Superwoman in human form: The Filipina Pilot of many Trades

Airbus A320 Pilot. NFT company founder. Air Force reservist. Registered nurse. Former flight attendant. Mother of two. These labels are hardly enough to describe the persevering spirit that Chezka Gonzales from the Philippines has! I had the great honour of interviewing her for an International Women’s Day feature, despite her busy schedule. Not only is she a gorgeous individual, Filipina pilot Gonzales is also a force to be reckoned with. In my interview with her, she brought me through the ups and downs that she has faced in life, despite her many accomplishments; and her life thus far is truly a tale of tenacity and determination. 

Her journey started with her parents encouraging her to become a doctor after finding out that she was pregnant at 16. She then decided to pursue nursing after college where she specialised in life sciences. But after a few years, she realised it wasn’t a place where she wanted to stay for the long run. There just wasn’t that spark. Furthermore, she was pregnant again. It wasn’t practical for her to further her studies for another ten years to become a doctor when she had children to feed. As such, she became an air stewardess, which kickstarted her journey to becoming a pilot. During her time as an air stewardess in the aviation industry, she found that burning passion that she had been looking for during her time in the healthcare industry — a sense that this is something that she can do for the rest of her life.  This propelled her to study for the pilot exam even while she was working as an air stewardess. Eventually, she was awarded a scholarship by the airline she was working for to learn to pilot an Airbus A320. Back in 2014 when she joined the industry, there weren’t many female pilots, but over the years the job gained traction with females — 4-5% of pilots are now female.

Unfortunately, Gonzales was retrenched two years ago from her role as a pilot because of the pandemic, though she still flies for leisure. In terms of her career, she has since moved on to being the founder of the NFT company Women of Substance that launched mere days ago on 8 March. Familiar with how a scholarship has the power to change a person’s life, she incorporated charity work into the sale of her organisation’s NFTs, which are created by a team of like-minded artists such as the TikTok-famous Lottie.

A realist who also always goes after what she wants, she decided to pick up a course from Nas Academy. She was then chosen out of so many others for a scholarship in content creation as well as crypto, which is what got her to start her own NFT project and be on the blockchain today.

When asked about how she managed to juggle between her family and work back when she was a pilot, she pointed out the long-forgotten aspect of how females are natural multi-taskers. She also attributed it to time management, which many of us can resonate with. It is an essential life skill to incorporate time management in our lives, especially when juggling our workload and other commitments in university.  She also raised the point about how she schedules quality time with her family whenever she comes home from a layover or turnaround, making sure to give her undivided attention to her kids. (Writer’s note: I think that this is an important point raised about being present with others in a world where our attention is constantly tied to the latest gadgets. You can read more about how to be mindful and stay present in my article Mindfulness in a fast-paced world: A Tribute to Slow Living.)

The most important takeaway from my interview with Gonzales was the advice she gave to me, woman to woman. 

There will come a day when we are seen as successful according to society’s standards, where we have the recognition and the financial stability that we desired as a student, but we might still not be satisfied. That’s why at this stage of her life—even with her many titles—Gonzales has come to make happiness her priority. This can be translated through how Women of Substance gives back by paying it forward with the scholarships which give people educational opportunities. The takeaway was clear: happiness can be found in whatever you do by finding the deeper purpose behind it. In Gonzales’ case, she has found purpose in charity and NFTs.

What has stuck with Gonzales from all that she has done and achieved thus far is to embrace the process. This reminded me of the adage: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” 

She emphasised to me that what brought her far in life, to become who she is today, is made up of these defining traits and characteristics:

1. Emotional and Mental Strength 

This comes from having a strong support system around her, and the strength to remain unshaken by the opinions of people around her, especially in the aviation industry where one has to have “thick skin” in order to not let the opinions of others get to her. This strength can also come in the form of ignoring the negative things people say about you. When you accomplish this, there is a further surge in conviction in yourself and who you are. No matter what opinions people have about what you do, it is about knowing yourself and knowing that your perspective towards life is different from them. This is especially applicable since she is now a content creator and negative comments are inevitable. At the end of the day, know that: “Empowered women, empower women.” Keeping in mind this simple fact—that successful people don’t diminish others—the rest is history. 

2. Have a Never-say-no attitude

Gonzales is someone who goes for what she wants. She never fails to take the first step and try something that catches her eye. 

3. An Action-Oriented person

She also makes sure to take action immediately when an opportunity arises, as you never know when it might pass you by!

4. Seizing every opportunity no matter how big or small

Gonzales has taught me to never dismiss myself from making the effort to pursue even the littlest things in life that interest me, as the small things add up to a greater unseen future. So, take up opportunities regardless if they are significant or not, as long as they will help you grow!

Lastly, here is some advice from her that I have found useful:

On how to listen to your own inner voice without interference

• A friend once told me “If out of 100 people only 4 are giving you bad comments, are you going to ignore the 94 who are supporting you?” Forget the small negative minority, but know when to listen. Don’t let opinions consume you. An inspiration of mine, GaryVee, said: “Voices slow you down”, so ignore the small voices!

Advice about life in general:

• Prove to yourself and not anybody else! 
• Take courage and allow yourself to experience things.
• Crying is good. Have an outlet to cry.
• Don’t tell all your plans to just anyone. Only tell it to people you really trust!
• At your lowest point in life, you will know who your real friends are.

On who she looks up to:

• A faceless, imaginary woman with all the attributes of people that I admire from different industries!

On Advice for the new generation of young, independent, career-driven girls out there:

• “Don’t forget about yourself. You are important too! We tend to think success comes from having the best career in the world. We work so hard for a specific goal that we lose sight of ourselves!“
• “Don’t rush! Enjoy the process. Good things take time!“
• “Don’t give deadlines to yourself. Everything will happen in divine timing.“
• “Don’t be afraid to try out other avenues! Don’t focus on just one thing. You can do many other things and still be happy about it.”
• “Don’t be afraid to fail!“
• “Never regret the things that have helped you grow!“
• “Don’t believe everything you see on social media — sometimes they only let you see the good while hiding the bad!“

Relationship advice for strong and independent women:

• Find a very supportive guy. You should not be viewed as competition, but rather a team member!

• female pilot