Her Story
About Brittany
I'm the Air Service and Business Development Manager at the Appleton Airport, where I support business travel for the local community, revenue operations, customer experience initiatives, and oversight on tenant partnerships. After 15 years in automotive and power sports combined, I made a big career pivot to the airport industry. I became really curious about what's driving technology and innovation in transportation, especially after seeing the EV sector evolve. In 2015, Harley Davidson came out with the Livewire, and when I pivoted into automotive, I saw the same thing happening with vehicles. When I started talking to a recruiter, I told her I wanted to be closer to innovation and infrastructure, and she suggested an airport, which I hadn't even thought of. The airport is the front seat to it all - we have a microgrid at Appleton Airport, and it's really the gateway to people adopting new habits. A lot of the new technology that's coming in transportation is happening in an airport first because of regulatory reasons. What really drives my passion is sustainable business practices and making sure that expansions aren't just for growth but are actually sustainable for the future. I love the learning, I love the challenge, and I've really adapted to the language in a B2B setting. The airport that I'm with now is the fastest growing airport in the country, and although I'm new to the team, it's been really fun to learn in that environment and feel that purpose through all the hard work that we're doing together.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Brittany
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would say the strong women that raised me - my grandma, my mom - and having really powerful mentors throughout my time. As I talk about those stories in my book, I didn't get to where I am alone, but I did it on my own because of those that were around me, building me up, and giving me that courage and that confidence that I needed to keep going and be a strong leader. I love supporting other people, and that self-actualization where you can hire somebody or lead a team and see something from start to finish just kind of bloom after planting a seed in the ground 6 months ago. When you win awards for doing it too, like when I was at Harley-Davidson and won the Gold Bar and Shield Award, I wasn't doing it for the award, but when you get stuff like that, it really makes you think, whoa, I'm doing something right. When I was in automotive, my dealership earned top 100 dealerships to work for, and we weren't even trying - it was really cool to feel that purpose through all the hard work.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say trust yourself. Trust your intuition. Make it fun. Don't take a certain change too serious, because change is usually for the good, even though it might be uncomfortable at first. Challenge things around you, especially when it comes to your intuition, because that's what started to happen to me. Sitting in rooms and at dealer shows at all these different places with these executive leaders, we were talking about the future of what these powertrains and things were going to look like, and that's what lit the spark for me, of wanting more. I trusted myself, and it really worked out. Love where you are, acknowledge your happiness.
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