Her Story
About Tiffany
I've been in aviation for 8 years, and I currently serve as Director of Operations, a position I've held for 3 years. My foundation is in customer service, which I started doing in college and continued when I entered aviation as a generalized customer service representative. I worked my way up through the aviation ladder, moving into concierge-like services with major contracts, then into sales and marketing where I became a sales manager. Then I had an epiphany that the mission was really important to me, so I got into operations and became obsessed with it. Now I manage the entire flight schedule, verify missions, communicate with maintenance about aircraft hours, handle pilot scheduling to ensure FAA regulation compliance, and stay hands-on with customer service. When operations take a turn due to weather or maintenance, I'm at the forefront ensuring customers understand the why behind it in their terms. I thrive off the chaos on the back end, I enjoy the mess, playing Tetris, the pressure to make it work and come out as a hero at the end of the day. My most notable achievement is becoming Director of Operations because I never thought operations would be something I would do, but now I love it.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tiffany
01What do you attribute your success to?
I believe I have a very headstrong personality, and I feel like I'm limitless. I can't be stopped. The moment I feel like I'm challenged, that's what fuels me. Starting from customer service and then looking at the operation itself, I thought maybe I can get into sales, or let me see what that looks like. I think that's what really contributed to me going all the way to the top and being a part of the bigger picture. When you sit and think about maintenance and charter sales and customer service and specific contracts that you have to handle as a concierge specialist, that is the total mission. When that story is put together, it's just like, wow, now I see the reason I do this. I think that's what fueled my fire to continue.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
One piece of advice that I can give is try it. Open up your mind to aviation. A lot of people believe that aviation is only the major airports. People don't realize that there is a whole other side of aviation on the private side, where you are dealing with people more head-on, you see more clientele, you understand what the actual groundwork is like. There are so many things that you could do that you probably don't realize, whether it's maintenance, customer service, being a part of concierge, being a charter specialist, being in accounting, dealing with fuel consumption, there's so many things in that lineup that you can really tap into. Security, it's so much. I think that a lot of people silo themselves and think that it's the main terminals, and you're only able to be a ramp agent, or you're only able to work at front desk, it's not. It's so much more. The sky is the limit, literally, aviation is limitless. Try it. Don't be afraid of it. Go for it.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Honestly, aviation doesn't sleep. I can't say that there are many challenges when it comes to it, because the world is forever moving. No matter what, whether it's a pandemic, whether it's a global shutdown, people are still trying to get out. On the private side of aviation, because I deal with the private sector, we've seen an increase. It did not slow down for us at all. People were so afraid of going to the majors because they just weren't sure about what their travel was going to be like. They started to tap in to the private sector and understanding that we have a little more wiggle room, and we can get around a good deal of items or things that the world may be facing. So, honestly, no challenges. It's thriving. I really can't complain at all.
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