I wanted to share a recorded event I listened to recently which the National Business Aviation Association hosted called: Women in business aviation – Being bold
There was some really good advice by all the senior women on the panel, given through telling stories of their own career developments. Some key take aways were that mentorship is really invaluable, you really need to find your champions and those that understand your goals and also struggles. I have personally had many mentors over the years and fully believe in coaching.
One lady on the panel said aviation was in the family and I realised it is in mine too. The picture here is my late great aunty who was a brilliant lady and had great presence in her RAF uniform as Leading Aircraft Woman. She also made great cakes!
A couple of phrases from the event I liked are:
“If the shoe doesn’t fit, make your own shoe!”
“Fake it, until you believe it!
I’ve sought advice from many smart people and made my own shoe: FGA. It’s been quite a journey, one which I’m getting through with very good mentorship and by reading the right books.
I also love to mentor back and was recently asked to be part of an event set up by Birkbeck College called ‘Careers in Sustainability‘ which was great to be invited to. We were asked to tell our stories and offer advice to the Birkbeck College students on how to move into a career in sustainability. Everyone on the panel all had very different stories and backgrounds. I discussed being a career switcher and how I moved into my new role. Most of our team at FGA are made up of those that are switching careers and I personally support this as I feel people are often very motivated when they seek out a new path, once they have taken time to know what is important to them. The recording of the panel discussion is online here.
FGA also supports flexible working and believes in shared parenting so that men and women can both spend time with their children and have careers. Things have changed in the pandemic so this is now happening more including condensed hours, remote working and much more shared parenting.
FGA strongly supports the career development of our team members, has supported interns, presents to university students and puts personal and career development on the top of our list and would state it as a core value of ours.
On the Birkbeck College panel I was asked to give some advice to the group of students. My advice was don’t try too hard to convince people you or your work makes sense, if you have to try too hard then it’s not the right fit for you and your overall goals at that time. Spend time on fruitful exchanges and be motivated by the connections you make, don’t take the ‘no’ too personally, learn and pivot to your next step.
At FGA we are all working hard to build our work and appreciate all the advice and support we’ve been given.
Supporting sustainable development goals 4, 5, 8 and 17.
Written by our founder and CEO.