When Women Fly - 054 Secrets to Getting and Staying Strong with Mandy Hoffman - Flight Attendant, Fitness Coach, and Mom

054 Secrets to Getting and Staying Strong with Mandy Hoffman - Flight Attendant, Fitness Coach, and Mom

10/19/21 • 53 min

Mandy Hoffman seems to do it all. Balancing being a flight attendant, business owner, and mother of two children may seem like an impossible task. Her secret? Put your oxygen mask on first!
In this episode, Sylvia and Mandy discuss finding the courage to stand up for what you believe in and pursue your dreams. They discuss the complicated balance of wellness, how Mandy’s online fitness program Strong Flight is helping people meet their fitness goals, body positivity and body shaming, why fitness needs to end its obsession with skinny, and much more.
Topics Include:
- Making career pivots after becoming a mother
- Turning a dream into a business
- Risk mitigation in aviation, and how we can use it in our lives
- How contingency planning can nurture resilience
- How to perform an emergency landing in your life
- Living a life of service
- Catalyzing change for others
- Goal setting
- How to use the “Five Whys” exercise to form a new habi.
- Mindfulness and the power of intention setting
- Navigating social media as a business owner
- And other topics ...
Mandy Hoffman is the owner of Strong Flight, an online home fitness service without sacrifice. Her passion is celebrating movement with people, whether through exercise classes or one-on-one personal training. She is also a part-time flight attendant and manages to balance these two occupations with the busy job of being a mother. Through her work in fitness and aviation, Mandy discovered that many of aviation's unique approaches to repetitive actions and system management could be applied and interwoven into other areas of life. She holds a degree in exercise science from Salem State University.
Resources Mentioned:
Instagram: @mandystrongflight
TikTok: @mandystrongflight
Website: https://www.strongflight.com/
Want to connect? Visit us online and signup for the monthly WWF newsletter!
Website – https://www.whenwomenfly.com/
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest – @whenwomenfly
Email – [email protected]

Previous Episode

053 Sacrificing for Success and Setting Priorities with Olga Custodio - First Female Hispanic U.S. Military Pilot

In this episode, we talk to Olga Custodio about finding success in a male-dominated profession, balancing family and professional life when pursuing career goals, why accessibility is the key to mentorship, and much more.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Olga Custodio didn’t give up on her dream of serving her country when she was repeatedly blocked from enlisting in the military. Ten years after her first attempted she was finally accepted into the US Air Force, becoming the first Latina to complete graining in the U.S. Air Force as a military pilot. She also became the first Hispanic female pilot at American Airlines flying domestic and international routes retiring as a Captain after 20 years with American Airlines. She reflects on instructing and flying the supersonic T-38.
While breaking barriers and overcoming challenges as a woman in a male-dominated profession throughout her career, Olga has gained valuable insights that she shares in this conversation and to her wider audiences. Olga is a consummate mentor. A mentor for mentors. She is a generous and supportive advocate for girls, inspiring and empowering students - especially those from underserved communities and middle-schoolers - to pursue careers in STEM generally and aviation / aerospace specifically.

Topics Include:

Being born into a military family in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Growing up abroad
The influence of Olga’s mother and grandmother
Voicing your dreams and ambitions
Flying and training supersonic jet in the military
Becoming the first female T-38 flight instructor at Laughlin Air Force Base.
Inspiring and empowering women and young girls
Women in STEM
Olga’s love for Hispanic arts and cultural heritage
Ballet Folklorico Borikèn, trans. The Puerto Rican Folk Ballet
The “where there is a will, there is power” mantra
And other topics...

Olga Custodio is a former United States Air Force officer who became the first female Hispanic U.S. military pilot. Upon retiring from the military, she became the first female Hispanic commercial airline captain of American Airlines. Olga is a Trustee of the Order of Daedalians Foundation, a Board Member and Treasurer for the Women in Aviation Alamo City Chapter, and a Board Member for the Dee Howard Foundation. Custodio also serves as vice president of the Hispanic Association of Aviation and Aerospace Professionals (HAAAP). These organizations inspire young students in the San Antonio and surrounding areas to seek civilian and military aviation careers.
Resources Mentioned:
http://www.purflygirl.com/
Want to connect? Visit us online and signup for the monthly WWF newsletter!
Website – https://www.whenwomenfly.com/
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest – @whenwomenfly
Email – [email protected]

Next Episode

055 On Fear, Motherhood, and Mindfulness with Professional Snowboarder Kimmy Fasani - Advocate for Gender Parity in Sports

What happens when you have two very big but different dreams vying for your focus? Do you choose one? Or do you risk pursuing both and in doing so commit to a bigger conversation?

This was the dilemma faced by today’s guest—a woman who knows a thing or two about what it takes to face the odds, execute physical comebacks and establish herself as a legend in the world of snowboarding.

Meet Kimmy Fasani — Snowboarder. Voice for female athletes. Mother. Mountain Baker. Author. Director of Storytelling @andmother_org. And so much more.
Kimmy Fasani has been a pioneer in women’s snowboarding since she became the first female snowboarder to land a double backflip in the park and the powder in 2011. In this episode, Sylvia and Kimmy discuss balancing family life with a busy career. Kimmy shares how she discovered the truth about happiness after having her first child, living life without limits, and how women can show up as their authentic selves in all areas of life.

This is a conversation about the ongoing journey of finding our way through incredible highs and the inevitable lows in career and personal lives. Kimmy is a trailblazer and voice for women walking that tightrope between career and family. We get a candid unfiltered version of what the journey is like connecting with both the desire to have a family and the desire to get deep into adventures. This conversation allows us to not only look at progression and motherhood in a new way but also offers powerful insights into mindset and fear.

Topics Include:

Balancing motherhood and a career
Pressure and managing it as a professional athlete
Finding connection in the physical world
Experiencing loss and processing it
Asking for help as a woman
Owning your authenticity and being transparent
Mentoring the younger generation of pro athletes
Mindfulness and the importance of presence in the context of fear
And other topics...

Kimmy Fasani is a legend in the world of snowboarding, and an incredible athlete both on and off the slopes. In 2016, Kimmy earned the women’s Rider of the Year and Video Part of the Year honors. Her cookbook, The Mountain Baker, launched in 2020. Kimmy’s resume also includes a strong social media following and a stack of published photos. She is a vocal ambassador for Boarding For Breast Cancer, Protect Our Winters, LIV Bicycles, and luluemon. Kimmy and her husband, Chris Benchetler- a professional skier married in 2011, are also Co-Owners in Dessert’D Organic Bake Shop, an organic/all natural bakery with a storefront in Mammoth Lakes, CA. They are also co-owners in Juneshine Hard Kombucha, and Marea Coffee.
Resources Mentioned:
Website: http://kimmyfasani.com/
Instagram: @KimmyFasani
&Mother: https://andmother.org/
Cookbook: The Mountain Baker – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085RDDM9Y/
Dessert’D Organic Bake Shop – https://www.dessertd.com/
Juneshine Hard Kombucha – https://juneshine.com/
Marea Coffee – https://mareacoffee.com/
The Five Love Languages – https://www.5lovelanguages.com/
Want to connect? Visit us online and signup for the monthly WWF newsletter!
Website – https://www.whenwomenfly.com/
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest – @whenwomenfly
Email – [email protected]