Between work and my personal life, I travel a lot.

I mean a lot.

And yet I can probably count on two hands the number of times I've looked into the cockpit

of a plane and seen a woman pilot, let alone a woman pilot of color.

But today, we're going to hear from someone who beat those odds to become the first

black woman in South Africa to fly helicopters. A flight instructor herself, she's here to tell us

how thoughtful mentorship changed the course of her life and how she applies it to her own

teaching.

I'm a dupe acanola.

This is Ted Business, a podcast from TED.

Refilwe LaDwaba started out as an air hostess.

Now she's a pilot and the founder of Girls Fly Africa.

In this talk,

Refilway breaks down how her mentors went out of their way to understand her untapped talents and the systemic barriers she faced and how that approach made all the

difference.

Then after the talk, we'll reflect on the power of proactive mentorship and how to bring that

energy into our own work spaces.

But first, a quick break.

And now, Refilwe-Ladwaba takes the TED stage.

Sometimes we tend to make people part of the problem only, but we don't make people

part of the success. We quit to say, oh, these were my challenges, but we don't make people part of the success.

We're quick to say, oh, these were my challenges, but we're not quick to say, but this person remove this barrier, and this person removed this one.

...