Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / Youngest Female Pilot to Fly Solo Around Australia at 17: $82K Raised, a World Record & the hidden anxiety with success - Rose Donald

Transcript

Youngest Female Pilot to Fly Solo Around Australia at 17: $82K Raised, a World Record & the hidden anxiety with success - Rose Donald · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast, Rose. Thank you so much for having me. I feel like I dressed in the theme of Rose today. Pink everywhere. A pink rose. Oh, people watching myself might recognize this is the one jumper I didn't take away with me. So it's like the one thing that I haven't worn in a while. So I'm taking advantage of my new wardrobe back at home, not just the three outfits I had in my bag the whole time. Oh my God. Wow. Go you.
• 0:30
  Yeah, so it's a luxury having my shower just next to my bedroom, not having to get to the motel or check in first and everything. Love that. I want to start by saying first, a big happy birthday. I know you started your journey as a 17-year-old and you finished the journey as an 18-year-old. Did you get any cool presents?
• 0:53
  I'm actually wearing one right now. So my mum and my dad got me a little snake. Aww. Which is kind of cool. So, yeah, I wear both silver and gold jewellery. So it's another bit in the silver set, which is cute. How cute. Thanks, mum and dad. Yeah. Shout out to them.
• 1:10
  Yeah, and I also had my birthday in Parafield, so that's Adelaide. I was staying with some people from the Australian Women's Parts Association and they threw me an 18th birthday dinner as well, so that was lovely. They gave me Debbie Laurie's autobiography, which I've been meaning to read, and they gave me some little airplane earrings, which was really cute as well, so that was a fun birthday surprise.
• 1:35
  How beautiful. Well, for everyone listening, a little bit of context is that you have just broken the Guinness World Record as the youngest female pilot to fly solo around Australia and raising money for charity at the same time, Little Wings. What was your driving reason to do that crazy adventure? Yeah.
• 1:59
  I guess there were a lot of reasons. So inherently when I first started off, it was because I wanted to get my commercial pilot's license. And as a part of that, you need to build up your pilot and command hours. And that's quite expensive with the aircraft hire and fuel costs and everything. And since I'm doing school as well, I didn't know how plausible that was going to be for me just time-wise. And additionally, because we couldn't really afford it.
• 2:29
  Um, at that time. So I went about seeing if, um, there was, if there was something I could like sort of do off my own merit to get those hours, um, and not have that imposed on my dad so much because he had paid for the rest of my training.
• 2:45
  Um, so like I thought back to about three years ago now, um, I was 14 in the car with my dad and we were listening on the radio. Um, and we heard that another boy had done a similar trip around Australia at 17.
• 3:00
  And I thought it was the coolest thing. And I thought, oh, possibly that's something I could do. And then I Googled it and it would make me the youngest female pilot in a general aviation aircraft. And I had someone encourage me to apply for the Guinness World Records. So I thought that was something I could latch on to to get a little bit of sponsorship and to that which would really support me in paying those operational costs and help me get those hours for a bit cheaper.
• 3:29
  And then along the way, I realized that if this was getting traction, I might as well do it for a really great cause. So that's when I went looking for a charity and I got in contact with Little Wings. I gave them a call. Their team was amazing. They scheduled a meeting like pretty much right off the bat with me.
• 3:48
  And like ever since then, we've been working together quite well, just trying to coordinate like advertising, media events, stuff like that. They've been really helping with the whole fundraising aspect. So I do owe a lot to them as well, like working together on the media and working together on the fundraising aspect. We were able to raise like a total of 80,000 plus some sponsorship that I had already paid.
• 4:14
  had already acquired beforehand. That is so cool. I know. Like, it's gone so, so well. A good thing for me is it managed to cover, like, all of those operational costs that I was really worried about initially, and my dad, of course, is very happy about that. I bet. Yeah.
• 4:35
  Yeah, and like, I don't know, after this trip, I've got this amazing feeling just knowing that I've really made a huge impact to Little Wings' cause. And I'm also like in really good stead to get my commercial pilot's license and start a career in the industry, which is really, really cool.
• 4:52
  Oh, such a big congratulations. That is just so cool. And, you know, I'm, I mean, I'm just so inspired. I wish I was doing those kind of things when I was 14, 16, 14, 16, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. That's crazy. What was the total operational cost for the flight to actually happen?
• 5:14
  I haven't tallied everything up yet. I've got like a big stack of receipts on my desk and I'm just looking at them going, yeah, that's a weekend problem. But, yeah, like I've got a vague idea of how much it was going to cost. I had a few estimates. So I think my estimate was around about $40,000. That was a bit of a high-end sort of calculation there before I left. And we've raised well over that. So I had some sponsorship initially and –
• 5:44
  Yeah, we had agreement with Little Wings that like we wouldn't be out of pocket like after the whole trip, which is really, really great. And I think everyone's happy with the outcome. So that was, yeah, so flying is expensive, but I'm really proud of what we were able to do there. Yeah, I mean, I just love how, you know, even from an early age, you're able to think outside the box differently.
• 6:04
  to achieve the things that you want to achieve, you know, even if the pathway isn't the direct pathway you had in mind. So you wanted to get your commercial pilot's license, you know, it's expensive to fly. You're like, okay, great. I don't know if I can afford to pay that amount, but how else could I do this so that I can still get to the goal that I have in my mind? I just love that kind of thinking, getting what you want at all costs. So great. Oh yeah. I mean, it was, the cost was like high, high levels of stress for like many, many months.
• 6:32
  Like I tell you, I did not sleep for a period of about three months in the middle of planning all this. Oh, my goodness. I bet. Yeah. Like I'm – well, obviously, I'm really glad we've got such a great outcome, not only because like now I'm sitting here going, oh, my goodness, like look at the impact I've had. Look at how good of a physician I'm in to go and pursue something I love, but also just a big relief because I felt like I was –
• 6:58
  drowning a little bit over the last year or so, just trying to get everything planned together because in reality, I didn't really know what I was doing. So big learning curve. Oh yeah. Most people or, you know, a lot of people would have really big dreams, you know, when they're younger and when they're 14 years old. But I think that
• 7:17
  a lot of people would also just kind of leave it as a dream or leave it as an idea. So I want to kind of see if we can go a little bit further, deep diving into how you actually thought about going from dream to reality and planning the trip. Like what was the practical planning in the early phases and like figuring it out with school and with your parents and like putting the framework around this?
• 7:43
  Uh, yeah. So, um, I don't know, as I mentioned a little bit before, like I didn't really know how to go about it when I first started. I started seriously thinking about planning the trip about this time last year.
• 7:59
  So I'd say a big starting point was actually when I was at the Australian Women's Parts Association conference in Busselton. So like I just met a whole bunch of amazing women in the industry and I thought it was it would be an amazing opportunity to ask them all about trips that they'd done flying like flying across Australia. Because a lot of them had flown their own light aircrafts all from states all across Australia into Busselton.
• 8:26
  So I thought like if there's anyone to ask, it's going to be them just to get advice on how it's something I might be able to do. Because obviously my dad does fly as well, but when I left for the trip, we had about the same amount of experience.
• 8:43
  So there were certain things I could ask him, but there were limits to both of our knowledge. So I went outsourcing a little bit, just trying to get advice from different people at that conference, get different routes I'd done in the past. So my route was basically just a patchwork of different routes that I've collected off so many other pilots.
• 9:02
  And everything. And, yeah, like once I had that together, I guess it's when I started going off and looking for a charity. And then once I – because I had that record title in place as a little bit of grounding for looking for sponsors, which was at the time, like, the main thing I was trying to do because, like, there's no point doing the trip if you can't pay for it.
• 9:26
  And so I had that title like sort of behind me. It's just like, hey, I'm going to do this thing. I can put your sticker on the plane, something like that, and it's for this title. But then to get a charity affiliated as well, like that was a, I don't know, it was a big kind of thing.
• 9:43
  I don't know, just something else behind me to help me get some more sponsorship and everything. So I went looking for a charity. That process in itself wasn't too smooth. So I actually went through about five or six charities in Melbourne because obviously I'm based in Melbourne. Little Wings are based in New South Wales, Queensland. I hadn't actually heard of them until I'd Googled them. And I think I saw them early on. I was just like, that'd be perfect, but I'm not sure whether it would work interstate. But...
• 10:13
  You know, here we are. You don't ask, you don't get. Oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah, so I got a little way along with a few Melbourne charities. A lot of them pulled out just for insurance reasons, and that's completely fair. Yeah.
• 10:28
  Little Wings Aviation Adjacent. So it was really great working with them because they understood all those logistics. They would understand if we had to put something back because of weather and just all those risks associated. So that was, it was really great that I ended up working with them.
• 10:46
  But yeah, like that process of finding charities, I'd say it was just a process of like contacting as many people as possible, seeing and just seeing how far you could get, like with what I had so far, because a lot of those times,
• 11:04
  where I got a little way along and then got knocked back a bit. Like my analogy was, oh, I put so much effort in. At this point in time, I'm in a better position to continue going and like try somewhere else. And I would have been at the start when I had no idea what I was doing because by that point I started getting an idea of what worked. Right, right, right. When you were like pitching or kind of coming up with the proposal you would send across. Yeah, yeah. So yeah.
• 11:32
  Yeah, so I've done about four or five proposals. It's ridiculous. They're all saved on my Canva. Yeah, yeah. So I'd say it was a little bit of luck in the end. Like I was really lucky that I found the people at Little Wings who were willing and able to actualise it. Like they really wanted to get their cause out there because they're based in New South Wales, ACT, Queensland, but they are looking to branch out to broader Australia. So like the exposure for them was really important.
• 12:01
  And just to be able to branch out to new families who may not have heard of them, like I hadn't heard of them, but families that might need their services and just hadn't heard of them yet. And so because they deliver medical goods to regional Australia when it comes to children with serious illness that usually would need to come into a major city, is that right?
• 12:23
  Yeah, so they have a few different services. I'd say the primary thing they're known for is transporting sick kids to and from rural areas to metropolitan hospitals. So they have a fleet of aircraft and they also have a fleet of vans as well, all volunteer drivers and pilots just –
• 12:42
  covering that ongoing transport to and from the hospital and taking the sort of strain and effort off the families who would be doing four or six-hour drives, something like that. So there's definitely that component. And, yeah, as you mentioned, there is another service they offer. It's called Medi-Captic.
• 13:00
  wings and they'll fly specialists and nurses up to rural areas who may like not otherwise have access to these professionals and the specialists themselves are all volunteers so that sense of community is just absolutely amazing and I'm so glad I get to be a part of that and able to support such a good cause. I bet that is just so freaking cool what an amazing cause to partner with and and the alignment um
• 13:28
  you know, with the aircraft and everything. That's just so cool. How does the process work when it comes to, you know, the Guinness World Records? Like, kind of, what is the process to, like, officially break a world record or to be, like, listed? You know, I remember when I was little, they had the book. I don't think they do the book anymore, maybe, but they used to have this big book. Oh, I had the 2016 one.
• 13:49
  Yeah, it's like a giant green one on my shelf. It's still there. Yeah, I that's how I remember them back in the day. And so now I'm kind of like, cool, what's the process? How do you get in that book? Well, whatever the equivalent is in today's world.
• 14:03
  Yeah, so like along the way I had someone encourage me to apply to the Guinness World Records. So I just went and made an account through their website, picked a record title that sort of fit and put in my application about what I was planning to do. And in that I was just...
• 14:19
  And in that, that was like any modification for the title, like why you're doing the record, what sort of equipment you'll be using to track it, et cetera. So I put that in, then it got accepted, and then they sent me back a whole list of guidelines. So I basically had to make my best interpretation of those guidelines, and part of that was submitting a route beforehand, but a lot of it is submitting a whole bunch of evidence about the actual trip. So along the trip...
• 14:46
  Obviously, I had my little transponder, which does record each of my trips and sent that to flight radar. So I was going to take those flight radar logs, submit that as evidence. I've been taking photos wherever I go, getting signatures and a little book. So there were a few people a bit confused why I was asking for their autographs at every place that went. It was just like, it's evidence. I swear, I'm sorry. But also so cool to have the record and to have it documented.
• 15:15
  Well, actually, yeah, like I felt I was it was a little bit embarrassing running around with my little blue notebook. But like, I guess it's a cool souvenir now. Yeah, absolutely. I want to talk about the actual journey itself to understand kind of what it was like when you were doing all the different legs of the journey. So specifically when you were, you know, up in the clouds, literally, what were you actually thinking about? Like what was on your mind every day?
• 15:43
  Ironically, clouds took off a lot of my headspace. Okay. Tell me more. Yeah. I'm a visual pilot and that basically means I'm not allowed to fly through clouds. So whenever there were clouds around me, like a lot of brain power had to be spent on, okay, that cloud's over there. Don't fly into it. Go this way slightly. Make sure you don't gain any height because there's clouds above you. So that was like a big...
• 16:06
  A bit of my headspace there. Other than that, there's other little elements of flight planning. Like I'd be looking at the weather radars when I was flying because occasionally I'd be flying near where rain was coming in. And I was just checking my progress versus like a sort of wall of showers coming in towards me. Another thing I'd be looking at is airspace and listening on the radios for traffic.
• 16:31
  And there is that added component of brain power just because it was all unfamiliar to me. Like locations I was flying in were different to what I was used to. And with that comes different weather systems. So that weather in itself was also something I had to get used to. And I did see like vastly different weather all across the country. And I've come back to Melbourne and like...
• 16:54
  I guess I'd never looked at weather properly before I'd gone on this trip because when I did my flight training, generally you just pick a good day to fly. But throughout this trip, I was flying even in like sort of marginal conditions. So I think that took up a lot of space as well. There's certainly a lot to think about. Did anything go wrong?
• 17:14
  Um, I can't, yeah, I can't really think so much. I'd say a lot of the times where I started freaking out is when I was obviously going into those situations I was unfamiliar with.
• 17:28
  My confidence definitely developed over time. So with those sort of weather conditions with that, even just with dealing with unfamiliar scenarios as well, I felt like I was more confident like towards the end. Like at the start, like I felt like I was calling up like the tower, people who are local to the area.
• 17:50
  everything just trying to make sure everything was right but towards the end I kind of had an idea of if I wasn't sure about something how I would phrase my request and um like what uh and if something uh unexpected did come up how I would mitigate so was it scary like or would even did you ever feel scared uh yeah
• 18:12
  I mean, yeah. I feel like a lot of people have told me I have quite a calm demeanor. And that's because when I'm not calm, the cameras don't come on. So I had little GoPros in my plane. And when it was getting a little bit too stressful, it's just like, there is no way I'm turning those on. Like, we'll just skip out on the video look today. Yeah. So occasionally when I got a bit nervous, what I would tend to do is I'd call my dad.
• 18:38
  and like just kind of tell him about everything that's going on. It's just like, oh, my God, this is – well, I mean, I feel like I'd call my dad when I wanted someone to complain to. I did have other people to call for advice. So I had other parts that I would call and I was just like, hey, so you're looking at this weather, yeah, like is this okay? And they'd be like, yeah, yeah, that's fine. I'd call my dad as a last resort being like, oh, my God, I'm so scared I don't know who to talk to about it. Oh, my gosh. So what's an example and what would he do in return to kind of like help calm you down and get you out of the situation?
• 19:08
  Oh, he'd tell me I was being stupid. He'd be like, just go faster. It's just like, I'm already going pretty fast. You'll be fine. And then like pretty much every single time it was fine. I guess I was overreacting.
• 19:24
  Um, but yeah, um, going up to Horn Island, there was a bit of, um, there was a little bit of bad weather. Like, um, I came up from Weeper, then I tracked up to Horn Island. That's kind of on the west side of the Cape. Um, and obviously notorious for thunderstorms and Horn Island has this weird weather situation.
• 19:44
  because it's like kind of between the top of Australia and Papua New Guinea. Like it gets thunderstorms from the north in the morning and then it gets obviously those more familiar building thunderstorms in the afternoon from the south.
• 19:57
  So there's about a two hour window in the middle of the day where it's flyable. So, of course, I was trying to make that window, but it did mean that there was a little bit of marginal weather like south of there, like between where I was coming up from. So I was flying through there. I was a little bit uncertain about the visibility.
• 20:14
  Um, and, uh, there was a bit of low cloud, a bit of showers. And obviously I'm from Melbourne. This is just typical wet season flying up there. But I was just like, oh, this doesn't look so good. And then I, I get on the ground and everyone there was just like, yeah, we fly through that all the time. 5k's views is actually less than you think it is. And I'm just like, okay. Okay.
• 20:32
  you're like okay good to know thank you good to know so I'm I'm glad I um as as stressed out as I was at the time I'm glad I've had that experience now because I feel like any other similar situation I did get myself into didn't feel so bad totally you learn in the tricky moments I'm better pilot because of it yeah
• 20:53
  So something that I'm always interested to know about because I kind of think about this for myself is what other people's self-talk and like inner dialogue is. And I'm curious to know like what your inner voice or inner dialogue was like before you went away and then your inner dialogue when you kind of finished the trip and when you got back.
• 21:16
  Yeah, I feel like I'm a lot less stressed out about stuff now that I'm back because obviously I'm in the middle of year 11, year 12. I feel like a lot of school is obviously stressful, but then you tend to have your teachers like kind of convincing you that this one assignment, this one bit of homework is like,
• 21:41
  like a life or death sort of deal and I remember just being, because I'm trying my best to be a good student obviously, like I've, because obviously I'm working myself to the bone, trying to plan this trip, trying to keep on top of all my assignments and I'm doing IB as well so I've kind of shot myself in the foot doing all the extra work. What's IB? So that's like an international baccalaureate. That's, it's a different sort of course I think.
• 22:08
  I think the standard on the subject is supposed to be slightly higher, but like the big thing is you have some extra projects that you have to do for each of your subjects.
• 22:16
  So I just had a bit more workload to keep on top of. And yeah, obviously I'm planning this trip as well at the same time. So I was really doing my best to keep on top of everything and probably not sleeping enough and everything. And then on top of that, you have teachers getting really mad at you for forgetting a piece of homework. And I feel like after a while, that can start to eat away your self-esteem and sort of mess with your priorities as well.
• 22:42
  It's like I'd be running around really stressed out because of this piece of homework. And I was on that trip and I was just like, what on earth? Perspective. Perspective from up above. Yeah, because it definitely was some perspective. Yeah, like even on the trip, I had to learn different aspects.
• 23:02
  perspective because there was a little bit of media around it and sometimes I understand they've got to get like a bulletin out at five so like sometimes they'd be really stressed asking for footage and I'd be doing my best running around trying to find enough wi-fi to upload this footage for them because I'm just trying to help everyone out as much as I can and towards the end I realized that you've just got to accept sometimes that there's some things that aren't plausible to do.
• 23:25
  And in that and in such a high stakes sort of situation, like I need to make sure that I'm actually looking after myself, doing my flight plans properly and thoroughly before I get up and go. So the sort of thing that would have kind of flown at school, like trying to like satisfy everyone's priorities with while detrimenting myself, like it was just not justified at all in that sort of environment.
• 23:52
  Um, so I feel like I had planned to do a lot more homework before I left. I did do a little bit here and there, but, um, I didn't do it to the extent that I would do it at home. So I wasn't staying up late or anything. And I was really just taking that time for myself. So I feel like now I'm a little bit more strong willed or I hope to be, I haven't been back at school yet. I'll be going back on Monday. I've just been catching up on some stuff at home. So I've done pretty much all the content, which is great. Um, yeah.
• 24:19
  But, yeah, like I want to be a bit more strong-willed in the fact that I need to support my own needs and I shouldn't have to adhere to anyone else's standards of me if it's just not something realistic that I can do. I know I have no ill intent towards them and I do want to please everyone, but at a certain point I need to accept that.
• 24:38
  Some stuff just isn't possible. Absolutely. I feel like it's a great lesson to learn and to have that perspective on life moving forward and, you know, prioritizing yourself, not letting yourself get to burn out, you know, focusing on what actually matters and what matters to you and is aligned to you. That's like lessons that I feel like I learned later in life.
• 25:03
  I mean, I'd wish I'd learnt them earliest. A little bit more sleep recently would have been nice, but, you know. Yes. What was your favourite thing that you loved about the trip or what was the thing that was, you know, just the highlight for you if you had to pick one? I would say, like, meeting a whole bunch of new people and within that, like, just kind of seeing the general aviation community. Like, it was, like, a lot of them...
• 25:31
  Well, they're all living in what can be quite remote places all together with people from their company, other people who fly. And just how much they all hang out together or go on catch-ups. A lot of them all have group chats and just text on a group chat, hey, I'm going camping, who's coming? And then they'll all just kind of go.
• 25:51
  So just that sort of community aspect and like sharing similar aspirations or working towards the same sort of goal in the same environment. I just thought that was honestly really special. I mean, maybe I'm biased because I feel like I don't have so much of an aviation community surrounding me at home, which is a bit weird to say. Like I did have the Australian Women's Parts Association I joined about a year ago, but up until, and I had my dad as well, but up until...
• 26:20
  uh that point really I'd only done my flight training by myself so just being able to see um like other people with similar dreams and aspirations or getting along together um and getting to meet so many people from around the country that I would never have otherwise is definitely the highlight for me oh my gosh yeah how cool are you the youngest of the group
• 26:42
  I'd say one of the youngest, yeah. I think when I went to the conference last year, I think I was the youngest there by about three days. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I don't know. Certainly in a lot of circles I was the youngest because obviously they're all working in the aviation industry and for the majority of my trip I was 17. You can't even get a commercial license until you're 18. So I was definitely the youngest in a lot of those circles. But, yeah. Yeah.
• 27:11
  Well, when you think back about kind of, you know, now that you've had a couple of days to, just a couple of days to process and kind of think about the impact that you've had, not only to Little Wings and to the people that you're supporting within that community, but to your own kind of self and to your own family and to your own community, and then the wider country of Australia, probably internationally as well. When you think about all of that and what you've achieved,
• 27:36
  Why do you think that you are the way that you are? What is it that has kind of made Rose, Rose? I'm not sure how honest of the evidence that you want here, I'll be honest. Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh.
• 27:52
  Honestly, I think I've just had bad anxiety, like, for a lot of my life. So, obviously, there's sort of a background fear of failure in every scenario. So, I've always pushed myself to the absolute most to succeed in anything I'm trying to do. So, like, whether that be school, I'm taking all of the hardest classes I possibly can, but...
• 28:19
  So I don't like I'm doing IB, HL, maths, physics, economics, then I'm doing literature, chem and Chinese as well. And I don't look like I can speak Chinese. It's because I can't. But I'm putting myself through that anyways. I used to be a competitive swimmer and I also used to play basketball, both at quite a high level. And the reason I don't do those anymore is because I train myself to the extent that I injured my knee permanently. Oh, no.
• 28:48
  And yeah, like with this flight thing as well, like I was like I had this goal in mind and I was just like so terrified that I would fail at this thing. I was terrified of the alternative because I'd been planning it for a year. I told a couple of my friends that it was going to happen. And then when the rug got pulled under me, I got so, so anxious about all of that. And I didn't sleep well for ages. So just like put like so just like kind of putting my all in the line all the time, just hoping maybe something would come out of that.
• 29:18
  So I feel like that's how I approach a lot of things in life and that's why that sort of idea about how I need to take time for myself and not let other people's pressures sort of get to me is so important now. Because I feel like that's kind of had a hold on me for most of my life and like I have achieved –
• 29:40
  This, which I'm so, so proud of, and I don't doubt that I'll continue looking at doing these amazing things. But like just all the stress and everything attached to it was like really detrimental to me for quite a long time. So...
• 29:55
  I mean, thank you for sharing. It's often hard to be, you know, so vulnerable and open up about kind of something that maybe you wouldn't typically share or tell your friends about or specifically tell a podcast about. So I'm really grateful that you said that as someone who has also suffered a lot of anxiety in my life and a lot of different types of burnout. It's something that...
• 30:20
  Yeah, I'm inspired that you are able to talk and share vulnerably about that because it always makes a difference for anyone who's listening who might also be going through a hard time or might also be struggling with boundaries and being able to kind of put themselves first instead of people pleasing and things like that. So thank you.
• 30:41
  Yeah, that's okay. It's so cool that lots of people now seem to be looking up to what I'm doing or thinking this is really cool and I really hope that I'm able to inspire people. But a lot of people have told me that they feel like they're behind or that they're lacking something just because they didn't do the 17. And I don't know if this is a platform to say it, I'd just like to say that I don't want anybody my age to compare myself
• 31:10
  to me, like, yes, I achieved all of this, but the route to it was really, really hard, really strenuous on me. So I get praised a lot for being good at a lot of things. And I think there can be a bit of jealousy there, but I don't want people to push themselves to the extent that I push myself because it definitely wasn't an easy road here.
• 31:29
  Like, I feel like I've been cutting off my friends a bit, which I do need to get back into. And like just focusing on this and my schoolwork and everything. So I'd say like, look after yourself first. And if you do want to pursue something like this, absolutely go for it. But don't compare yourself to me at any extent.
• 31:48
  Wow, what a powerful message. And it sounds like you learned a lot about yourself, which is always a great thing on a journey like this. This has been so cool. Rose, thank you so much for taking the time to come on Female Startup Club. Congratulations on raising over $80,000 for Little Wings, on achieving something that is very difficult and you did have to push through and persevere and learn about yourself along the way. I'm grateful to have met you.
• 32:19
  Yeah, no, thank you so much for letting me come on here. And, yeah, it's a great podcast setup you guys have got. Yeah, so keep doing what you're doing. Open invite, girlfriend. Come on anytime you want. Oh, lovely. Am I allowed to plug my donation link?
• 32:35
  Of course, we can put it in the show notes. Oh, thank you. Absolutely. Okay, lovely. Is there anything you want to say? Yes. Oh, yeah. So the page is still open. We set our optimistic goal of $100,000. We're just seeing how close we can get. And we've gotten so close. Like, I don't think we expected this and it's been really great. But all of the funds raised are going to go towards the fuel costs for Little Wings fleet of aircraft. And it's just going to make sure that they can stay in the sky, like, over this period where the fuel prices are, frankly, quite ridiculous.
• 33:05
  and yeah just making sure they don't have to turn any families away it's been so special to see even new families finding out about Little Wings through this trip and Little Wings being able to say yes and take them on as like long-term sort of clients because we've got that funding in place so if you are able to donate it truly means a lot and thank you so much. We will put that in the show notes and make sure we shout about it. Thank you so much.
• 33:34
  Thank you so much. Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 34:03
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 34:25
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.