About Me
Pilot ~ Author ~ Survivor ~ Speaker
I grew up knowing I would be a pilot. I have the exquisite privilege of having a front row seat to the Universe and a backstage pass to its creation. I never knew though that I would be a storyteller. I have a lot of really cool stories to tell of my unusual life, a life for which I routinely pinch myself: Who gets to do this? I do.
My forthcoming memoir tells the story of my years existing between death and life from the destruction wrought by breast cancer. A story told from the inimitable perspective of a kid sharing the cockpit with her dad knowing I would one day also fly the world; a member of one of the first classes of women navigating the shock culture of the Air Force Academy; and a high profile, combat pilot who survived a dual-identity existence as a LGBTQ woman having to hide in plain sight for 24 years dodging the ever-present threat of arrest and imprisonment.
I was also the first woman to serve as an Advance Agent to the President of the United States, cut the ribbon opening the Women's Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and was featured on the front page of the New York Times as the poster child for the extraordinary group of military women aviators who brought down the federal law that barred women from flying combat aircraft.
The stories of the destruction are all true, along with the funny ones, the shattering-glass-ceilings ones, and the ones of my adventures as a kid and a pilot.
But the totality of my Truth is much more. My Truth is a story that has taken me years to arrive at knowing and am now sharing with you, my fellow crewmembers on our shared life flightpath.
My most important story is the one about my Soul refusing to abandon me even when it seemed all else had. Refusing to let go of fulfilling its Purpose. Even when I rejected it, denied it, imprisoned it, divorced it.
My story of survival and re-emergence from darkness into light – into Life – and learning how to listen to the Universe…Creator…Source…God… and the callings of my persistent, unconquerable Soul.
The story of my Soul so determined to be seen, to be authentic, to be its Creator-given identity, that the Universe burned my whole damn life to the ground and swept it away. To a pile of dark rubble from which I had to start over, to heal, to learn, and to arrive at another knowing: knowing that it’s time to embrace my truth. Time to show up.
I had to learn some super hard stuff in some super hard ways through a lot of really tough years. Years lost in the fog orbiting in a not-death, not-life holding pattern. But my Soul was persistent in its determination to return to its place of primacy and purpose.
I said yes to my Soul. I said yes to trusting it and the Universe… Creator… Higher Power... God... to infusing my life with its energy and manifesting the synchronicities that would bring me into my truth, my power, and my purpose.
To share my story so that others might find inspiration, healing, encouragement, and assurance. That others might arrive at a place of understanding of their Soul's persistence. That their own Soul's persistence will lead them to their place of knowing and living their Purpose.
I’m so happy that you, my wingwomen and wingmen on this journey, are sharing it with me. Welcome to the Crew!