Hello! My name is Laya Damaraju and I am a senior from Brevard County working towards earning my Private Pilot's License. The purpose of this site is to represent my goals of introducing aviation-related careers and topics to girls in the elementary school to high school range.

 

From an early age, I have been involved in STEM activities, especially heavily participating and winning awards in science fairs. As a girl, I have always felt the gender discrepancy in these events and the special recognition females would get when we had won awards or dominated in a male-majority area. However, this disparity became even more apparent to me upon entering the field of aviation. When I first learned about the prospect of training to become a pilot, I immediately jumped on the opportunity. First entering my flight school, I distinctively remember a female flight instructor remarking how "there is finally another female joining the aviation community". This really opened my eyes to the polarity in genders in aviation alone.

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As I continued exploring this incongruity, I realized that it had taken me 15 years to discover careers in the field of aviation. If I had found this earlier, I could have diverted many of my interests in this direction and spent more time learning about this expansive area. 

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This exact thought process lead me to realizing that I wanted to provide a place for girls of different ages where they could be introduced to the field of aviation and provided opportunities to branch out into this field. So, I opened The Girls of Aviation hoping to do exactly that! 

 

When I became a member of Women in Aviation International (WAI), a 501c nonprofit dedicated to a similar cause, and joined the Space Coast Florida Tech Chapter, I saw how much the experienced officers were willing to help and how this would be the perfect set of individuals to work with for my goal. Hence, I partnered with the Space Coast Florida Tech WAI Chapter.

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In my free time, I like to continue my flight training, play volleyball, and listen to music. 

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We are so excited to introduce this cause in Brevard County through various activities and events and we hope for you to join us! 

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