While many people’s aviation journey starts with an interest or at least introduction to aviation from a young age, I never thought about flying planes growing up. I followed the traditional path of – “work hard, get good grades, go to college, etc.” In my attempts to find a career path in college, I ended up going to law school, not particularly based on passion but in my pursuit of a stable, well-paying job.

Fast forward to 2020 and there I was, in my dream job at a Fancy Law Firm LLP, after having poured my heart and soul into getting the job. It was an amalgamation of over seven years of hard work through both undergrad and law school, including countless sleepless nights studying, working multiple jobs, and missing social functions on the regular. On the outside, it looked great; this was exactly the outcome I had hoped for. But once I reached my goal, I realized that the thought of doing this for the next 40 years filled me with nothing but dread.

So I started looking for an alternative. I looked into a wide variety of different paths ranging from human resources to software engineer but nothing peaked my interest. But as fate would have it, while scrolling mindlessly on my phone, I happened to come across a Tik Tok of a young woman flying her Cessna. Before that video, it never occurred to me that “normal” people (people not in the military or some sort of ultra-exclusive academy) could fly a plane.

I did my research, booked myself a discovery flight soon after and immediately knew I found what I was looking for. I continued my legal career for several years after, saving up money to fund my training. By the end of 2023, I knew I was ready to jump in full force, and I found Riverside Flight Academy to take me through all my required certificates and ratings. I now work as a flight instructor at Riverside Flight Academy where I get to share the joy and excitement of flying.

While walking away from everything I had worked to build and starting a whole new career was an incredibly daunting choice, it is also the best thing I’ve done for myself. I wish you courage to take your first step as well!