proFeSSionAl
deVelopMent
put your poSt-conFerence
enthuSiASM to good uSe
imissed this year’s Conference. I tried to get there, I really did. Every time an obstacle presented itself in the path of my attending I found a
Jo DaMaTo
way to sidestep it and get back on course. I fought a good fight but in the
end this working parent mom married to a flying parent dad was left with no option but to cancel
my trip. Life just happened and trust me, you wouldn’t believe me if I tried to explain anyway.
So, yes, I missed this year’s Conference. I missed connecting with you at
the Conference! I missed the empowering and inspiring feelings that I get
from listening to the general session
speakers. I missed the feelings of admiration that I always have for the generous scholarship sponsors. I missed the
teary pride that I feel for the scholarship
winners when their stories are shared
and their awards claimed. I missed the
energy of the exhibit floor and the thrill
that I catch when working at our exhibit booth anticipating your questions
and ready to get you some answers. I
missed spending time with friends old
and new knowing we would have celebrated some milestones, shared some
laughs, and offered each other professional and personal encouragement.
I missed the walk down memory lane
that I always take thinking back to my
first Conference and the difference it
made in my life.
My first Women in Aviation Conference was in Memphis in 2000. Kathy, an
executive at the company I worked for
post-college, gave WAI Conference and
membership literature to me and my
good friend and colleague, Elisha. We
hadn’t heard of WAI before but we were
immediately convinced that we needed
to join this group and be at this event.
We both worked for the Director of Ops.
He was a gruff-on-the-outside, teddy-bear-on-the-inside DO who always had
a fatherly soft spot for the two of us. He
read the excitement on our faces and
in our proposal and approved our trip.
Once we knew what we could spend,
Find some time this
notes from the
save the business cards
Take some time
talked to and what you
about with them.
trip together, by ourselves, to an event
that celebrated women like us. We had
an incredible time and came back dangerously inspired. Every speaker that
we heard and every session we attended was better than the last. This was
an event that had been custom-made
for us. How would we survive waiting
an entire year for the Reno 2001 Conference to begin? Did you feel the same
way when you were in Orlando and did
you bring that enthusiasm home with
you? What did you do with it once the
buzz wore off?
Seriously, what have you done? By
now you have been back from the Conference for a little while. You are back
to balancing work, marriage, kids,
and other responsibilities and hobbies.
The Conference is starting to become
a distant memory. You still have that
feeling in the back of your mind that
reminds you of the pure joy you experienced in Orlando; that feeling about
being among so many women like you
who walk in shoes like yours every day.
Perhaps one speaker or one session inspired you to make a change or to take
a risk when you got home. Have you
done that yet? That first year when Elisha and I returned we told any female
who would listen about WAI and why
they should join and help us start a local chapter. Within a year, we had our
first chapter meeting. It was a proud
moment for all of us and one that cemented a lifelong commitment for me to
Women in Aviation, International. After other Conferences I have had similar inspirations and to-do lists to tack-
month to gather your
Conference. Did you
you traded in Orlando?
to remember who you
wanted to follow-up
Elisha and I came up with another idea.
Kathy, our WAI fairy godmother, was
going to let us use her Piper Cherokee
to fly ourselves to the Conference. We
worked out the numbers comparing
two roundtrip airline flights from Cincinnati International to Memphis versus our flying ourselves from Lunk-en Field to Memphis. We went back to
the cranky teddy bear DO and he just
couldn’t say no to our childlike enthusiasm and good business case. We took
off amid quite a fanfare with most of the
senior staff waving to us as we took off
and with our instructions to call at every stop to let them know we were okay.
We were so proud to have flown this
