One on One

with Sandra Campbell

Manager of Technical Administrative Support Staff, Small Plane Directorate, FAA

After giving a stirring tribute during a grave side ceremony that celebrated the accomplishments of three pioneering women in aviation, Sandra Campbell talked with diversityinbusiness.com about her career and passion for telling the Bessie Coleman story.

dib: What is your position within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)?

SC:  I’m the Manager of the Technical and Administrative Support Staff for the Small Plane Directorate.  We certify the world’s fleet of general aviation airplanes, 16,000 pounds and below – and some corporate jets, 90,000 pounds.  We have offices in 16 cities, including Chicago, in four regions.  I’m based in Kansas City, and my responsibilities include budget, planning, recruitment, staffing, HR, training, travel, labor-employee relations, EEO, IT, logistics, supplies, records management, etc., for all of our offices and employees.

dib: How did you develop an interest in aviation?

SC:  I began my federal career in 1970, and a few years later married a U.S. Marine.  As our family moved to various locations, I continued my federal career.  Eventually, that led me to employment with the FAA in 1978.

dib: What inspired you to travel around telling the story of Bessie Coleman in a 1920s pilot’s uniform?

SC:  In 1995, I had the wonderful opportunity to stand in for Bessie Coleman’s posthumous induction into the Women in Aviation Hall of Fame.  It was there that I learned for the first time of some of the obstacles Bessie had to overcome to become a pilot.  At the time, I was the Public Affairs Officer for FAA Central Region and managed the Aviation Education Program as part of my duties. I had spent many hours in classrooms, career fairs, science fairs, and other events, exposing young people to aviation history and careers.  I realized then that I didn't know of Bessie Coleman's struggles, there were many others--especially young people--who were missing that part of history.  I needed to tell the story.

A year later, I hadn’t done anything with the idea.  Then, I got a desperate call from a middle school that needed someone from the FAA to come and inspire the kids.  The principal told some horror stories about truancy, poor grade point averages in math and science, all kinds of things.  The kids had no motivation to learn, and the principal wanted someone who could inspire them.

I told the principal that I would get her someone the next day for the school’s Black History Month assembly.  As soon as I hung up, I knew I had to get Bessie Coleman out there, but I didn’t know how, or what she should say.  I found a place to rent a costume, then went home, and wrote forty pages of notes from two books that I owned.  I flipped through pages, and thought of things in my own life and how they paralleled Bessie’s and I weaved them into a story.

The next day, I went to a management team meeting wearing the outfit in front of all my peers, and then I left and went to the school.  I returned to the office to find several messages from the regional flight surgeon anxious to speak with me about the costume he had seen me in earlier that day and what exactly I had been doing.  After explaining to him what had occurred, he got excited. The next thing I knew, he was ordering an authentic leather helmet in my size and looking for ways to help me get the rest of the costume together. He and another coworker eventually purchased the goggles and a leather bomber jacket so that I would not have to rent the costume again.  The local and regional chapters of NBCFAE also became involved.  In the beginning, they rented the costume or pieces of it until I was able to pull it all together myself.

I see the passion in the eyes of people – not only children – as I try to imitate what I think Bessie Coleman would have looked like, and how I think she would have spoken, and what I think she would have said.  So, using my own imagination, I try to weave a story that other people can not only buy into, but also see how they can use Bessie's experiences to follow their own dreams.  That’s what gives me the passion.  I’ve seen the lights come on, and find that people are hungry for messages that tell them to follow their dreams.

dib: What do you see as the central message of Bessie Coleman’s life?

SC:  I think Bessie’s message is this: Don’t give up on yourself; don’t give up on your dreams.  When a French reporter asked Bessie what made her persevere after encountering so many obstacles, she said, and I quote, “I refuse to take 'no' as an answer.” Most of us, when we hear ‘no’ a few times, throw up our hands and forget about our dreams.  Bessie proved that if you keep going in (the direction of your dreams), you will get there, eventually.