2019 GA Forum
On May 5-6, 2019, 170+ people gathered in Napa, CA for IAWA’s second General Aviation Women’s Leadership Forum to meet the goals of connecting, inspiring, and leading. In the days that passed since our Forum adjourned, attendees shared their stories with me of implementing grace, gravitas, and grit; as well as how you are sharing your talents, experiences, and skills with other attendees and teammates. We were very pleased to share the news that Pratt & Whitney Canada promoted a women to serve as its President.
I hope that you can indulge me with a few final words:
Thank you again to the team at jetAVIVA for sharing your brilliantly talented artists with us! You can see the photos as well as the video of the reception and the Forum.
To our Attendees – You made this what it was – exceptional! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and investing in yourself and your teams. We are incredibly grateful you did so and we hope this event exceeded your expectations. And a special thanks goes to the men in the room who supported us in the past and will continue to support us in the future as we ALL strive for excellence.
To our Speakers – You lifted all of us up and provided the thought prompting discussions that will continue to inspire personal and professional growth for all of us. We are all so grateful that you said “yes” when asked to participate and that you shared very real and candidly authentic moments. It was an honor that we were able to see diversity in age, experience, professional backgrounds, and ethnicities at this event. When people speak about diversity, we must not only speak about generation and gender, we must speak honestly about the last point and be willing to open our minds to hear what we do not know or cannot see so that our industry is inclusive, which will engender success and relevance for all.
To our Sponsors and Volunteers – We are incredibly grateful for your belief and support of this event as the Forum never would have occurred without you! Thank you and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
To the Committee – It was an incredible honor to serve as the editor/general/conductor of such an extraordinary group of women. You made this happen and you believed in the vision. You also made me see that perfection can hinder us and authenticity will ALWAYS elevate us. We pushed each other to not just hit it out of the park – but to reach for the stars. Thank you for everything!
Let’s all continue elevating each other and in the words of one of our attendees, strive not just to define “sisterhood”, but what “human-hood” should resemble. And let’s continue to pull us all upward and reach for the stars together.
My very best to all of you and I cannot wait to see you again soon and learn about your ongoing successes!