Jeanine McIntosh Menze was awarded her ‘wings of gold’ on June 24, 2005 and became the first Black female aviator in the 215-year history of the United States Coast Guard! In this episode of The Nine Oh Six Jeanine shares how her staying true to not only her why but her how helps her conquer fear in all walks of her life. She challenges us to cancel out the noise, especially the negative self talk that keeps ‘the only’s’ from seeking with clarity the light they were meant to shine in. She encourages us all to reach back and pull up another woman as we continue to scale our leadership journeys.

Jeanine McIntosh Menze was awarded her 'wings of gold' on June 24, 2005 and became the first Black female aviator in the 215-year history of the United States Coast Guard! In this episode of The Nine Oh Six Jeanine shares how her staying true to not only her why but her how helps her conquer fear in all walks of her life.

TRANSCRIPT

Jeanine: [00:00:00] So I'm really passionate about that because when I started flying, I cannot, I think it took years and years for me to meet another female pilot. The industry is dominated by male majority.

So for me to spend some time being, the person that I wanted to see when I was younger, I would absolutely do it. And I would spend any extra time I have doing it because it's, what's going to change that statistic from being less than 1% to much higher and more representative of where we are as society.

Olivia: [00:00:38] Hi, everyone. Olivia Cream here.

We have my dear friend Janine Menzie Commander, US Coast Guard. Janine was born in Kingston, Jamaica. So like me, she's an immigrant, her family, which included her younger brother, Maurice migrated to Ontario, Canada in 1989. And then moved again to Miami, Florida to become United States citizens in 2001.

After graduating from Miami Killian senior high school, Janine went on to earn a bachelor's degree in international business with a minor in business management at Florida International University. After completing 18 months of flight training, Janine was awarded her wings of gold on June 24th, 2005.

Janine then became the first black female aviator in the 215 year history of United States Coast Guard, Janine then trained with the Air Force for three months on the HC 130 at Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas. In September of 2005, she transitioned to the Coast Guard, HC 130 and reported to her first duty station, which was Coast Guard station, Air Station Barber's Point Hawaii, not a bad first duty station.

At that point, Janine engaged in lots of activities that the Coast Guard is known for. But most notably was the enormous drug bus, 19.5 metric tons of cocaine valued at about $508 million that she was a part of. That had to have been pretty amazing. Outside of that in her personal life, Janine also is married to her husband, George, who was also a coast guard aviator, and she has the sweetest little powerhouse of a daughter named Alyssa who is nine years old.

Janine, welcome to The Nine Oh Six. We're so happy to have you.

Jeanine: [00:02:39] Olivia, what an intro. Thanks so much. I'm super, super excited to do this. And I'm so happy that we get to chat for a few minutes on this podcast.

Olivia: [00:02:49] Oh, my goodness. Thank you so much. I think our listeners are really going to resonate with your story and I can't wait to get started, so let's just jump right in.

So your bio is obviously amazing. Can you tell our audience a little bit more about your journey?

Jeanine: [00:03:06] Absolutely. As you mentioned, I was born in Jamaica and around the age between the age of eight, nine, my parents were really talking about the future, really trying to decide if Jamaica was a place that they wanted to continue raising my brother and I.

And they really just wanted to look for different opportunities for us. And they started looking at immigrating to the States. My mom at the time had several of her siblings immigrate up to New York. So we had visited the States quite a bit. Usually during the summertime. And she, together, my parents thought, you know what?

This is a direction that they want to take our family. So they went down to the embassy, filled out all the paperwork, submitted it. And the embassy told us that on average, it takes about 10 years to get residency status in the US so we just basically went back home and started the waiting game.

During that time, my dad, who has family up in Canada, had thought, I've visited Canada when I was young and maybe we should look into moving to Canada. So they started the research submitted paperwork. In less than eight months later, we actually got residency status. So we moved to Canada. So when I was 10, that's how we made the leap from small Caribbean Island to big country up in Canada. So after being in Canada for about six years, true to the word of the embassy about almost nine year at the nine year Mark is when we got the call that said, Hey, our residency papers are approved and now we're ready to move to the States. So in a nutshell, that's how the story evolved from Jamaica to Canada, to the US.

Olivia: [00:04:57] That's just insane to me. I remember migrating to the United States with my family as well. And I left Jamaica when I was nine, but I wasn't so deeply involved in the process, so now you've immigrated, you're moving from Canada to the United States. And now, you're in the second phase of your life where you start to become interested in flying. Tell us a little bit about that.

Jeanine: [00:05:21] Absolutely. I absolutely enjoyed the transitions from Jamaica to Canada to States because I think that happening at a young age for me, I learned so much and I gained so many different perspectives. But that transition happened at such a pivotal point in high school when I moved to the States, because the processes were just so different between the US and Canada.

When I moved to the US I was just about to start my junior year in high school. And my peers, I really felt to be honest, behind. A lot of my friends had colleges picked out, a lot of my friends had, taken practice, SATs with PSATs, and they're really prepped for what they were going to do after high school. Where I felt like I was Googling what SATs even stood for, because I just was so far behind the process.

Anyways, I went to my guidance counselor and I started talking to her about, what my goals are, what I enjoy and what I knew was traveling. And I remember it as a little girl, I loved airplanes. I don't know what it is. I don't know why, but I was just immediately attracted and drawn to the world of aviation.

So in talking to my guidance counselor, we worked through that. And long story short, I ended up at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona beach, Florida, and I took a discovery flight. And I will tell you at 17 years old, behind the controls of an aircraft, there was a Mooney at the time, touching the yolk, getting to actually feel the inputs of flying the airplane.

At that age, I was absolutely blown away. I still feel the same way when I get to fly and just cruise around the beach line. It brings me back to that same moment where I touched the controls for the first time where I just, felt free. And from that moment on is really what started my love for aviation.

Olivia: [00:07:24] I can hear it in your voice just now, when you're talking about it, you seem to light up at the thought of being behind the controls in the aircraft. You can hear the passion in your voice. So you've obviously made history here. You're the first C 130 black female, C 130 pilot. Being a minority, woman in STEM is, you're basically a unicorn just with those things alone. And then you pile on, having immigrated from Jamaica and then also taking a non-traditional path into the Coast Guard. Did you always know what you wanted to do? Was this an intentional plan or did your plan evolve along the way?

Jeanine: [00:08:09] You know what definitely, I think it evolved, but it evolved in a very short period of time because it evolved when I moved here, I didn't know what I want it to do. I actually remember the first summer moving to the States and my parents talking to me about what I wanted to do. And I think I told them that I was going to be a writer.

And I was gonna publish poetry and that's what I really thought I was going to do. When I got to that senior year of high school, when I really started to hone in on the things that motivated me to things that I was naturally drawn to it. It brought me, or I just, it was like a magnet where it's just a force outside of me that brought me to aviation.

And once it clicked. So it evolved, but it evolved in a very short period of time from junior year to senior year of high school.

Olivia: [00:09:02] I love to hear that it evolved because I think knowing your why and adapting as you get different inputs from life is so important. As far as our listeners out there are concerned.

Do you have any advice for them on how important it is to know your why , but also be willing to adapt and grow in the process.

Jeanine: [00:09:27] That's a good question. And I'm still searching for my why, because I know how I feel when I do the things that I feel like I'm meant to do.

I'm still learning why it is I'm meant to do the things that I'm doing. I'm,The big thing for me, to be honest. And the big advice I'd probably give to folks on this is maybe less about the why and more about the how. So what I mean by that is how you're showing up in the world. And that's, what's important to me.

It doesn't matter what I'm doing, whether it's career personal life is how am I doing those things? And am I doing it with my authentic voice? Am I doing things because I truly want to do them and that these things are aligned with what I'm supposed to be doing or my doing it for some other superficial reason, or because I think of some perceived reason I need to do it instead of what I truly want to do.

Less about the why for me and more about the, how, hopefully that makes sense.

Olivia: [00:10:32] It definitely makes sense and I find it so interesting because as you started to explain the how, it sounds very much like what I call personally the why. Because I think, we're describing the same things, but you're using how, and I'm using why, but the content and the message there is so important.

And I think as minority leaders, and minority female leaders, it's so important to remain focused on what's important to you and not get distracted by the noise. I feel like even in my early days I was the hold your beer kid yell. So anytime someone would tell me, Oh, girls can't do that.

I'd be like, yeah, okay. Watch this. But then it takes you down this path where you end up doing things to prove other people wrong, not necessarily because they're rewarding for you. And I think that's such a great point. If you're not bringing your authentic self to what you're doing. What point is there really for you to be pursuing that?

So I think that's such a great point, and you are super humble as my friend, my dear friend here, and you never highlight your own achievements. So I'm going to make you uncomfortable and bring this up here, but I remember you telling me that you are on the fifth floor of the Smithsonian museum, which is just mind blowing to me.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you ended up in the Smithsonian? That's crazy.

Jeanine: [00:12:01] Oh, my gosh, Olivia, you are talking about these things? I remember for everyone that's out there that if you are visiting the African-American museum, you know what? I am not sure how that came about and I'm trying to reflect back now and figure out how I even found out about it. But what I have to say is that at the time, it just, pure coincidence, Alyssa was in kindergarten at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which I didn't even know they had a kindergarten program, but they did.

And part of their kindergarten program is that they actually go into the museums every single afternoon. And because it's Smithsonian, they got to tour the museum before the museum was even open to the public. And I remember her even in kindergarten saying that they visited the African American museum and she saw my picture on the fifth floor, which I thought was incredible.

And I hadn't even gotten to see this yet. The museum wasn't even open so that. I am so honored and so humbled to be in any museum. But the fact that whole story kind of came about with Alyssa being in kindergarten and her, that being such a pivotal moment for her in kindergarten, walking into this museum and seeing my picture on there. It just, it gives me chills all over again.

I'm just completely humbled and honored to be recognized like that. And just to be put on display like that.

Olivia: [00:13:34] I love that they have you on display because in my humble opinion, there's no one more deserving. So I love that you're out there. So in the space that you're playing in, you are walking into rooms and walking into aircraft's where you are the only one.

A lot. How do you manage that? Does that affect you in any way? When you look around and you don't see anyone else, either up or across, that looks like you that's doing what you do how does that affect you?

Jeanine: [00:14:08] Yeah, when I joined the coast guard, it brought me back to the feelings of immigrating from Jamaica to Canada.

So Jamaica majority environment, as a black little girl and moving to Canada, minority. So I was a minority at a young age learning how to be in that majority space. So I got that perspective from a very young age. So when I did join the coast guard, it brought me back to some of those feelings of feeling like I don't fit in, physically.

And I think that it probably affected me at my junior points in my career, less as I have gotten senior. And it affected me in a way that it had a way of maybe negatively affecting my confidence. And, it's really when things got stressful and I would start to wonder, or if I'm not performing well and I'm starting to wonder, okay, all right this is hard and I'm looking around and I physically don't fit in.

And then I start to question whether it truly belong. As I've gotten older or more experienced, I've really tried to make that less of a thing that affects me and realize that some of those things might be in my own head. So I need to look past, I need to look. I need to look past those issues and I need to draw from within my own confidence to be able to overcome that insecurity of being an only in a majority.

Olivia: [00:15:46] I love those thoughts, Janine, and I couldn't agree more. I think when you're an only, whether you're the only black. Person or you're the only female or maybe like you and I you're both. Or maybe you're an only man in a female dominated profession, I think in order to survive and thrive, you really do have to figure out how to cancel out that noise.

And you're absolutely right. The noise. A lot of times is internal. Like we have these little crazy voices in our head telling us no one wants to hear what we have to say, or we're not as good as our counterparts. And you have to figure out a way to shut that noise down to truly live your light.

Jeanine: [00:16:32] Absolutely. That negative self-talk becomes addictive. And you have to recognize that it's negative self-talk and you have to push through that noise, just like you mentioned.

Olivia: [00:16:45] Couldn't agree more on the addictive part. I think when I like to say words or spells, right? So anything that you say out loud that you are, you become that it's almost like the self fulfilling prophecy.

So if you keep saying to yourself, I don't belong here. I'm not strong enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not pretty enough. I'm not athletic enough. I'm not enough. Period. It's almost like your subconscious is responding to that and making that come true. We have to learn to take back our control over ourselves and really, speak kindly to ourselves.

And you don't, it's funny growing up, no one teaches you that,

Jeanine: [00:17:26] No, absolutely not. And that's one of the things that I've recognized. Now my daughter, Alyssa, 10, is really trying to teach her some of those things that I wasn't taught when I was younger. It's not only about the academic, but it's growing her personally.

It's growing her confidence. It's growing her soul. It's growing how she shows up in the world as well. Not for other people, but for herself.

Olivia: [00:17:52] Couldn't agree more and Alyssa is just a delight. So whatever you're doing, keep doing that because that little girl I'm telling you, we're all going to be working for her someday.

I'm convinced of it.

Jeanine: [00:18:03] Absolutely.

Olivia: [00:18:05] So you know, more on this theme here. As you're out there, flying around, conquering the world, doing great things, are you ever afraid? And when you get afraid, how do you manage that fear?

Jeanine: [00:18:20] Wow. Yeah, I do. And I think whenever there's change, especially like bi g changes, it's just natural to have a little bit of fear, whether it's a moving states, which in the military, you move every three to four years. Or it's a new job, a higher rank, a new leadership position. I personally think it's natural for me to have a little bit of fear on that. And whenever things or examples like that come up, I try to be as objective as possible with that fear. And I try to really hone in and kind of question, why is that fear a thing? What am I afraid of? If I can answer it, okay. I'm afraid of this happening, this specific thing. And if I can answer that and address it, then easy I move on. But if I can't figure out why I'm afraid of this particular change, then what I try to do is really take a step back and just weigh the two options. I can put my power into this fear or I can put my power into what's on the other side of this fear. Is moving through or making this change a new environment. Am I going to grow in some sort of other way? Is it a new opportunity for me to promote?

Is it a new opportunity to step up my leadership game? If that is the other side of this fear, then for me that's worth it. And that is what kind of helps me push through the fear to get to the other side.

Olivia: [00:19:49] I love that practical approach to managing the fear. I love that because if we can figure out what is triggering us for lack of a better word and then you refocus on your why you can get through it.

So I love that. I think that's a great way to logically break down the sometimes illogical fear responses that we have when we're being challenged and view them as opportunities instead of obstacles. Janine not only are you a success in your professional life, but you also spend a tremendous amount of time in the community. And the folks in the audience, if you haven't had a chance to Google Janine, I would go ahead and do it.

There's a ton of content out there, but one of my favorite stats about you Janine is not only did charter this pack for yourself and the Coast Guard, that's pretty amazing, but you reach back and inspired the next generation of Coast Guard, Black women pilots. There's now I think they, the internet is calling them the fab five.

And you're EO mom to the fab five. So these ladies that have come up behind you that are now helicopter pilots. And, fixed wing pilots were all inspired by you in some sort of way. Can you share a little bit about why that's important to you and your kind of path to lifting these other women up?

Jeanine: [00:21:13] Absolutely. First of all, I love all of them. It's weird. We were. Close knit group. We talk to each other all the time and we really really want to feel a sisterhood between us. So we try to work as best as possible to keep that connection. And we're more than the fab five now. We're actually the fab six because Jordan just got her wings of gold in December and she stationed in Houston and we have three more in flight school right now that are coming behind us.

So we're growing. Yes, we're growing the numbers and we've got lots of goals to accomplish. It's important, when you and just military or non-military. When you look at the numbers of professional Black aviators, Black women, aviators, to be specific, the numbers account we account for less than 1% of in the aviation industry. That is a very low percentage. If we're going to move that metric or move the needle any more to the right and increase those numbers, it's all about exposures. Getting into schools. It's all about, seeing is believing. So letting some other minority little kids know that this is something that they can do.

This is something that they can be. This is something that they can absolutely attain if that's their goal in life. So I'm really passionate about that because when I started flying, I cannot, I think it took years and years for me to meet another female pilot. The industry is dominated by male majority.

So for me to spend some time being the person that I wanted to see when I was younger, I would absolutely do it. And I would spend any extra time I have doing it because it's, what's going to change that statistic from being less than 1% to much higher and more representative of where we are as society.

Olivia: [00:23:14] I couldn't agree more and I didn't realize the numbers were so low. I knew they were low, but 1% is pretty incredible, but it's great to see. And to know that there are women like you, that not only are you taking on your own challenges, as you continue to trailblaze every accomplishment for you is a new thing, because you're the first, but you're taking time to mentor and coach and bring along these other young women. And hopefully they're reaching down and bringing women along with them as well. That's what it's all about. I love that. So if you had a chance, Janine, to speak to your little self. We'll get to Alyssa in a second, for you, if you had a chance to go back and talk to a little Janine, what would you say to her?

Jeanine: [00:23:59] Oh my gosh. Don't fixate on mistakes. Just learn from them and keep it moving and keep it moving quickly. And, I think that's a little bit natural. Things go bad. And in your mind, you tend to think about them over, analyze them, try to figure it out. Maybe the, be depressed about it for a little while, but it's only human to make mistakes.

And I feel like. Making mistakes is what makes me grow to reach a next level or a next level of understanding. So I need to make mistakes to keep growing to keep learning, to keep progressing. And if I just don't fix it so much on the feet, the bad feeling. Or the less than feeling that comes with making those mistakes.

I think I can move on quicker and keep accomplishing more goals really.

Olivia: [00:24:57] Oh, you hit on something here, Janine, because I think, when you think about innovation, and most companies today are on this DEI journey. And the reason they're on this journey is because of the innovation that comes with having people from different backgrounds and different genders and different ages and all different walks of life after a project or a problem to solve really breeds innovation.

But we have to learn to not dwell on those mistakes, because if you don't have a mistake, how are you going to grow? And even if you make a gazillion mistakes, you only have to find that one right way to do whatever it is that you're trying to do. But I, I remember as a little girl myself, I was so afraid of failing or making a mistake.

And I feel like I wasted so much time and cause myself so much stress, just like ruminating on those mistakes instead of just being like, Oh, that didn't work. Let's move. Let's move on.

Jeanine: [00:25:56] Absolutely. And that's part of, I feel growing the next generation is that balance of we're going to celebrate successes, but then let's talk about those mistakes too.

And we're not going to talk about them to dwell on them. We're going to talk about that. Then from the learning perspective of, Hey, okay. So why is this a mistake? What do we learn from this? Okay, great. And maybe even celebrate that too, because then if you put a positive spin on it and you put like this celebratory spin on it, then it doesn't become something that we fear.

Or we just have heartache about. It's something that we're excited about because, Hey, I grew out of this and that's what I want to do. I want to grow.

Olivia: [00:26:40] Couldn't agree more. You can't grow without those challenges. So Janine, for the women in our audience that may be listening, who want to do more, but are afraid of the challenges or the perceptions or whatever that may be holding them back what would you say to them?

Jeanine: [00:26:59] Hopefully I don't get in trouble from Nike here, but my answer is just, it's just do it. You know what. it's what do you want to give your power to? Do you want to give your power to the fear of not accomplishing something? Or do you want to actually give your power to your accomplishments and give your power to your goals? This goes back to that fear conversation. We had a little bit earlier in I think that if I give my power to the fear, then I'm going to be missing out on so much success that's on the other side of that fear.

This reminds me of when I was joining the Coast Guard. One of my major challenges is that I didn't know how to swim and that could have been a significant roadblock for me, especially since after you join, after you get sent to flight school within two weeks of classing up, you have to swim a mile.

And I was extremely intimidated by that. But at that time I thought, okay, all right, I'm going to have to buckle down. I have exactly, I think it was maybe let's see, five months between joining the Coast Guard and going straight to flight school. So I had to learn how to swim in five months and be able to swim that mile. And in less than a year I was able to do it and it's all because I considered and I weighed the options. Do I want this fear to prevent me from doing what I want to do, which has joined the coast guard and fly for the Coast Guard? Which one is bigger? I want to join the Coast Guard and I want to fly for the Coast Guard.

So this little thing that meet the little thing, like not knowing how to swim and afraid of putting my head under the water. That's just going to have to go away. I'm just needing to check that box and keep it moving.

Olivia: [00:28:44] I read there. It is again, I think common theme here in focusing on what you want and not letting the noise, including the fear.

It could be other people. It could be yourself not letting that stop you from pursuing your dreams. Can't agree anymore. And for those in the audience that don't know this like swimming situation is real. I think we all the Coast Guard has very few minorities. The Coast Guard Academy, I think has even fewer. I want to say the percentage is like 6% at this point, but when you get there for your summer introduction, and you're like the boots and everybody's running you around and running you ragged. And in that first week, they set you up with the pool and I didn't know how to swim either.

And I remember our very first task at the pool we had to climb up the ladder. And then you were supposed to jump off the dive board into the pool. Janine, did you, was that the same exercise for you?

Jeanine: [00:29:43] Olivia the first time we were in the pool, I can even put my head under water. So forget jumping off the dive board I got in the shallow end and would not let go of the side or put my head on the water.

Okay. That's how much of a mess I was.

Olivia: [00:30:01] And I had the same thought process. I was like either I'm going to jump off of this dive board and maybe make a fool of myself and maybe drown or I'm going to have to swallow my pride and not graduate and go home in defeat because I let this swimming pool defeat me and I would not be defeated, but it was ugly.

And fact, myself and most of my classmates, we spent. Three years in rock swimming is what they called it. It took us three years to pass that lifeguard test. You mentioning that just brought back is hilarious, but also terrifying memories. So thanks for that.

Jeanine: [00:30:40] Anytime, anytime. Okay.

Olivia: [00:30:44] The success that we all share, I think as women, now well into our careers, doesn't happen by itself. So did you have any mentors or advocates that helped you along the way? And if you did, what would your advice be to the audience if they don't currently have a mentor or an advocate?

Jeanine: [00:31:06] Absolutely. Mentors, advocates, on every step of the way I can think of someone who helped me in some capacity and, a mentor, an advocate. It doesn't necessarily needs to be someone that's senior to you. It could be a senior, or it could be a peer, or it could be someone who's junior to you that gives you inspiration in some capacity.

The fab five, we talked about them before, Lashonda, Angel, Chanel, and Ronnie. We, this is not a one-way street where I'm, talking to them as their senior. They provide advice to me, to we really go back and forth. And it's more of a social circle than this mentor mentee relationship.

And I would say, to ladies in the audience who don't have mentors, or don't have someone in your social circle that you want to emulate, then you need to find some more friends, that can help you out. And it's important because if you have friends in your social circle that you would like to emulate that is what's going to help you get to the places that you want to be. And that's what's going to help you accomplish those goals is because you are going to be around people who you want to think so you need to, be around people who are going to help you think in that way, the way that your future social circle will be, hopefully that makes sense.

Olivia: [00:32:31] No, it makes absolute sense. I have so many mentors and advocates myself. I couldn't end there all sorts of people, there are older people there. Some of them are younger people. There are people that look like me, people who don't look like me, men, women, immigrants, people from the United States.

Honestly, you really can learn just about anything from someone.

Jeanine: [00:32:54] Exactly. Exactly. Cause you're going to either learn what you want to do or you're going to learn what you don't want to do so you can learn from any situation.

Olivia: [00:33:05] Oh, I couldn't agree more. And I'm reading this book right now, Minority Leader.

And it is so good. And there's a section in the book that talks about mentors and advocates and how sometimes, you have a mentor that you need just for a season, right? This person doesn't necessarily end up becoming a lifelong friend, but to get you through whatever stage in life, you're in it's necessary to gain insight or input.

It's they're these guides for you. So I would offer that up to the audience as well. Just because you have a mentor that's helping you through something now doesn't mean that this person necessarily needs to be a permanent. Fixture in your life, but you definitely should be gathering experiences and feedback from people outside of your inner circle, because it helps you see the world in a different light and may provide you the guidance that you need to reach them.

Jeanine: [00:34:02] Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more.

Olivia: [00:34:05] Okay. So as we're getting to the end here, I can't believe the time has gone past so quickly. I'd like to ask you this question. What do you love most about yourself?

Jeanine: [00:34:15] I would say positivity. I, I think even from a young age, I've always just looked at the plus side, the upside, and that probably keeps me happier and it keeps me motivated and it keeps me most of all moving forward and looking forward in life.

So just staying positive.

Olivia: [00:34:38] You are the eternal optimist, I think. And it's so funny because it's strange that we're so close friends because I feel like I'm the stereotypical engineer, I'm like calculating and weighing, and sometimes it may not be positive based on what I'm seeing, but I do just love your positivity.

And I will say it's infectious. Even if I'm having a day, I could be around you for five seconds. And all of a sudden, whatever was aggravating me is so much better. There's something to be said for that positivity for certain.

Jeanine: [00:35:11] Yay. That makes me happy. Cause I truly, I like to my core that's how I feel. I feel positive.

Olivia: [00:35:19] I love it. And these days today with all that you've accomplished, how do you define success these days?

Jeanine: [00:35:25] That's a good one because I think that definition for me has evolved over the years, asked me when I first joined the Coast Guard or yeah, when I first joined the Coast Guard, what my definition of success was it was just a graduate flight school.

I just wanted, I just want to finish and I just want to graduate. But now I reflect and I think finding happiness in peace. I think is my new definition of success and happiness by enjoying all the goals that I've accomplished. Like you need to take time and enjoy that. Cause you've worked, years and years to get to the point where you are, where I am and then peace with the things I'm still challenged with.

So it being human is not perfect. So there are still things that about myself that I would like to work on, but when I say peace is just accepting those as challenges and accepting that I'm going to continue working on it and being a peace about it,

Olivia: [00:36:22] I couldn't agree more these days protecting my peace is absolutely number one priority for me.

Don't get me wrong. There's still plenty of stuff that I want to do. Peace is definitely an important one. Okay. Last question here. Let's talk about Alyssa for a second. As you think about your amazing 10 year old little girl, what is it that's most important for you as she has two pilots for parents and she's grown up in the super diverse dynamic environment.

What is your greatest wish for her? And what one piece of advice would you, if she was listening right now, would you give to her.

Jeanine: [00:37:10] I wish for her just to be, as she goes through all her endeavors in life, that she remains a whole happy human being. Really that it's just that simple, I, whatever goals that she has, I know that she's going to accomplish.

And I know that she's going to go after everything that she wants in life. And as she goes on that journey, I just want to make sure that she retains that, that happiness that she has about her in that ease of life that she has about her. I don't want her to lose that as she gets into adulthood.

I want her to to maintain her whole self.

Olivia: [00:37:49] I love that if we all could just maintain our whole selves, I think this world would be such a better place. Yeah. Amazing. Janine, I cannot tell you what a treat this was for me. Thank you so much for joining us and to all our listeners out there.

Thank you for hanging with us. Please stay tuned. As we continue to have these episodes as we go on this season and hearing more from all of these phenomenal women who are challenging. The status quo in every area of their lives. We have more amazing content for you as the season progresses. So thank you again, Janine for joining us, this has been absolutely a treat and we will see you all next time.

Jeanine: [00:38:33] It was my pleasure. Thank you so much. And I loved it.