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Only you can give yourself the confidence to achieve.

[Credit: Derrick Davis]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Carole Hopson is a United Airlines Boeing 737 captain who realized her lifelong dream of flying through meticulous planning, perseverance, and a positive attitude, overcoming challenges as a Black woman and balancing her career with raising a family.
  • She is dedicated to diversifying the aviation industry, having founded the Jet Black Foundation and launched the "100 Pairs of Wings" program to recruit and train African-American female pilots.
  • Hopson emphasizes the importance of strategic planning, seeking mentorship, embracing the "law of three" for balance, and transforming obstacles into opportunities for growth and problem-solving.
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We can all easily remember the first time the dream to fly wrapped its arms around us and refused to let go. That was Carole Hopson’s story. Becoming a pilot was to her not a question, it was more of a challenge, and as a young Black woman, the hurdles could have seemed too high to overcome.

Carole is not a person who saw those challenges as insurmountable. Previously, as a corporate executive and journalist, she met every obstacle with gusto. When she started training to fly, her quest to her current role as a United Airlines Boeing 737 captain based out of Newark, New Jersey, could have been derailed many times. It took a solid plan, years of work, and a combination of brains, perseverance, and an infectious positive attitude to make her dream come true.

Dan Pimentel

Dan Pimentel is an instrument-rated private pilot and former airplane owner who has been flying since 1996. As an aviation journalist and photographer, he has covered all aspects of the general and business aviation communities for a long list of major aviation magazines, newspapers and websites. He has never met a flying machine that he didn’t like, and has written about his love of aviation for years on his Airplanista blog. For 10 years until 2019, he hosted the popular ‘Oshbash’ social media meetup events at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.

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