Breaking barriers: Tampa International Airport honors 2 women who are changing the face of aviation

From one of America’s first female airline pilots to a 20-year-old making history from the Bahamas: meet two trailblazers honored at a Tampa Bay aviation gala.

TAMPA, Fla. — For decades, the cockpit and the hangar floor had one thing in common: they were almost exclusively male.

This Women’s History Month, two women are proving that’s changing; one who kicked the door open fifty years ago, and one who is just getting started.

Both were recently spotlighted at the GALA (Girls Achieving Leadership in Aviation) scholarship event held at Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, an annual celebration that raises funds for young women pursuing careers in aviation.

For decades, the cockpit and the hangar floor had one thing in common: they were almost exclusively male. But this Women’s History Month, two women are proving that’s changing — one who kicked the door open fifty years ago, and one who is just getting started.

Both were recently spotlighted at the GALA — Girls Achieving Leadership in Aviation — scholarship event held at Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, an annual celebration that raises funds for young women pursuing careers in aviation.

If Julie Clark represents where women in aviation have been, Antonique Greenslade represents where they are going.

At just 20 years old, the Bahamian-born aircraft mechanic is already making history. She moved to the United States at 17 — the first in her family to pursue a college degree — and enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, one of the most prestigious aviation schools in the world. She earned her associate degree in aviation maintenance science and is now working as an aircraft mechanic at Brooksville Regional Airport, often the only woman on the maintenance floor.

She is also, by her own account, the first and youngest Bahamian female to ever obtain an airframe and powerplant license from the Bahamas.

This month, she was awarded a GALA scholarship — funding she says will help her return to Embry-Riddle this fall to complete her bachelor’s degree, with a minor in business. Her long-term goal: start her own aviation maintenance company.

Like Clark, Greenslade knows what it feels like to be the only woman in the room — and she doesn’t sugarcoat it.

“There are still days today I go to work and I have to go in the bathroom and just cry — like, it’s tough,” she said. “So you really have to have thick skin, or just be open to letting people thicken your skin.”

But Greenslade says the challenges have only strengthened her resolve.

“If you know there’s just something — there’s more for you — go with that gut feeling, go with it full on, full forward,” she said. “I want to make a difference. I want to leave a legacy.”

Despite decades of progress, women remain significantly underrepresented in aviation. Female pilots account for a small fraction of airline captains in the United States today, with women making up roughly one percent of airline captains, according to industry data. The organization ISA+21, which Clark helped found and of which she is a charter member, was formed to represent the original 21 pioneering female airline pilots. Today, it has grown to more than 9,000 members.

For both Clark and Greenslade, those numbers are not discouraging — they are a call to action.

“Build it, believe it, and become it,” Clark said. “Just do it.”

The GALA scholarship organization supports young women pursuing aviation careers in the Tampa Bay area. For more information, visit GALATampaBay.com.