How has your upbringing shaped where you are today?

• “I was raised on a learning curve. My parents did not discuss racism with me at all. For instance, I do not think I heard the ‘n’  word until I went to college..and never directed at me. Prior to attending college, I attended a private highschool and there were not alot of minority kids. Including me, all the minority kids were bused from all over the area, we were all from different backgrounds and never got to socialize with each other because we never lived around each other. As far as my childhood, I had a nice childhood. My mom exposed us to everything to help us learn what we did not like and what we had an aptitude for. From that, my siblings and I did some of everything and have shaped me into becoming an open-minded individual.I can pretty much fit in anywhere, like a chameleon. “

As an adolescence, we usually dream about the direction we would like our life to go, within our career paths, what was your dream during this time?

• “I knew I wanted to do something with aviation, I just didn’t know what. With Louisville being a hub for UPS, I constantly saw them doing an arrival and departure push for aircraft. I loved watching it and I also had a love for Legoland. There is a highway that goes past the airport and the UPS service ramp is on one end of the airport. Across the street is a Ford truck plant and they both look like legoland, like pieces of things being placed together and moving around.  I was fascinated by watching the trucks move around, lights flashing, and big jets taking off and are coming back in .”

Can you talk to me about specific instances that influenced you to diverge from the route that you were on? How did these instances lead you to your current situation?

• “I graduated from college in ‘96 and I did not get hired into Federal Aviation until ‘02. Post college I was working as a collector for a financial company and I worked there part time for four hours a day Mon-Thurs until the company hired me full time. I told the guy who hired me, I’ll take the job but I cannot guarantee I want to stay past 5 years because I have a plan and I need to be hired by 31 to get into Air Traffic Control…and I wanted it. During my 5th year of working at the company  I called my alma mater and said I am not paying another dime on my student loans until I can use my degree. Then I became informed of their air traffic control program and so I signed up. I knew I had to leave my current employment when they financed a car for an elderly woman 23% on an ‘89 Buick, which I thought was ridiculous. So, in addition to wanting to pursue my aviation dream. I did not want to work for a company that took advantage of people.”

What is your definition of the grey area?

• ” Similar to the fall from the nest. As in the time from getting kicked out to the time before you flap your wings before you hit the ground. You are given everything you need and you know you want to do it but you do not know how to go forward. You might have instinct but not direction. More specifically, the grey area is right before you hit rock bottom. You pick yourself up and say I have to make it happen, it is just not going to happen on its own.”

• “I experienced a grey area where although I received the training, I wondered if I could do the job? For me it did not click that those little blimps were people, I thought if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, well if it doesn’t work out there’s people there that are attached to that blimp. When I was in training , a guy crashed because he ran out of fuel and he didn’t want to divert to another airport because he was coming to homecoming for his son and he had his wife and his little boy on board and we didn’t know that. He just kept circling, circling and circling, and we were like you can divert over to Raleigh and he didn’t want to because he had arranged to have the plane bedded down . He ended up running out of fuel and crashed. He kept trying to land but the fog was too thick, he would get to where the ground was but was worried it wasn’t the ground and he would pull back up. He screamed all the way down it was horrible, the impact killed him, there was no fire because there was no fuel . That’s when it clicked to me these are people and it’s not always gonna work out. I always had a plan B but not a plan C, D, E . You have to always be willing to let go of one and try the other, and sometimes it’s  not gonna work out and you have to accept that. I had to learn how to have a job where people’s lives are in my hand.”

• “The training course I went into to pursue my dream job sucked. It was worse than a gauntlet , I did not  think I was going to make it, I was washed out of Greensboro,NC and sent to Florence, SC. That was a $17000 pay cut , and Florence, SC was like stepping back in time. I thought a slave was gonna run across the street at any minute. South Carolina. I later learned I was being discriminated against by my training program and I ended up suing them and winning. At first I did not know why I was treated the way I was, because in my experience,  I thought if you did not like me you did not like me for personality reasons, not because of something I cannot control. I cannot control being a female and I cannot control I am black. So, it never occurred to me to think that’s why my job did not care for me or thats why they were treating me in a certain manner.”

Are you currently in the grey area?

• “I might be. I can only control air traffic until I am 55 and then I’ll have to retire. I was trying to decide if I want to go at 55  or do I want the option to go at 55? I feel like I’m 25 or 30, I am not trying to sit down, I still feel like I am young and I did not plan for the second half of my life . My dad passed at 92 and my mom is 79 this year. I have to retire at 55? What am I going to do for the next 40 years? I’m pretty sure my social security and retirement is not going to last me until I am 90 and who says I can work that long? If I get a 2nd job or need to get a 2nd job, my home is not paid off, my car will be, but there are still cost of living things. I do not want to be an old person who has to work because they will lose something like their house if they do not.”

Have your post-college thoughts differed from your initial thoughts of college?If so, why?

• “I still value the experience, I am still friends with people from college. I learned alot about people, they are cliquish. The hidden racism is deep in Tennessee and the ‘blesses your heart’ and ‘aren’t you cute’ or ‘aren’t you pretty’. I had one doctor tell me I did good for myself, because I got my original teeth and I achieved an education. I was like am I supposed to have wooden teeth? Dealing with that, I flipped it around to my advantage, I’m not the one that pulls the cards and says you treated me this way because of that, but I am going to put you in a situation where you see yourself. But, that has become easier to do and easier to recognize. Since we’ve had an African American president, it becomes more blatant and bolder and accepted to come out with your true feelings.”

During your post-graduation phase of life, are there any lessons you learned and would like to share?

• “People do not have to like you to help you and you do not have to like people to learn from them. You can learn something from anybody even if its an example of what not to do . Also, no one is going to give you anything unless you take it, but be polite, say please and thank you. Do not hold grudges against people. Some people act the way they act because they do not know any better and someone has never told them. But, tell them one time, if you have to tell them more than one time maybe it’s a lost cause or you’re not the one that needs to tell them.”