{"id":17426,"date":"2023-02-24T11:48:11","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T17:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/?p=17426"},"modified":"2023-02-24T11:48:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T17:48:11","slug":"why-diversity-matters-ngpa-2023-winter-warm-up-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/2023\/02\/24\/why-diversity-matters-ngpa-2023-winter-warm-up-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Diversity Matters \u2013 NGPA 2023 Winter Warm Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a feature article from Envoy Communications Specialist,\u00a0Katie Hall<\/strong>, who attended the 2023 National Gay Pilots Association (NGPA) Winter Warm Up in Palm Springs, California earlier this month.<\/em><\/p>\n

A little about me<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As the newest member of the Envoy Communications team, and coming in with experience working pretty much anywhere but aviation, I had no clue what to expect when the opportunity arose to attend my first conference. But, as with every project I\u2019ve gotten to take part in here at Envoy, I was eager to jump headfirst into the experience.<\/p>\n

Sure, I\u2019ve been to quite a few conferences before, but none of them were anything like the NGPA Winter Warm-Up, celebrating pride and diversity on the flight deck and all across the aviation industry.<\/p>\n

Wheels down in PSP<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"One cool thing I learned when registering for the event is that this annual conference is hosted in Palm Springs, California \u2013 a city I hadn\u2019t yet been able to visit before \u2013 and as a big fan of Mid-Century Modern architecture and furniture, I was extra excited to take off for the trip.<\/p>\n

At the convention center, attendees were greeted with bright, colorful signs, welcoming us to the conference. Since we arrived shortly after the Industry Expo began, we quickly made our way to registration to pick up our badges and check out the expo.<\/p>\n

Envoy recently became a top-tier,\u00a0Titanium Level Sponsor of NGPA<\/a>, alongside major airlines such as American Airlines. Along with providing scholarships and supporting events such as the Winter Warm Up, it was great to see our logo on the programs handed out to all attendees. Of course I had to snag a picture of the Envoy logo with the Palm Trees in the background!<\/p>\n

Checking in and Warming Up<\/strong>
\n\"\"The NGPA Winter Warm Up event is one of the largest recruiting event for pilots across the United States \u2013 so it was really interesting to be able to walk around the conference center and see many of the the different companies, schools and people who make up this massive, exciting industry. I met people from some of Envoy\u2019s\u00a0Cadet partner schools<\/a>, met several Envoy pilots who received conditional job offers (CJOs) at American Airlines\u00a0(congrats, Anthony and Matt!)<\/em>, and learned more from Envoy\u2019s Air Operations Recruitment team about all the programs, events and work that goes into supporting an event such as the Warm Up.<\/p>\n

Breaking through and breaking out<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to the main exposition event, throughout the day on Friday the NGPA hosted breakout sessions that covered a broad range of important topics relevant to so many members of the LGBTQ+ community who work in the aviation industry. Just a few of the sessions I was able to catch included:<\/p>\n