. I haven't shared this with anybody, but I actually didn't pass my first initial, which to me was crushing.
Speaker 2:I was about to cuss, but I'm not. But it was like literally to the point where I was like why am I here? You know, I'm so smart and somehow I just mess this up because literally I tell you right now I press the approach button and I guess I didn't verify always verify when you do something and the alarm started going off on the ILS. And the alarm started going off on the ILS and I just like froze, I was like oh, what's going on?
Speaker 2:You know, so that was a teaching moment for me from adversity standpoint. Right, I was like, okay, I really wanted to quit. I was like I don't want to be here anymore. I can't believe. I just failed.
Speaker 2:I'm never going to get hired by anybody, everybody's going to think I'm an idiot. You know, like here I am, you know, I'm just trying my hardest, you know, and in my hardest I guess just I had to try harder, that's all it was. So I took about a couple weeks off during skywest. After that happened, recouped myself, went back and killed it, um, and you know, ever since then I think that really taught me how to face adversity throughout my airline career. Yeah, because I faced it many times, you know, just to try and win my son, um, you know, working two jobs and then racing my son at the same time and then trying to flight school at the same time. You know, going to school, I definitely had help, like my. Without my family, oh man, I don't know what I would do. You know, my family helped me out so much to make sure that I achieved the dream that I wanted, even if it took 10 years, because that's literally how long it took. So it's, you know, like I was telling you guys earlier, like it's just all part of it. It's just all part of the process. Yeah, that's how it is. Adversity is just part of the process.
Speaker 2:I get to SkyWest and I knew after SkyWest that I had to get out there fast because I wanted to get. You know I'm 35. You know I was 29, 30 at that point and I wanted to be at a major airline by mid 30s. Right, thanks for picking up fast with hiring. So I jumped on the bandwagon to go to Alaska Airlines and that's when I came up to Seattle where I'm currently living right now. And then Alaska was a great airline. I work there now and then. But you know I met Claudia through LPA and you know the dream right, it's always go for a major right. I didn't want Delta because I grew up with Delta, sorry, guys. And I knew America was not in Miami. You know I was like I don't want to move to Miami. So you kind of start thinking about the bases you want to live at.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I like Denver, I like Chicago. Okay, I like San Francisco. Okay, I'm sold.
Speaker 1:I don't like.
Speaker 2:Houston, but I like the West Coast so I'm sold.
Speaker 2:So you know, and if I have never took the opportunity, and then you know we can talk about it. But at LPA, I know I'm kind of jumping everywhere, but they asked me. I applied for a finance director job there and you know they got hired me because after I spoke to him you know I was like, yeah, I'll do the work, like I'm a mind, I know how to do it, let's run it. You know what I mean? Um, and that's how I met Claudia, and that's how I got to United because without her I wouldn't be here because they weren't calling me.
Speaker 2:You know they weren't calling me. Um, and it gets just goes to show much out there to try to get hired by somebody or whatever the next step it is, but sometimes it's just not there. So it's all about the people you meet and that's why we're here with LPA, you know to me it's important to be able to help, to be where I'm at right now and be like okay, let me try to help you.
Speaker 3:Let's, you know, try to get to that point, and that's why I love lpa, you know we don't pull the ladder up behind us yeah that handout and we drag people up, we drag people up with us because we're like we're we're gonna be damned if we're gonna leave anybody, but we're gonna leave any latino behind, yeah exactly I want everybody to join me you know, I want to be able to provide access and opportunities to people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, because I know how hard that is, or that that is to be, you know, found in that process.
Speaker 1:I think people don't realize how, um, like how, how the aviation culture is for those people aren't pilots or haven't flown planes or haven't hung out at airports or fbos, like it really is a who you know kind of culture yeah that's why, even like hanging out in the airport and meeting someone that you know owns of culture you know.
Speaker 1:That's why, even like hanging out in the airport and meeting someone that you know owns a private jet or something you get a typewriting in, that you know if you can be a first officer, hang around. It's like a lot of people start as like line workers, you know, or like refuelers, and they get connected with that. But I think the difference is is a lot of times we didn't see people like us, right and so like I think that makes a huge difference because you don't see folks doing the job you want to do, and so it's really hard to sort of get network unless someone takes you under their wing, you know, which is totally fine. But you know, I really think that that's a really beautiful thing about LPA is like you know there's people such as yourselves that are doing this that can help others. Oh, someone like me has done this. You know they went through these hurdles and you know they experienced all these different. You know obstacles they ran into and they can help advise me before I run into these things on. You know what's the best path forward, and so that's a good opener, like. Let's discuss on. Like. What was the brainchild of LPA? You know why did it come into existence and what is like the overall mission.
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Speaker 3:Have a group representing them, representing the Latino population, you know, there was women in aviation, there was organization of black aerospace professionals, but there was nothing for the Latino community. And so they started this group and it started growing and they grew it in Florida and it slowly started, you know, gaining prominence in in some a couple other States, in Texas and in California. And then, um, I joined in 2018 and I was asked to be their community director. Um, and I worked with the previous president, um, and uh, jerry, jerry do yes, and um slowly but surely started getting little, you know, scholarships here and there like a $5,000 scholarship here, $5,000 scholarship there and started growing the organization and offering scholarships. And but the big life-changing moment happened in 2020, uh, 2021, actually, when uh, united announced the aviate. Actually, when United announced the Aviate Academy in Arizona, in Goodyear, arizona, and they selected LPA to be one of the affinity groups that we could give full-ride scholarships so that people, you know, could possibly realize their dreams. So they were very much walking the walk and talking the talk about breaking down financial barriers to underrepresented minorities because, as we've all discussed in various forms, you know, the underrepresented group, the underrepresented minorities, we're all. We're always the ones that have the lower paying jobs, we don't have the best credit scores, not because of lack of time, but because life, as many put it, life happens and people get into debt for various reasons, especially when it comes to like health and hospital stays and whatnot, and it, you know, life gets more expensive, but the pain never goes up. And how do you survive that? And so they, they were walking the walk and talking the talk and they gave us, they made us one of the partners, basically one of the affinity groups where we receive a certain amount of money to be able to give out full ride and partial ride scholarships. And in fact, the very first person we ever gave the full ride scholarship to, diana, she is now our scholarship director, so she's giving back.
Speaker 3:And that's the big thing about LPA. You know, if we help you, I'll do it with all the love in my heart and I'll give you some tough love when it needs to happen. But I expect you to give back to this organization because without this organization you wouldn't be where you're at. And even though I came into this organization when I was already at United Airlines pilots, my God, what I wouldn't have given to be able to look up Latinos you know pilots, latinos in aviation and have this pop up for me and be validated in the sense of like, hey, I'm experiencing this and my community saying, yeah, it's happening. You're not crazy, don't let them gaslight you Even though gaslighting wasn't even a word back then but it's happening. You just got to persevere.
Speaker 3:And there's a lot of discriminatory practices, backhanded compliments, microaggressions that we, as Latinos, have to put up with a lot. To have this organization be my backbone when I didn't have one to help me through those tough times where I just wanted to quit and hear a voice saying you know, I know it's hard now, but it's not going to last, you're going to persevere. And that's what I want LPA to be. We're here to inspire, mentor and develop the next generation of Latin professionals, the next generation of Latin professionals and what I want to explain, why our mission is so important. Now we come back to generational wealth. Our community does not have the generational wealth that other races and ethnicities do, and this is our opportunity to lift our Latino community and build that generational wealth within our community, to lift ourselves out of those lower paying jobs and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those lower paying jobs, but we need to provide that opportunity and access.
Speaker 3:As Manny said, we didn't know we could be these things. We didn't know we could be pilots. We didn't know we could be engineers. We didn't know we could be engineers, air traffic controllers, dispatchers you know mechanics. You know we didn't know these lucrative careers are out there in the aerospace industry because no one ever told us about them. And you know, and I understand that a lot of people don't know about it, but you know, and I understand that a lot of people don't know about it, but you know it's a lot harder for the Latino community to get their foot in the door and we want to provide that opening, that crack at that door to get them in, and that's what we're so passionate about at the LPA.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'll let Manny Well, I was going to say, add to that it's. It's hard to you know, and if you know, these jobs are out there. It's just making that hurdle to start. It's so hard. That's probably the hardest part of this process and I understand that. How do I make this work? Okay, Let me go take an intro flight lesson, If you're going to be a pilot. And then after that, okay, I find out it's going to cost me ten thousand dollars just to get my ppl. How?
Speaker 3:do I pay for?
Speaker 2:that where am I going to live, you know, how am I going to pay for rent, how I'm going to take care of whatever I gotta take care. And that's the hard part about this and this is why lpa is so important is to be able to provide, you know, equity for these people right via scholarships, right leadership development courses, uh, skills courses, right To teach them. Hey, like this is, we can help you get, we can help you get there right. It's not going to be easy, but as long as you know you got us, we can help you.
Speaker 2:And whatever you're going to face throughout your entire flight process. It has happened to one of us that story. All the pilots share that same story. You know what I mean. It is not easy and that's why we're here. We just want to make sure that we serve our community the best way that we can. Because it wasn't provided to Claudia and myself, right, and to a lot of our board members it's totally different. So, man, it costs about $120,000 to get your PPO. Now all the way through.
Speaker 3:I think that's the right amount. Yeah, it's 120.
Speaker 2:Now that's a lot of money 120 000 to understand that it's going to take you what you know, another five years to be able to pay that loan back right, 120 000 and 8 interest rate, that's a big payment, you know, um, there's. So we're just trying to help the community man, we're trying to make sure that we have these programs in place and, you know, we have the access to scholarship money to do it and provide to them, and we're working really hard on that every day. You know, claudia and I are talking to each other every day. We have Chris, our VP. We're talking every day. Our board members are talking every day.
Speaker 3:We're trying to make this happen for people. I don't think there's a day that goes by that we're not texting each other, calling each other. Hey, found out about this opportunity. I'm going to jump on a call at such and such time. Can you join me?
Speaker 3:Because, you know, when you're a team you just work so much better together and I mean, I mean it's constant we're constantly looking for opportunities to to provide that, you know, to break down that financial barrier. And some of the times we can't break it all down, but we can help a little bit. And with that little bit, you know, we'll try again. Like, hey, we might not be able to help you next year, but the year after that we're going to try and get more scholarships and try to help as many people as help as many people as we can with the time we're given here so yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, go ahead go ahead, man, no I was just gonna say it's not just, it's also like the mentorship piece behind all this, like people you know like you can't just throw money at you, yeah there's just so.
Speaker 2:We have over 3 000 active members and it's currently grown Out. Of those 3,000 members, 1,200 of those are actually students. So those are people that are going through the process as we speak and that's growing too, you know, and we're trying to make sure that we're helping as best as we can.
Speaker 3:Yeah no-transcript was able to help Manny come to United Airlines because I was in the room where decisions are being made and I said, hey, I have this person. He's fantastic, he's going to make one of the best pilots for United. He's going to be one of our most loyal employees. Take a chance, look at his resume. And so that's what LPA does as well. I mean we have that inspire, mentor, develop. But then the sponsorship, like I said, two different levels yeah, money and speaking that person's name in the rooms where decisions are being made. That's so important and that's what LPA is doing is getting those names out there to those decision makers so that they can give us the opportunity and so we can show and prove them like you're not going to make a mistake by hiring us. You're not. It's going to be the best decision you've ever made.
Speaker 1:Absolutely no. That's super crucial because I think is particularly social media and even like during COVID, like with the pilot shortage, there was a huge sort of spike in people applying you know, and so there's a lot of people coming out of training and there's a competition.
Speaker 1:So there was like that huge you know trough where there was a lot of people getting hired and then now it's kind of died off a little bit. And it really makes a difference having people advocating for you in positions, particularly when you're, when you're intro and you're about to get in a jet for the first time, about to work for some regional or from legacy airlines for the first time.
Speaker 3:I know it makes a huge difference. I'm lucky Um the guy that ran Falcon aviation before he sold the flight school. His name is Dan Waters, so I doubt Dan's listening to this. He's you know, he's a. He's FAA now and he's down in Savannah, georgia, working on Gulfstreams. But he sponsored me, he. He spoke my name because I was one of his assistant chiefs. I worked my butt off. I was showing up at the flight school at four or five in the morning, flying with students until 11 midnight one in the morning. I was always that person for them and he had no qualms whatsoever saying my name in that room where decisions were being made of like, hey, you're starting to hire again. You got to hire her and I'll always be indebted to him because he's the reason why I ended up at ASA and then eventually was able to get to United. So I mean it's just so important that that piece is just so important, it's so crucial. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I want to bring up, like the age thing Cause for me, for instance, like I want to do this when I was 18, but I didn't know, I didn't have the means, I didn't know how, right. And now I'm 35, transitioning careers and then would love to be a pilot full-time, you know, as soon as possible. But money and time, obviously you know, being the biggest hurdles for for people that are looking to change their careers. Or maybe they're listening to this and like, wow, I can actually do this, there's resources out there. You know, is there an age? It's like tool. You know, I know what the cutoff is for for legacy airlines, but you know you guys are pilots and it's specifically flying airlines or flying freight. Like you know, what would you tell people that are, you know, mid thirties, forties, fifties? You know they, they were trying to career change, they've always wanted to do this.
Speaker 3:But I've never seen people.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You're never too old. Yeah, you're never too old to pursue your dreams. You're never too old to live that dream. You're never too old. Um, I mean just us alone. Um, at United we've had a range of students anywhere from 23 years old I mean lucky, they're going to have like a 40 something year career to 58, 59 year olds, 60 year olds, jumping back, you know, making the transition, and they wouldn't give up a minute of it for the world because they're so happy. So my, my advice is like no, it's, you know, you are never too old.
Speaker 2:Never too old. At SkyWest I actually had two people that were under 48 and 56, I believe that was in my initial class and they were actually. You know, skywest is your first regional job, right? So obviously they're transitioning right, and it's I. I always tell people, you know, if you're over 30, I said, do it fast you know because you want to get there as fast as you can, because seniority is awesome, but you're never told to do this. I think at any point you can change um, you just got to have that.
Speaker 3:You just got to understand that it's going to be a process to get to that point there's, there's a great, a great quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and it's, and it's he's a Colombian author and it's translated from Spanish, but it's, it's not true that people stop pursuing their dreams because they grow old. They grow old because they stop pursuing their dreams.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so when people are like well, I'm two and I'm like Nope, this is a quote, live by it, Right, you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah, incredible author, by the way. I remember reading a handful of his books when I was in high school. I uh so. So, Manny, you mentioned, like, once you pass your age, do it as fast as you can. Let's break that down a little bit more, right?
Speaker 1:Like I think a lot of people, for instance, like you guys, you had to raise a child and work while you're doing it Is it more advisable for folks to just, if they can, like try to make ends meet and fly like full time, or is it just okay to do it part time? Like you know, I know it's hard to answer, but like, if there's an ideal way to do it when you're not young, when you're 18, 20 years old, you can kind of just treat it. If you can find the money, like it's university, right, you can go. You don't have much worries. But as you age, there's more responsibilities, there's more debt. All these things sort of come on our shoulders, right? Like what's the what's some advice you guys give to people out there that are, you know, are looking to make a career change or of a certain age, like what should they do if they're trying to do this quickly?
Speaker 3:I'll let Manny go first. I have my opinions.
Speaker 2:You know, I think you do what fits best for you and your family. Usually, people have families when it comes to this, but if you don't, it makes it a lot easier, right, but I think you do what's best for you. That's my first advice to people. But you got to find where that is right, like for me, it was working. I was lucky to find a job that was able to work, you know, in between flight lessons, right, but a lot of the people that I taught were like either policemen, police officers, or they worked a nine to five.
Speaker 2:right what they did differently is that they basically broke down each rating and said okay, how long, how much do I need to fly per week in order to achieve this goal as fast as I can? So I said, okay, well, let's come up with a plan. You need to do at least three times a week, right, at least minimum three times. If one day gets rained out, you have to reschedule that right. So you have to be able to be flexible. So the only way you can do this as a as a working full-time student right Is to be able to fly in the afternoons or on the weekends. So I would say I would advise them. You know your weekends are shot. You know, just being honest, like, if you want to make this happen while you work full time, some sacrifices are going to have to be made. And that's the hardest part for people to change. Because how do you tell your wife potentially, oh, by the way, for the next six months of my life, you're not going to see me. You know what I mean. So obviously you need that family support to help you out there.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's definitely you can do it. Is it going to be hard work? Yes, you just have to find what works for you. Is it working after school, after work or during the weekends, right? Like, can you double up on the weekends? Can you just actually fly all Saturday and Sunday, right. But then it brings into my next point like, where do you live? If you live in Seattleattle, you're not going to be able to fly, you know, during this time, right now. So are you able to move? Can you move to phoenix? Can you move to florida? So you get so complex, right? Yeah, so it has to fit that person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, it has to fit you and you have to figure out a way to make it work around your schedule, because it can be done, but sacrifices will have to be made, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, claudia, you want to chime in?
Speaker 3:um, so I 100 agree with manny because it, you know, it really depends on the family situation. Now, if you are given the opportunity to go full-time and you have the full support of the family, that is the way to go. That is 100 the way to Cause it's going to be cheaper in the long run when you're going full time, because when you're going part-time like especially the way I did it was like I would go a year without flying and then when I would have to go back I'd have to get reacquainted with the airplane, the candling characteristics. It would take about five hours of me just to like, oh okay, All right, this is what it does, and I mean that's money, Time is money. So if you can get the support of your family and you can figure out a way how to do this full time, absolutely do it full time.
Speaker 3:But again, this is all dependent on your family situation. Sacrifices need to be made. That may mean, instead of you know, getting up at 4 am to go to the gym by 5 am, you're getting up at 4 am to go to the gym by 5 am. You're getting up at 4 am to be at the airport by 5 am to, you know, get off the ground. You know you may have to switch. You know something around. A lot of sacrifices need to be made in order to, you know, get to where you want to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, those are good answers, absolutely so for people that want to get involved with LPA or, you know, maybe not even started their pilot career, but they're considering it. What's the best way to get involved with you guys? How are ways people can donate? How are you looking to grow too? How are you looking to expand? I know grant writing and looking to get some more government funding to sponsor more students and more flight paths is one of the goals.
Speaker 3:Yes, so latinopilotorg go become a member. And so we now have different tiers of membership. We have the ones that are from K to 12, they're free. The junior membership, those are for kids and teenagers that want to start looking into aviation as a career, aerospace as a career and you know we have right now we have the Academy for Latinos in Aerospace Sciences, our ALAS camp that's going to be in New York this year and I think we're going to run one in Orlando and it looks like there's some airlines that also want to sponsor the camp in different cities.
Speaker 3:And this is a week-long program where, basically, we take you from just exposing you to all different avenues in the aerospace industry maintenance, air traffic control. They even go to the NYPD Aviation Department in New York, you know they go to the maintenance facilities at JetBlue. They talk to lawyers, they talk to doctors, because people don't realize that you know we need a lot of lawyers too in the aviation, aerospace industry, and for pilots we have to have a medical and for air traffic controllers we have to have a medical, so you can be a doctor and be an AME, an aeromedical examiner. And they talk to flight attendants, they talk to maintenance tech technicians. And then, of course, they get a intro flight at the end of their week long experience. They get to actually go up in an airplane and fly around for a little bit. It's not very long, it's about 30 minutes per student, but I mean it's. It's something just incredible for them, an opportunity they may may not have otherwise. And, like I said, I'm really excited because some of the other airlines have contacted us about possibly running an ALS camp in the cities that you know, the cities that they that they are, you know, out of, and we're really excited about that.
Speaker 3:But that's our junior membership. And then we have the student membership and that's from 18 to basically about 23 years old, 22, 23, when you're in college, uh, 29, 99, um, you know, and it gives you the access to um, you know the, the chats and, uh, the mentorship program, the access to you know the chats and the mentorship program, aspiracion Mentorship Program, where we pair you up with someone to mentor you throughout your journey. And then we have our regular membership, which is $49.99 per year, and same thing gives you the same access, but that one starts at about 23 years old and forward. And then our final membership is our lifetime membership at $1,200. That's a one-time fee of $1,200 and you are a lifetime member. So those are ways to become a member of LPA.
Speaker 3:Now, ways to get involved when you go to the bottom, it'll say volunteer, like when you get on our website and you join, and every state it'll say volunteer and you click on that.
Speaker 3:We need volunteers in so many different departments and it could be something as easy as hey.
Speaker 3:I just want to volunteer in my local chapter to go to schools, to go to elementary schools and show kids that this is a possibility and it can be anywhere from where we have, you know, our social media team, we have our finance team, our development team, and our development team is, you know, the backbone of LPA, because they're the ones that are calling for sponsorships, or calling everybody to see if we can get more money.
Speaker 3:Um, you know how can we sponsor the LPA? Uh, because you know we. You know it's great to give out all the scholarships as well, but we also need money to run the organization, to be able to pay for the webmaster, to be able to pay for softwares, for the scholarship, for the mentorship, you know, software, for the grant writing and finding out where those grants are, and so the development team. You know they need help as well, and if you're a good salesperson, absolutely please volunteer your time because we could use the help. I mean we are applying for government grants, every type of grant you can think of that is helping either the pilot shortage or just the aerospace industry. We are applying for those grants to try and give our community a chance to get into these lucrative career fields.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, the racing money kind of scares me because so much of this depends on what we can do. Yeah, because all the money that we raised is going back to the community. You know, like Clyde said, we're all volunteers here. No, none of us get paid.
Speaker 3:We are an all-volunteer organization. No one on this, no one at LPA, gets paid. The only people that get paid are lawyers and our CPAs to make sure that we're all in the clear with all that stuff and they're not LPA employees in any way. We are an all-volunteer organization. Maybe when we grow in a few years we'll be able to hire a full-time webmaster or something to make sure, but as of right now's, just it's, you know, on our time off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if you, want to help out, definitely, like, we're looking for people. You know, I actually I I'm always looking for people and and to be able to help them out too, throughout the process as well, because I know what lpa can provide for you, so like, but you know at the same time, so let me help you get to where you want to be, give back at the same time, and it's an, it's an awesome opportunity to be honest. So it's there's so many different ways.
Speaker 2:we get back to you know, like she mentioned a loss, you know, potentially we're going to have this other program called AS, so I encourage everybody to join. It's really fun experience. Please call us to join. It's a really fun experience. Please call us.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's Empowering Latina Leaders in Aerospace and it's, you know, kind of dedicated to helping Latinas in the aerospace industry and development as well, and leadership development, because it is kind of hard to be Latina so you're like a woman and you're a latina in this very male dominated uh, space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know it's what's funny? It's a 27 percent of our attendees for the expo were actually women women, women, so the women latinas is a powerful community and I I acknowledge that and I love to see it because it's like, okay, here's all these latinas coming in, let alone for me. It's like I I never feel like I belong sometimes, even though that I got all these different certificates. But when I look to my left and I see a woman, especially a Latino.
Speaker 3:I'm like hell yeah, it's like you know, heck yes.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Like this is awesome.
Speaker 2:I want to see this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah, as someone like myself who I want to have, you know, kids eventually, if I'm, if I have that blessing like I think one of the things I wanted to bring up about flying is like you can really keep it in the family once you have a CFI and CFII, because you can teach and that keeps your costs low If you can rent the plane or if you buy a small plane or something, which is why you see a lot of aviation families have pilots on pilots, on pilots throughout generations, because you can teach your kid and they can start flying when they're 18 and then they're making 200 grand when they're 22 traveling the world, which that's the generational wealth building.
Speaker 1:That's the access, the opportunity and the generational wealth building.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would, I would love to be able to. You know, once I, once I can get all these licenses, is go into a high school, you know, and just invite kids Like, would you want to go fly and go for a 30 minute like like ride and see what it's like? Because, like you know, when you have your first, you kind of know whether you're interested or not. You know, for me I I had my undergrad environmental science and engineering and I was always interested in it. But, like it was a, it was like a task to study those things. And there's only been really two things that I've ever studied where I'm like I could study this for days on days until I'm dead and I really enjoy what I'm learning. And that's been anything with aviation and music. And as soon as I started studying aviation whether it was like a POH or some technical thing, I'm just like I love studying this Because, like one, your life depends on it. But two, it's just like something about like pilot brain. It's just you love reading about it.
Speaker 1:You love like just envisioning everything, whether you're in it or not, you know, um, and I think once you're hooked on that, it's like lights that fire where you're just like, every time you're not flying, it's like I'd kind of rather be flying, you know, um, so that's, it's like you guys are doing like passing on that bug and and inspiring, you know, not just young folks, but everyone. You know that they could do this, regardless of what they look like or what community they're part of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you guys and to comment on that, I actually love reading pohs myself. I hate reading, but I can read a airplane manual.
Speaker 1:You know, front to cover, absolutely yeah no, I can, I can relate to that. Um well, I just want to say thank you guys so much for joining me. You know, I just I really wanted to have you on the show one to help promote lpa, and then, you know, talk about just these sort of glass ceilings in aviation. I've had a lot of deep conversations on this show nothing like this where it's a particular industry like aviation. But I think a lot of people just don't even know what it takes to be a pilot and if they do, they're like, oh, I could never do that, or maybe they don't have the resources. And I think this, hopefully, episode will inspire people to seek out mentorship and to also, you know, invest and support organizations like LPA that are, you know, making a difference and really, you know, having boots on the ground to support people, to make their dreams a reality, which is wonderful.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and we have a donate now button on the latinapilotorg website. So if you feel so inclined to donate, absolutely it will be put to good use. I promise you it is not going to be spent frivolously at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will throw a link to that donation button in the show notes and then and then obviously a link to social media for LPA and for the actual website too, so people can go check that out and, if you're a member, once our scholarship application window opens and you're a member in good standing, you can apply for the scholarships.
Speaker 2:It's true, yeah.
Speaker 3:And we'll be reported at the expo in. Oh, we forgot to talk All this time. We forgot to talk about the expo. Manny, our expo this year is from September 18th through the 20th. You know last year we had how many exhibitors Over 100 exhibitors and the big ones were there Southwest American, delta, united Envoy, skywest Frontier all of the major airlines were there. All different kinds of contractors were there as well Flight schools. So the expo is going to be, like I said, september 18th through 20th in Orlando, florida, at the Hilton Signion in Disney Springs, and tickets will go on sale. I believe Is it June?
Speaker 2:It's June yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool, count me in. I would love to go. Yeah, please, you got to come see the show it's an amazing opportunity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Just to mingle with people and talk to everybody else. There you come in with a lot of contacts that we were talking about earlier and those contacts go a long way absolutely, yeah, 100 I have.
Speaker 1:So I have one last question for each of you. Uh, for in in your entire flying career, you probably fly a handful of different aircraft, right? What is the like your favorite aircraft that you've flown, and why? Or is an aircraft you haven't flown that you might like to fly at some point?
Speaker 2:well, I was just looking at planes last night, just for fun. I was looking at a tbm 960. It's a private plane. Uh, that's just me wishing you know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like a meridian, basically, or is it a single-engine Meridian? I don't know too much about it.
Speaker 2:I know it goes fast, looks nice on the inside and I was like I can take this to the flight levels. This is cool, but I'm on the 737, so I really can't speak too much about it. So that's the only plane that I know so far and that I love.
Speaker 1:So you picked out over the 172 then.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, you know, I really I think. Once you become a pilot, you start flying these big jets, you start thinking that you get disassociated from the private world for a little bit. But now I'm getting to the face, I'm like, okay, I want to go back to it, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, See, I always want to own my own little like rinky dink Mooney, you know, that's like 1960s, Like cause I I. Honestly, what I want to do is I want to commute to where I'm flying out, Like I don't necessarily want to live in a big city, but I would live in like a mountain town, Like you know people do it all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to fly it from Reno, from Tahoe, to San Francisco. It's a great plan.
Speaker 1:It's a great plan. Yeah, claudia what about you?
Speaker 3:So for me, the plane I really, really, because I'm like projecting it into the universe, hoping that will happen, the Airbus 350. Oh yeah, because we're supposed to get them, but then we keep putting it off. United keeps putting it off and putting it off and I'm like if I just keep projecting it out into the world, maybe I'll get it before we retire, before I retire, and I'll get to fly it. It's just such a beautiful bird, it looks like it's going to be such a great airplane. But you know, as far as, like you know, I've been on the Airbus since I got on in 2015,. I flew the triple seven for a little bit during COVID. Beautiful airplane, just beautiful airplane, just handles like a dream.
Speaker 3:Um, I just didn't like the mission because it was a lot of international flying and it was. It was just messing up with my sleep cycle and even though I did it as a flight attendant, for some reason as I got older it was just harder to recover. But, uh, I'm an Airbus fan. And then, when I think about like the little planes and stuff, my husband is also a pilot and that's why I knew about the TBM was because he flew for this company and they had a Meridian and that was a fun little airplane to fly. Yeah, it's a cool plane. That was a blast, love it.
Speaker 1:Thank you guys so much. Well, I look forward to meeting you guys in person. And again, thank you both for all you do for the community. You know, I think it was a blessing for me to find the organization and just get even more inspired.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for tuning in to Start the Eagle. Feed the Soul.
Speaker 1:Please leave us a five-star written review on Apple and Spotify podcast. It's a free way you can get back to the show and show your support. And as always, if you want to work with me, one-on-one.