From the start, I was always drawn to aviation. Growing up, my lifetime dream was to become a Flight Attendant. I was born in San Diego, California. Both of my parents are Hispanic, my mother is from Mexico and my father is from Guatemala. I spent the first couple years of my life in San Diego. My father retired when I was ten years old and decided to move the family to Ensenada, Baja California Mexico, where I finished high school. I lived a total of ten years in Mexico, had my first child, and married at the very young age of 18. When pregnant with my son I attended High School in San Diego. To obtain a U.S. diploma, I took a special course for pregnant teenage girls and graduated right before my son was born at 19 years old.
In 1993 my husband and I decided to move with our son to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Mexico, where I worked two jobs simultaneously. The first was a job at a resort selling timeshares and the other was as a reservation agent for Aero California Airlines, a Mexican airline that operated with ten DC-9 airplanes based in La Paz, Baja California Mexico. This was the start of my aviation career.
Only a year later, we made the decision to come back home. Our son was spending a lot of time in day care and we had help from my mother back at home. So I transferred to Tijuana International Airport working for the same airline but this time as a ticket and gate agent. I worked there for another year but got to enjoy the environment of working in the airport and around airplanes instead of behind the scenes as a reservation agent. After finding some stability since the birth of my son I decided it was a great time to follow my dream to become a flight attendant. I started applying to all the major airlines in the United States. After three years in aviation, I was fortunate to interview with Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines. American and United both extended me an offer to attend training for a Flight Attendant position, but I ultimately decided to go with United Airlines because there was a better chance I would be based in the west coast.
My flight attendant training was the most amazing experience I could have ever imagined. Learning about new cultures, evacuating ten different types of airplanes, serving caviar, wines, desserts, all these exotic commodities introduced to me a world with limitless opportunities. While in training my entire class ended up getting based out of Los Angeles, California. For some it was an absolute nightmare but for me it could not have worked out any better. We moved from Tijuana to San Diego so my commute to work would be easier. I was extremely happy here, I loved my job, my marriage was well, we bought a house, I was visiting new places I had only dreamed about and I was doing what I loved: flying. Then, in 1997 I became pregnant, my world turned upside down and I was faced with the biggest decision I have ever had to make.
I gave birth to my daughter on October 16th, 1997. I was twenty-four years old with my second child. During my pregnancy the doctors delivered me the news that my child was going to be born with some severe medical conditions– all of which were unfamiliar to me. It was detected early on and I knew that my decision to continue with the pregnancy had the potential of risking my job, a ‘normal’ life, and left our family to gamble with the life expectancy of my future daughter. Josana Maria Zepeda was born that day; it was hailing outside, but in the delivery room a new light came into my life to change everything. She was born with a rare condition called Holoprosencephaly. Physically Holoprosencephaly is a condition where the forebrain of the embryo fails to develop to two hemispheres. This was accompanied with a severe mid line cleft lip and palate and diabetes insipidus, a rare chronic sodium imbalance, which causes her to dehydrate easily. She was also diagnosed as severely mentally disabled with a unique form of epilepsy. We were told she only had a ten percent chance of making it to six months old, and that most kids with this condition do not live past one year of age.
I am happy to say today Josana is 18 years old, has beat all the odds, and continues to bring happiness to our home day after day. She has taught us the true meaning of life. The first years of her life were the hardest, spending more time inside the hospital then at home. She has had a total of five reconstructive surgeries to repair her cleft lip and palate. Josana has been on medications since birth, she depends on them to survive. To date she takes 28 pills a day to control her seizures, thyroid condition, and diabetes insipidus. We do not know what Josana's life expectancy is, but we do know she is one of the oldest people with her condition. Throughout her life she has seen many specialists including researchers at a program for Holoprosencephaly at Stanford University. Her life is a day-by-day deal. She is mentally about a two year old, but physically has developed normal for her age, at 18 she weighs 126 lbs and is 4' 11" feet tall, she is non verbal, wears diapers, has a feeding tube. She is able to walk with assistance, but we transport her in a wheel chair. We have been through some tremendous struggles but also beautiful highs with her.
Overall she is like a normal, active teenager, usually happy and playful– with a few teenaged induced mood swings when she doesn’t get her way. We configured our home for her needs. Josana's step-dad built an indoor playroom so she could have a safe space to roam freely with all padded walls and floors. Josana attends a public high school as well as several therapies including aqua, speech, music and her favorite hippo therapy which consist of riding horses bare back to help with her posture, mood, and coordination. We have a nurse that the state of Arizona provides for her. Almost everyday she comes to our home to attend to her needs and teach her independent life skills. Since the day of her birth, Josana has been my true motivation in life.
When Josana was eight months old, I went back to work to United Airlines full time as a Flight Attendant. It was shortly thereafter that I flew a transcontinental flight on a Boeing 777; I remember that flight clearly. I was in the cabin, after finishing my flight attendant duties when I decided to go to the flight deck to talk to the pilots. On that flight we had a female Captain. Becoming a pilot always intrigued me so I began asking her a lot of questions related to the job. Fortunately this Captain was a mentor for United Airline employees interested in becoming pilots – the perfect person to talk to about flying. On that flight she guided me and gave me an idea on what to expect financially as well as the different paths I could take to obtain a pilot’s license and certificates.
Without any hesitation, I went to a local flight school in San Diego and signed up for a discovery flight. My first flight took me over the San Diego harbor, and it was this moment with my palms clenched onto the yoke of this Cessna 152 that my destiny was sealed: I had discovered my passion.
I was able to obtain a six-month personal leave from United and found financial help with loans and through my family. I enrolled myself at Pacific Western University to obtain my bachelor's degree in Business Administration, which added to attending to my five year old son and Josana’s jam packed medical needs. My whole family and I were in and out of doctor visits, specialty doctors, planned surgeries, and somehow it only motivated me to work harder to make everything work out.
My daughter inspired me in a great way. My thought was and is still this: if she has beaten all the odds, and is making it through life, no obstacle is big enough to stop me from beating all the odds in having a successful piloting career.
My marriage did not survive all the stresses and changes occurring in my life. I ended up a single mother, in aviation school, attending college, as well as attending to my young son and special needs daughter. I finished my ratings: Private, Instrument, Commercial, Multi-engine, CFI, CFII, MEI, Ground Instructor, in six months. I was offered a position as a Ground/Flight Instructor at American Flyers. I earned my bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a 3.7 GPA and went back to United full time as a flight attendant. The only way I was able to instruct, be a flight attendant, and care for my children was to hire a live-in nanny. I was raising this family on my own. Luckily my mother happened to have a friend in Mexico that was looking for a job like this, and was happy to help us out.
After two years as a flight instructor and a full-time flight attendant, I was hired as a first officer flying Grand Canyon tours for Air Vegas, based in Las Vegas flying the BE-99 turbo prop. It was just after September 11th, so United was offering a volunteer furlough and I took it. We moved to Las Vegas, with my two kids and our nanny. I had to find new doctors, therapies, schools, and services for my daughter, a new school for my son, it took some time, but we soon became established in our new home. Leaving my home and two great jobs in San Diego to start off in a new city made my financial situation very difficult. Not only was my pay significantly cut, my ex-husband was unemployed and not helping the kids and me financially. I had to do something about it, but my schedule and options were limited, so by day I was flying planes at Air Vegas and at night I was waitressing at a gentlemen’s club near the Vegas strip. Despite the reputation of working at such an establishment I was proud of myself for managing my time to have my life, and give my kids everything they needed. I was moving forward in my aviation career and had all obligations met 100 percent of the time.
After one year of flying the canyon, I was hired at Mesa Airlines as a first officer, based in Phoenix, Arizona flying the DHC-8. So here we went again, one year later, packed up a U-haul, kids, and nanny and moved to Phoenix. Once established we ended up with great services in Arizona for my daughter, and good schooling for my son. I was happy and did everything to stay on the right track.
But again new city, new job, new life and finances were tight. With only the flying commuter job, I had no choice but to work part time waitressing at a nightclub again, managing both jobs. I became good friends with the manager where I waitressed at, and he gave me the opportunity to work while on reserve. There were several days when I would be serving mixed drinks all night then had to change from what was essentially lingerie into a pilot uniform. I was so tired most of the time but the lack of sleep was worth it.
I upgraded to Captain at the first opportunity. I was lucky to get a slot on the DHC-8 based in Phoenix. United recalled me back to be a flight attendant in 2006 but I had to make the heartbreaking decision to resign as a flight attendant and move forward with my new career. It was a bittersweet moment but I knew this was the right decision.
At Mesa Airlines I happened to meet a very special person. The last few years had been a whirlwind of a time and I had forgotten what having a relationship was like. Having a child and husband at such a young age, dating was never something I was familiar with. He was a ramp agent for Mesa, and for some reason always worked my flights. Hmmmm. However, there was something deep inside me that I was having a hard time accepting. I didn't think anyone would be interested in me for a long term commitment or a serious relationship, because I had a lot of baggage; much, much more than two carry-ons worth. Whoever would consider me as a partner would have to consider my daughter, a special person who simply put would never grow up, go to college, or get married. She will always have to be at home, at my care. All her needs will have to be met. She will never be independent.
Meeting him was different though. From day one Josana intrigued this hard working ramper. We started a relationship together. Even with having a daughter of his own in Panama he was always supportive of the kids and me. He had respect for what I had to do, to have made it this far in my career, and was always supporting me and helping me. At first there was conflict between him and my son. Harody’s came into my life when Jose was twelve years old, with his dad and I recently divorced, plus had to relocate a couple times, and at his young early teenage years, he was just discovering himself. However, Harody’s was coming out of a rough transitional period as well. At a young age he came alone from Panama to the U.S. to make more money hoping to support his daughter and himself. After a while my son Jose and Harodys came to terms and have now developed a father-son relationship with one another. After eight years of us being together, on May 8th 2010, we got married. He has been a true blessing in my life, a tremendous help for my children, and we are still happily married.
In 2006 I was hired at Allegiant Air as a first officer on the MD-80 based out of Las Vegas. I was tired of moving, so we made the decision to buy a house in Gilbert, AZ. I commuted to Las Vegas for one year, then Allegiant opened a base in Phoenix. I was very fortunate to transfer when the base opened and get an offer for a Captain position as well. I upgraded to Captain on the MD-80, I was based at home and worked for an airline that had me home everyday. All aspects of my life that were scattered were finally piecing together. I flew the MD-80 for seven years and just last year went to the Airbus A319/ A320, currently holding nearly 11,000 hours. I am a Captain on the Airbus, I’m still based in Phoenix and I feel truly accomplished.
The opportunity that Allegiant has offered me has been wonderful. I am able to attend to my family and continue with my passion of flying. Currently my husband is attending college for his A&P aircraft mechanic certification, my son Jose has graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson at the young age of 20, with a bachelor degree in Art History, and he is currently a flight attendant for American Airlines based out of Miami. My daughter Josana is wonderful; she is a full-time high school student and still attends to her therapies. In some ways many things have become easier, but as she grows older we experience new challenges with her. We plan to keep her at home with us for as long as possible, but we know that eventually she will be a full grown adult with the same demanding needs and we are planning for her future. She has touched many people’s hearts, and continues to be an inspiring young lady to many, with a pure and innocent soul full of happiness.
I take great pride in my duties as a Captain, my unique life, and everything I have endured to reach this point. The challenges in my career as well as in my life have only made me a better person and a stronger woman. I now focus a lot on fitness and health and plan to eventually get involved in the field competitively. I also hope to one day sponsor a scholarship or foundation that inspires pregnant teens and young ladies in Latin America to get involved in aviation. I hope that my experiences could motivate these young ladies to not give up their studies and dreams and be successful in life. I was there and I did it.
Overall I thank God for my success and achievements. I always remember the saying "You may not always end up where you thought you were going, but you will always end up where you are meant to be."
Thank you.
