Writer

Amy Wilder

“Nobody wants to live a scripted life.”
That admonition from an Air Force general decades ago was the push that propelled Nicole Malachowski to finalize her application to be the first female Thunderbird pilot in U.S. Air Force history. On March 19, she delivered that same message to thousands of attendees gathered for the opening session of the 37th annual Women in Aviation International conference in Dallas, saying, “Don’t you ever write yourself out of the script.”
“Believe those who believe in you,” Malachowski told the audience. “And that is the beauty of WAI.”
Malachowski framed her keynote around two types of barriers people face in their careers: external obstacles embedded in systems, structures, and policies; and internal barriers that exist in the mind. She urged the audience to break both types, using integrity as a tool.
“You break barriers…by maintaining fidelity to who you are,” she said. “What are your personal values and why? What do you aspire to every day? If you know those values and you live by them, you will navigate hardship, barriers, and challenges a lot smoother and a lot more efficiently than the next person.”
She shared her own values: courage, compassion, and curiosity.
The path to becoming a Thunderbird pilot illustrates the power of both types of barriers. Growing up in Las Vegas, Malachowski said she was too short to be a showgirl. “So I went with plan B,” she joked—becoming a fighter pilot in an era when only 2,000 of the Air Force’s 12,000 active duty pilots flew fighters, and only six Thunderbird slots existed at any given time.
“The idea of speaking that dream out loud to other people? No way,” she recalled. “The voice in my head would say, ‘Other people become Thunderbirds.’”
But a mentor told her it was acceptable to dream big and accept risk in pursuit of personal and professional growth. That external voice of belief helped overcome the internal barrier of self-doubt.
After joining the Thunderbirds, Malachowski often signed autographs for children who watched the team’s airshows. “The coolest part about being a Thunderbird pilot happened after we landed,” she said. The children’s excitement “had nothing to do with me. It’s what I represented to them. It means something to see someone who looks like you, succeeding.”
One child told her, “I couldn’t tell which plane you were.” Malachowski’s response: “That’s exactly the point.”
Looking around the conference hall, Malachowski reflected on the gathering. “How lucky am I? How lucky are we?” she asked. “To have this cohort, to be here together” with skill, professionalism, credibility, and experience, “a lot of people who’ve overcome a lot of barriers to get here.”
Sasha Johnson, v-p of corporate safety at United Airlines, which sponsored the opening session, emphasized the importance of mentorship in her remarks. She credited WAI CEO Lynda Coffman, who worked at United when Johnson started her time there, as a mentor who “told the truth about challenges” and served as a “guiding light.”
“The most important thing women can do for each other” is to serve as examples, “when you don’t realize other people are watching you,” Johnson said. She encouraged women to pursue diverse career pathways in aviation, noting that United brought 100 people to the conference.
“We need you at the table, we need you in the boardrooms, we need you as a maintenance professional,” Johnson said. “Our future in this industry is incredibly bright.”
Coffman opened the session by noting that WAI is “holding steady” at 20,000 members, including representation from more than 100 countries. She emphasized the organization’s financial discipline, noting that it maintains a four-star rating from Charity Navigator and is building cash reserves.
The organization awarded $530,000 in scholarships in 2025 and will award $610,000 this year during a celebration scheduled for March 20 at the conference. WAI also celebrated its largest International Girls in Aviation Day in history last fall, with 40,000 girls participating in hands-on aviation experiences in more than 30 countries.
Coffman announced a Global Access Program beginning on April 1 that will offer adjusted membership and chapter dues for women in economically developing regions. The 2026 seed funding came from WAI’s board of directors through personal financial commitments.
The board members believe in a global community where opportunity should not be held back by financial barriers, Coffman said. “Your generosity is truly going to change lives around the world.”
Liz Booker, a retired U.S. Coast Guard helicopter pilot who created the “Literary Aviatrix” website and podcast, received the inaugural Spirit of Service Award, one of two new awards the organization launched. Samantha Bowyer of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University received the Mentor of the Year Award.
The conference also marks the 50th anniversary of women being admitted to the U.S. military academies in 1976. Coffman recognized military attendees and noted that many could not attend due to deployments to the Middle East.
Conference emcee Sarah Kalmeta, an international leadership strategist and trainer, encouraged attendees to explore exhibitors in adjacent fields. “Without all of that support and service, we could not actually get off the ground,” she said.
More than 500 volunteers are supporting the three-day conference.

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