Developing and maintaining confidence can be hard, especially when you are faced with new challenges or exposed to new environments.  To build your confidence, you must:

• Choose to Not be Intimidated

• Sound Cool on the Radio (keep your cool!)

• EARN Your Seat at the Table...and then OWN it

• Practice * Perform * Perfect

We all falter from time to time, and my goal is to share my experiences with you in a way that empowers you to apply them to your own journey. 

Shannon “Grizz” Cary grew up in Juneau, Alaska, a town inaccessible by road, where residents are just as likely to own an airplane as a car.  She is the daughter of two adventurous teachers and an older sister to two amazing brothers.  Grizz spent her formative years playing sports, enjoying the outdoors, and begging for flights from anyone who would take her aloft.  Getting airborne was a passion from very early on.  

At 18, Grizz departed Alaska to attend the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA).  While at the USAFA, she took out a loan to earn her private pilots’ license, spent countless hours at the airfield as a glider instructor, and (along with two other female cadets) successfully petitioned the academy, under Title 9, to establish the school’s first women’s lacrosse team.  

After graduating from the USAFA in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, Grizz began Joint Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma. While there she became a First Assignment Instructor Pilot, a humbling job that included teaching the Air Force’s newest pilots how to fly.  As one of the first women to fly supersonic fighter aircraft, Grizz had assignments in South Korea and Northern Japan, with multiple side trips to countries around the globe. A hiatus from military service gave her the opportunity to become a mom and explore flying and instructing in the civilian aviation world.  A passion for service, coupled with her love of flying, saw her rejoin the military in 2011 and that is where she is today.  She is currently flying as a Traditional Reservist with the Air Force Special Operations Command… some of the Air Force’s most elite.  

When she’s not working, you can find her having fun in the Florida Keys, where she lives with her husband and four children.

Private event for Category 3 HERicanes (female collegiate athletes) of Santa Clara University Women’s Golf Team.