Her Story
About Lisa
I've been passionate about aviation my entire career, starting years ago with Southwest Airlines before I had children. After taking time off to be a stay-at-home mom, I restarted my career in later life with JetBlue about 10 years ago. I began in reservations doing customer support, helping people with their reservations and special requests. Then I moved into the airport as an operations liaison, working hands-on in operations and training new crew members for a week or two until they felt comfortable on their own. After that, I became an instructor of airports, running 3-week training programs where new hires would come into town and stay for the entire training period. We covered new curriculum every day and took them out to the airports for live training. For almost 3 years now, I've been an Analyst of Airports and In-Flight Products in the IT department, working from home. My team covers two products, Blue Eye and Igor, which are timekeeping systems that tell the story of the aircraft from where it starts in the morning through all the times it's touching down, being serviced, customers boarding, all the way to takeoff and wherever it ends up at the end of the night. I also manage the Apple iPads our in-flight crew uses. What makes my role unique is that I'm the only one on my team who has actually worked in the airport, so I can educate the engineers and product managers on what works and what doesn't in real airport operations. I recently earned my bachelor's degree in business with a minor in liberal studies in 2023 through JetBlue, after feeling like I was a lifetime college student. My last few classes focused on technology, which has helped me in my current role, though I still struggle sometimes with the technical jargon since most people in my field have technical degrees. I was recently promoted from Associate Analyst to Analyst, and I'm working toward eventually becoming a product manager.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lisa
01What do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, just determination and hard work. I had a lot go on in my life and have always been a stay-at-home mom, and a lot has happened throughout my time. I was just really determined to finally go and do something for myself and just feel proud and accomplished for myself. It's about never giving up and keeping that drive to achieve your goals, no matter what stage of life you're in.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, definitely, if it's in your span and it's something that you want to do, don't hold back. You can do anything you put your mind to, whether you're young or older, because like I said, I started my career in my older years. It's always possible, just never give up. Keep striving.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges for me are still some of the technical jargon and trying to figure out what's going on when I'm sitting in a meeting trying to understand what the engineers are saying. Most people in my field have a technical degree or technical background, and I really do not, except for my last few classes in college. It's my biggest struggle, but I try to tune in to every meeting, I take notes like crazy, and just really try to pick up on it. I have to say, I've made some pretty good strides in the technical world, but I still just struggle there. On the opportunities side, they are just abundant. I have two managers, one for in-flight and one for airports, and they're really open arms to whatever I need as a tool or class or training to help me get up to speed to where I want to be. I was recently just given the promotion from Associate Analyst to Analyst because my director recognized the work. I try to work with and shadow our product managers and the project managers, even our business analysts. The company's just very welcoming of that, of moving up, just applying yourself and putting yourself in a position to move around. To narrow it down, we just have open opportunities, and they just don't say no. If you want to see or learn something new, it's there for you.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Definitely integrity is at the top, and that's one of our top values with JetBlue as well. If you don't have that, to me, you can't have a solid base, really, of anything. But integrity and caring - you have to show caring and initiative to the people you're working with. If they trust you and you have a great base, then you'll have the world in your hand the way I see it.
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