College Board Forum 2024: Creating more diversity in the aerospace industry

Tennesse Garvey, Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, joined WorkingNation to share his thoughts on how representation matters in his industry
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The aerospace industry is vast, but there is still a diversity gap.

Tennesse Garvey is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (ODAP) and a pilot for United Airlines. “The reality is in this industry, less than 4% of pilots, so four of every 100 pilots, look like myself. When we talk about all people of color and female pilots that number goes all the way down to less than 1%.”

ODAP’s mission is to provide greater access to opportunity for populations that have been historically underrepresented in the aviation and aerospace sectors.

Garvey joined WorkingNation’s editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim for WorkingNation Overheard at College Board Forum 2024 in Austin, Texas.

“Our mission really is dreams to careers. We’re trying to move that needle forward in the aerospace industry by trying to introduce more talent into this space and more diverse talent, not just into the flight deck, but when you think about the aviation aerospace industry as a whole.

“We’re trying to do this in air traffic control towers. We’re trying to do this with aerospace engineering companies. We’re trying to do this with the manufacturers. We’re trying to do this with the engineering firms,” Garvey explains.

ODAP does this through community outreach programs in which they expose young students to what it takes to have a career in aerospace.

“We try to have [ODAP] members that want to volunteer and want to give back come and represent their careers because some students don’t even know these careers exist, much less [know of] people that look like them are in these fields.”

He continues, “We talk about ‘representation matters.’ Especially when we start working with Title 1 schools or even with the collegiate students, we’re seeing that students don’t even know these opportunities exist. Some students have never even seen a Black pilot.”

Garvey’s own journey started when he was very young. “My pathway to a pilot began when I was probably six years old. I grew up in Jamaica. Our house was very close to the airport and every day I’d watch airplanes come in right before they landed. They would literally fly right over our house. I was just excited about airplanes and I was very fortunate to have parents that supported me with that dream.”

Learn more about the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.